3 October 2016 - I got my hair cut

Dear Friends and Family,

There have only been a couple of days in this week because of the whole temple thing, so I will be keeping it short and focused.

Today we had two small excursions within our area. We are at Buffalo Wild Wings (yes, that is a thing here) with the AP's and then we made a brief appearance at a district activity. It was fun. 

Also, I got my hair cut.....in case you didn't notice.

This week was general conference. I was able to attend all 5 sessions and I very much enjoyed all of them. 

It is always a great feeling being able to sustain our leaders every six months and hear their words. The message is very clear this time: Repent and avoid the philosofies of men. I learned a lot this conference and there are many things that I will be needing to apply in my life and in my work.

Se que este Iglesia es dirigida por profetas y apostoles bajo el orden de Jesucristo. Se que si seguimos sus advertencias y consejos, seremos bendecidos y felices.

Los amo,

Elder lambert 

28 September 2016 - This week was long...and different

Dear friends and family,

This week was long.....and different.

We have been making a lot of good progress with a few investigators that should be coming to conference this week. That being said, it required a LOT of good planning to make it happen since we missed an entire day of work.......

My companion, Elder Ng, has irritable bowel syndrome and an errosion of the stomach lining. He needed to get a camera shoved down his throat to see if his gut was OK and we did it on Thursday. BUT that means that we needed to spend the WHOLE day in the hospital on Wednesday.

Here in Mty there is a hospital called Doctors Hospital. It is considered the eighth most beautiful and advanced hospitals in the world (a stark contrast to the public hospitals here). This hospital is the only one that takes the church's insurance, so every time a missionary gets sick, they have to go there. My companion turned out to be doing a lot better, but the real crazy thing is what the room looked like. I have been in very few hotel rooms that are larger or nicer than the room that my companion and i slept in the night before the operation.

Today we were able to attend the temple. This was the last time I will be able to attend until my last day in the field :´(. Three different zones attended so it was packed, but I got to see some old pals. We finished off going to the missionaries' facvorite buffet with our district. It was a good week.

Se que el Señor nos da la inspiracion que necesitamos. Se que los profetas vivientes nos enseñan la verdad y que podemos seguir sus consejos para mejorar nuestras vidas.

Los amo.

19 September 2016 - This week was cool

Dear Friends and Family.

This week was cool.

We had a meeting with the mission president and stake president to talk about the missionaries in the zone on Wednesday. I also had to get my temple reccomend redone. We were able to have a nice little coucil with President McArthur. I can really testify at this moment that Daniel McArthur is a man called of God to direct the missionaries in this part of the world. You should all be jealous that he is my mission Pres and not yours :P

We ended the week with the Noche Mexicana. about 106 years ago or something like that, Mexico declared its independence. For about two weeks at the end of August and the beginning of September, the red white and green is just EVERYWHERE here int mty. There are small vendor carts going around all over the place selling Mexican flags of every size, noise makers, sombreros and even fake mustaches (no joke). Here in the stake, we had a little celebration in the stake center. It was pretty cool. I ate tamales. There were traditional dances (the one that I really wanted to see was too late for us to watch) and traditional food. I painted my face with the rojo blanco verde. I would show you pictures, but this computer doesn't let me......again.....

All around it was a pretty fun week. I learned a lot and had a lot of fun.

Se que este es la obra del Señor. Se que la dirige por hombres inspirados. Se que todos somos hijos de dios y que este es la única Iglesia verdadera sobre la faz de la Tierra.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

13 September 2016 - This week was...new

Dear friends and family,

This week was...new.

I was transfered to San Nicolas. I am now in the same municipality that I began the mission in. Actually, my first area is literally bordering my new area. It is likely that I will finish my mission here.

By the by, here's the photo that I wasn't able to send last week.

So, anyway, what happened this week?

We had a leadership conference with ALL the leaders of the mission. That was......something.

This new area is interesting. The majority is super catholic middle class neighboorhoods that are kinda uncomfortable to work in, but then you take a bus for fifteen minutes and you wind up in the one of the lowest low class areas I have worked in. I love it there. 

This week, I had the opportunity to bare my testimony of the restoration more fervently and powerfully than in most any other part of my mission with an investigator that has been struggling because of some pretty serious opposition. It felt incredible to be able to bare powerful and meaningful testimony to a single person in the middle of a small plot of land surrounded by chickens (remember that I hate chickens).

In that same part of the area, there is a small soup kitchen type thing. That is where the ward choir practices. This is the first choir I have participated in since the CCM. It was pretty sweet, although almost nobody knows how to read music........

Se que el Señor nos manda dificultades para ayudarnos a superarlas. Se que Dios nos ama y quiere bendecirnos. Se que este obra esta dirigida por El.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

5 September 2016 - Now, my adventure continues in San Nicolas

Dear Friends and Family,

First off: shout out to my Wildcats for their excellent diss on Park City. My mother told me all about it.

Moving on: This week was amazing!

It all started last Friday (you will have to imagine it all because it is REALLY hard to get a computer where I can upload photos). I get a call from the zone leaders and they tell me they have a reference.....

Veronica used to live in the state of San Luis here in Mexico. She met the (sister) missionaries a year or so ago and had been taking the lessons for that entire time. She really liked the church and felt many incredible changes and miracles in her life during the time that she began to live according to the principles of the restored Gospel. She wanted to go to church and take her three children, but she couldn't. Her live in boyfriend was abusive and alcoholic and didn't let her come to church. The four times that she and her daughter Sandra were able to make it to church were miracles in progress. About a month or so ago, she made the decision to escape from her boyfriend and move here to Nuevo Leon (one state to the east). She settled down in a one room apartment in the area of our ZL's and lived there for a while waiting for the reference that the loving and diligent sister missionaries had sent to make its way through the system. There has been a slight problem as of late with the Church's map and reference system. Referrals don't get assigned to their areas because of some undefined problem in google maps. Therefore, we mission leaders get the wonderful task of sifting through hundreds of refferals and assigning them manually to the areas that are in our district or in an area that we used to work in. This Veronica was one of these refferals and it turns out that about two weeks ago, she moved to a (slightly) larger house just on the edge of our area. I could not contain my excitement when we recieved the referral. I had felt, after the baptism of Irma, that there were still baptisms that we could pull off. I was right the last time I had that impression, and I was even MORE right this time. On Saturday I had the opportunity to baptize Veronica and my companion baptized her two children Sandra and Sergio. On sunday I confirmed Sergio a member of the church and Elder Chan gave Veronica's 4 year old son Axel Tupac (I love his name a lot) his inscription blessing.

This change was extremely difficult and sometimes discouraging, but the Lord did his part in a way that I cannot even wrap my head around.

Now, my adventure continues in San Nicolas where I hope to find even MORE of the God's chosen children.

Se que este obra esta dirigida por el Señor y nadie mas. Se que Cristo nos ama y que nos bendice de acuerdo con nuestra fe. Se Dios es un Dios de milagros y que todos somos sus hijos.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

29 August 2016 - A lot of ups and downs, but it was fun

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has had a lot of ups and downs, but it was fun.

It sometimes is a struggle to get the members of our ward to be able to work with us. If they aren't working, they're sick. It they aren't sick, they're in school. If they're not in school, they're doing some silly thing somewhere else last minute. We are going to try and plan better this week to make things happen because this week, we really really need the members cooperation. Long story short, I have been stressing a lot because of the work lately.

But that's OK because we had a miracle on Friday night. You will see the results next week.

I would just LOVE to show you all the picture of the ward activity after the temple excursion.....but I don't have it. WE were not able to go to the temple because we had work to do, but there was a lovely little dinner get together at the meetinghouse after everyone got back. We had the chance to set stuff up before they all got there and we participated in the dinner. It was fun.

To suffice for not having the photo of the ward activity, I have attached three of the selfies I have taken with adorable little animals lately (it's my mission hobby don't judge).

Se que el señor nos bendice de acuerdo con nuestra fe. Se que este es su obra y que El realmente lo dirige por medio de los profetas y lideres y maestros que llama. Se que la revelacion celestial existe adentro de este Iglesia. Se que El Padre Celestial es un dios de milagros.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

22 August 2016 - No letter, mama is sad

Ah, well I guess all is well. Things have changed with P days. We used to have it all day and we had the district meetings in the morning, but now it's back to regular P day until 6.

There really isn't all that much to report this week. I sent the pictures and I hope that will suffice, because my time is almost up.

15 August 2016 - Baptism! But no photo

Dear Friends and Family,

So, the most important thing about this week: Baptism!

I would totally send photos, but my computer won't let me :(

But I will tell you the story: We were going to baptize Irma last change, but something got in the way....Tobacco. Irma is a great lady. A little older, but very hard working and concerned for her family. She has been extremely receptive to the message of the restoration from the beginning and has made an incredible progress in her ability to retain gospel knowledge. She went to church for the first time one week before I got to this area and has been progressing well ever since.

I am beginning to realize that I have a LOT of photos to send......but I just can't

Teusday was zone conference and the practices were really interesting. One of them required required the missionaries to use the simplest terms possible to teach the restoration or else the investigator would put shaving cream on their faces. The results were great, but you will have to wait a week.

Today I joined another District in their activity. We went to the large park in the middle of Mty that used to be a steel production plant. I have a lot of cool photos from this....I promise.

Se que este obra esta dirigida por Jesucristo y que El vive. Se que las llaves del sacerdocio estan sobre la Tierra de nuevo. Este obra es la unica que puede brindar la mayor felicidad possible.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

8 August 2016 - Triumphs and tragedies as usual

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was a good one. Triumphs and tragedies as usual.

We have been building up some momentum in the area lately and we have a few investigators with a lot of promise. None of them came to church this week :( BUT that is OK because something I never ever ever thought would happen went down. Long story short, there is a family of recent converts in which only two people are members (the mom and the older daughter). They have not come to church lately because they have been taking care of the youngest son who got the snot beat out of him for his involvement in drugs and gang behavior. This week....they came...with said youngest son. And we are going to be teaching him on Teusday! Miracles have not ceased on this Earth.

We went to eat really excellent Carne Asada tacos with the ZL's and an English speaking recent convert from their ward today in the morning (breakfast of champions and all that). It wasn't till I got here to the cyber cafe that I realized that I didn't take any pictures.....sorry.

We had two lessons, coincidentaly, about the sacrament in church today. This lead to some pondering on my part. I have listened many times to Elder Bednar's talk from this most recent Gen. Conference. He makes a statement that I really liked about how the emblems of the sacrament are Blessed and Sanctified by the power of the Holy Priesthood of Aaron. These lessons made that statement hit home for me this week because It made me think about how parts of that bread literally become part of our own body and the water becomes literally part of our blood. If we take of the sacrament unworthily, we are taking blessed and sactified emblems and trying to make them part of an unholy tabernacle. That is like taking a block from the temple and trying to use it to fix and crummy cinderblock house. I have learned a lot about the saving ordinances here on the mission and I have a much greater respect and reverence for the Sacrament.

Se que el Sacerdocio ha sido restaurado en estos ultimos dias. Se que por medio de las ordenanzas de este Evangelio, podemos recibir el poder de los cielos y tener la salvacion. Se que Jesucristo vive y que nos ama.

Los amo.

Elder Lambert

1 August 2016 - Still working on the lemonade

Dear friends and family,

This week has been....cooler. I enjoyed it.

But, like, for real. It has been a lot cooler. It rained a couple days ago and that cooled things down a ton. I was a very happy missionary.

This week was also lots of fun for other reasons. One of those reasons was a youth missionary activity. I got the opportunity to work for three hours in an unknown area with two young men from outside of my ward. We contacted a lot of people......without many fruits.....except a lemon!!!

But, for real. A Lady that gave us water also decided that it would be a great idea to just give us each a lemon.....Don't know why. Life literally gave me lemons on Saturday. Still working on the lemonade.

Today we had a zone activity. We made carne asada. But the fun bit started in getting to the stake center. Normally, we would never take a taxi all the way there, but today we met up with the zone leaders by accident. we were running late so we decided it was worth it to take a taxi and we started hailing them. The first three said that they wouldn't go to where we wanted to go, but then, one told us to just hop in. We didn't notice until about a minute in that the guy had a copy of the Gospel Principles manual on the dashboard. He was a recent convert from a nearby ward! We got an 80 peso taxi fare for free and met a cool recent convert. It was great.

It was a good week and a good  P day.

Se que el Señor nos bendice en muchas maneras cuando somos fieles a nuestros convenios. Se que todos tenemos un naturaleza y potnecial divina. Se que Dios vive y nos ama.

Los amo,

Elder lambert

25 July 2016 - Tough week, but worth the lessons learned

Dear Friends and Family,

This week was tough, but worth the lessons learned.

Thursday was an extremely tough day. We got home feeling like we hadn't really been able to do anything. BUT I had hope that Friday would be an awesome day. That is usually how it works: one really bad day and then the next day is great. This time, it was not so. Friday was even worse. We had three appointments in a row in the morning. We hurried out of the house to get to the the first one on time.....and our progressing investigator was taking a shower......we try to get to the second appointment early and the Less active sister is eating in preparation to leave the house. We go back to the first appointment and he had left for a job interview. We go to the third appointment and she was leaving in that moment that we arrive. Apart from all that nonsense, we start going and looking for people on our "potential investigators" list, and all of them had been contacted the previous change and didn't want anything. It was extremely stressful. Then, on Sunday, none of our investigators go to church. Things were rough, but I learned something important from it: Patience.

Yesterday, as many of you know, was Pioneer Day. I had a lot of time to ponder on the meaning of this day. I thought a lot about the faith and courage of my early pioneer ancestors. I thought about the trials that the Willie Martin company went through and then compared it to the things I deal with on the mission. I thought about the persecution that the early saints lived with on a daily basis. When I got on the mission, President Swapp asked me about my pioneer heritage and I made the off hand comment that I hoped that I could develop even a little of the faith that the pioneers had to have to cross the plains. He looked me in the eyes and told me "You do Elder. You do have that faith." I pondered on that statement and decided that I would prove Pres. Swapp right. This Sunday was one of the most challenging of my mission, but I passed through it with calm and hope. I really learned a lot about patience this week. And I am grateful for the opportunity to learn that my Heavenly Father sent me, as well as the incredible example of the early pioneers.

Se que este es la Iglesia del Señor. Se que estamos edificando Sion cada dia en este obra. Se que Dios nos ama y es nuestro Padre Celestial.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

18 July 2016 - I learned a lot

Dear friends and family,

This week was a pretty good one. I learned a lot.

Everything started out pretty rough on Tuesday, but got slowly better as time went on. Then I got kind of a difficult learning experience at the end.

We have an investigator that is, as far as we thought, progressing really really well. She is an older lady and has trouble remembering things, but she has been remembering the things that she reads quite well and has been learning quite rapidly. BUT, she has had a smoking problem for quite a while. She told us that she made the decision a few years back to quit, but fell back after a few years. She only smokes once a day normally, but that's still too much to get baptized. The problem was, we thought she kicked that habit completely for the past couple weeks.....so we just stopped following up.

Following up on commitments is basic stuff for a missionary, but sometimes it is really easy to forget. This Saturday, we found out that this investigator was not going to be able to be baptized within this change because she was going to head to visit family out of state this next Sunday. We were kind of heartbroken, but we managed to get permission from Prez McArthur to batpize her early. Immediately after I got off the phone with President, I got that typical churning in the gut that accompanies the spirit telling me something is amiss. We went to visit the investigator a second time that night and asked her about the smoking thing.....she had fallen again. Long story short, I felt the need to repent.

That day I also forgot my money at home and wound up having to make a taxi take us there to be able to pay him. It wouldn't have been that embarrassing if the taxi driver hadn't been kind of a jerk.

Today we went bowling and then to a buffet for a mixed District activity (I was acting as a proxy DL because the other DL couldn't go with his district).

There are whisperings that I might train AGAIN this next change.......I don't like those whisperings.

Se que el Señor nos bendice cuando somos obedientes, tenemos fe, nos arrepentimos, y buscamos su voluntad. Se que Cristo vive y que nos ama. Se que este es la única Iglesia verdadera sobre la faz de la Tierra.

Los amo,

Elder lambert  

11 July 2016 - It's really really really really really hot

Dear Friends and Family,

It has been a pretty ordinary week. I am happy about it.

It has been really really really really really hot lately. The official hot season has not even started yet and it has reached 40 celsius. Some of my Elders about got heat stroke on Wednesday. We are now allowed to use wide brimmed hats and sunglasses in the street. I feel silly with a hat, but we are taking full advantage of the glasses part.

We watched part of Meet the Mormons while we ate on Sunday. I have seen that movie a million times by now, but the stories are still great. The Gail Halverson story struck me in particular this time. It got me thinking a lot about the principle of charity. I sometimes find myself lapsing in my love the people around me. When people are rude, dismissive, or unwilling to commit, I find myself feeling frustrated with those people. The mission has helped me a lot with this, but I feel like all of us can do a little better every day. Loving our neighboor is something that takes a lifetime to develop, but it starts with the little things. The pure love of Christ is essential to our personal growth.

Se que el Salvador vive. Se que todos somos hijos de un Padre Celestial amoroso quien nos puso aqui en la tierra por un sabio proposito.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

4 July 2016 - A good ol' English testimony

Dear Friends and Family:

I would leave it at that, but that would be a very short letter. 

Today we had a wonderful 4th of July zone activity. I would not be surprised if every other zone in the mission also had their zone activity this week as well. There were fabulous burgers grilled by yours truly, genuine American powdered lemonade, American popsicles, and Watermelon. I was a happy man. We also passed around the pigskin and played ping-pong and pool in the institute building. It was a satisfying day.

Also, happy birthday to my sainted Mother! Woooo!

On a more spiritual note, this week was extremely stressful because I felt that our progress was just not where it needed to be in our area and I didn't know what to do about it. Our progressing investigator was not home when their fellowshipper passed by for them and so we almost didn't have anyone in church. That was when the anxiety peaked and my only option was to pray for a miracle. When we finished the services we discovered that an old investigator that had not come for three months and that the other elders had left a long time ago was in Priesthood. I really hope we can help him to progress during these next few weeks. I am truly grateful for getting to see a miracle yesterday.

For tradition's sake, I will share my testimony in English.

I know and testify that the Lord directs this work and that we are instruments in his hands. I know that the priesthood of God has been restored to the earth through Prophets and Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ. I testify that Christ lives and directs this church. 

With love,

Elder Lambert

 

would love to send you the videos that I made, but I cannot.

here is the zone picture from the temple

This is my selfie from the party today.

29 June 2016 - Average but Interesting

Dearest Darlingest friends and family,

This week was kind of average, but some interesting things happened.

I went on Divisions with one of the Elders in my district this week. He was training a new missionary from Peru, but around the end of the first week of this change, his companion found himself in the hospital because of a preexistent condition with his head. He gets horrible headaches from being in the sun too long. In case you don't remember, here in Mty, this part of the year is really really really really hot. In the morning before we were going to end divisions, we get a call from Sister McArthur telling us that the new missionary will be going home indefinitely. This particular story might sound sad at the beginning, but in reality it isn't. Elder Ruiz was a very strong and dedicated missionary from the beginning. He has told me that he feels at peace with the decision and that he knows that he will have many opportunities to serve in the work of salvation in the future. Sometimes, we just don't know what the Lord's plans are. All we can to in those situations is have patience and hope for the best. The spirit will always confirm what is right.

Today we went to the temple. As always, it was a grand experience. I got to see two former companions and many friends. I will attach photos.

Se que el Señor vive. Se que si confiamos en El y en el Espiritu, podemos hacer todo. Se que Dios tiene muchas cosas preparadas para nosotros y que podemos confiar en El.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

20 June 2016 - A week of discovery (changes)

Dear Friends and Family,

This has been a week of discovery......In other words I got changed again.

My new area is called Colinas. I am in another city here in NL: Santa Catarina. I have always wanted to come over here since my training. There is a famous hip hop group from this city that my Trainer Elder Alexander was obsessed with.

Things are a little strange here. Not that the people are any weirder, but rather that there are elements that I am not used to. This area is an economic mixed bag. The area closest to our house is economically higher than I am used to by any means. I have been in two of the poorer parts of Mty and Escobedo for the last full year of my mission, so I don't really know how to deal with rich people. This has been causing me a fair amount of anxiety this week. There is also a lower middle class portion and lower class portion, but we have not been working there as much. I didn't realize how much I hate the struggle of getting to know an area.

We had a baptism this week. Cristian was taught all the lessons by my current companion, Elder Chan from Merida, but I got to teach him about tithing and the law of chastity. He is going to make an excellent Deacon.

Se que el Señor nos pone donde vamos a crecer mas. Se que este obra esta dirigida poer El y que somos llamados por profetas de Dios.

Los amo, 

Elder Lambert

13 June 2016 - This week was awesome!

This week was AWESOME!!!

The first thing you need to know about is our miracle baptism: This last Monday we had a zone meeting in which an epistle from Pres. McArthur was read. It dealt with President Kimball's address to missionaries about making excuses for the failure to baptize. At the end of the meeting (which, frankly, went on way too long) our leaders told us that there was still always a chance to see some kind of miracle by the end of this last week of the transfer cycle. Immediately, both my companion and I felt that it would, indeed, be possible and that we should search for a way to squeeze one more baptism out of our time here. We started working with Emmanuel's sister Sandra but, long story short, it didn't work out. We thought we had lost all hope for helping someone start the road to eternal life when we get a phone call on Thursday.

Our ward missiona leader calls us in the middle of a street contact and my companion answers. It is starting to get dark and I am talking to some teenager in the street that obviously has not interest, but I keep going to make it seem less weird. That is when my companion comes up and says: "Elder, we have a miracle!" Our Ward mission leader had called to tell us that one of the investigators that we had been teaching for almost my entire time here in the area wanted to get baptized on Saturday.

David is the friend of one of the Bishopric's secretaries to whom he gave a Book of Mormon. The member invited us to a Family Home evening one week and we gladly went. That is where we met David. Ever since, we have been working with him to help him overcome his doubts AND his trouble with smoking. He is a very thoughtful and inteligent person and I am Happier than I can express to have been able to see him baptized.

The only lame thing about this week is that it is changes......and both of us are being changed. I will be serving this next week in Santa Catarina and my companion will be climbing Cerro de la Silla in Barrio San Angel. Two new missionaries will be coming to this area in order to teach and baptize our progressing investigators and visit my converts. I originally was bummed because I will have a tough time trusting the converts and investigators I have come to love so much in unknown hands, but then the spirit told me something that I already knew: They are not in the hands of two missionaries, they are in the hands of the Lord. It's a sappy thought, I know, but it helps me deal with the idea of leaving this area that I have loved so much.

Se que el Señor dirige este obra. Se que El nos ama y quiere que seamos fuertes. Se que las pruebas de este vida son importantes por nuestro progreso espiritual y que la Expiacion de Jesucristo nos puede fortalecer.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

6 June 2016 - Wet and Insane

Dear Friends and family,

This week was.......wet.

It has been raining on and off almost all week. It is kind of a late rainy season, which is unusual. We have had to struggle against the rain and the tendency to stop working when the rain comes. 

Despite the weather, this week was really an incredible one. We really had an amazing work week and I am very proud of the progress we are making. We are in line to have a number of baptisms this coming change. On one of the rainiest days of the week we wound up with 6 lessons with a member present. It felt good. We are thinking that there is a chance to get a baptism this coming Sunday and we are gonna do everything in our power to get it done. You will all see the results next week. 

Strange Mexico thing of the week: We had an insane dude walk right into sacrament meeting before it started. He was wearing a filthy Mario t shirt and he started looking through one of the assistant's bags for a pen at one point. I thought he was one of their investigators. After the baby blessings the assistants did the hard part and escorted him out. 

We have a new investigator that speaks English. He is the first one I have ever had that has reasonable chances of progressing. He spent the better part of his life in various different states in the US. He spent a lot of time in New Mexico and therefore has his whole home decorated with Navajo art. He is a taxi driver and primarily works with disabled clients that other taxi drivers wouldn't take the time to cover. Because of that I feel I have a special connection with the dude. I really really really hope he progresses and I will do everything in my power (given me of God) to make that happen.

Se que este realmente es la Obra del Señor. Se que Cristo esta a la cabeza de este Iglesia y no hay otra Iglesia verdadera sobre la faz de la Tierra. Se que por medio de la fe que mostramos por medio de nuestros acciones, podemos ver grandes milagros.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

30 May 2016 - Things are looking up

Dear Friends and Family,

Things are looking up.

This week, unlike last week, we had people in church. Two people that had never come before. Sometimes missionary work is frustrating because you have leave a lot of the work that you did in weeks past behind to be able to focus on new people that have a higher chance of progressing, but it's worth it in the end.

So, lets start off with the worldly stuff: Monterrey lost the championship this week. Remember when Tigres won the championship a few months ago? Ha!

Anyway, on to the cool and important stuff. First the vaguely creepy part:

Occasionally, as a missionary, your day just flat doesn't go the way you want it to go. On days like this, it not unusual for a missionary to want to simply go and get something to eat and get to the house at 9. That was the case this Friday. BUT, it is also common that on occasions like this, that the spirit constrains you to not get discouraged and keep working till the end of the night. That was also the case this Friday.

We had one of the young men accompany us for several hours on Friday, but we were not able to get a single lesson out of it. All of our appointments fell and all of the contacts we did were lame. We were going to simply give up when the young man left at 830, BUT something told me that something good would happen if we kept at it. So, I grabbed an English Book of Mormon to give to an English speaking investigator and we went on our way to his house to drop it off. On the way there, a fellow that I had already met last month beckoned us over to his patio. Everything seemed kind of strange in the orange glow of the street light above, and the power was out throughout the entire street because of wind the day before, but we went over.

The kid turned out to be the husband of a young woman that I had bought tostadas from before. As we talked to them, we discovered that the young man was very confused about the concept of God while the girl had been raised by christian family members. Now here comes the strange and creepy bit: Here in Mexico, the cartels have promulgated a catholic knockoff cult dealing with a particular idolatrous image, la santa muerte. It's basically lady death or the grim reaper. The young man was brought up in the belief in this particular heathen saint and felt that it was coming to control him. Long story short, we taught him about the nature of God and the Devil and offered to get rid of his image of the SM. We made an appointment for the next day (which went surprisingly well) and on our way home we smashed the figure on the street and tossed it in a nearby trash.

It was wild.

Also, we discovered a neighborhood here called The Island which consists of a single dirt road with tiny side roads coming off of it. The road is separated from  everything else by an overgrown ditch that one must cross be means of a concrete bridge. Hence the name The Island. We found a few excellent new investigators there. It was an interesting day.

Se que el Señor nos guia en este obra. Se que si escuchamos los susurros del Espiritu Santo, vamos a ser bendecidos. Se que Cristo vive y dirige este Iglesia.

23 May 2016 - A lot of things to learn from

Dear Friends and Family,

This has been a week with a lot of things to learn from.

At the beginning of the week, our Zone Leaders committed us to getting 15 lessons with member present. This is a very difficult task here in Mty for many reasons. BUT, we were determined to get as many as we darn well could. In the past couple of weeks we have been getting only about 2 or 3 which is the bare average minimum. But, with intense planning and phone calling and simply asking members to come with us any time we visited them, we got up to 9. That is actually the highest I have ever gotten in my mission. 

Apart from all that, I felt like this week was one of the more satisfying weeks work wise. We worked effectively and invited a lot of people to listen to the message of the Restoration. We found several less active members who we think can progress and we are making plans to get more work done in our area to re-activate and baptize people so that our little corner of the ward stops looking so.....dry.

Then.......Sunday came around. We had committed at least 9 people to come to church....and there was nobody. It was a difficult and stressful thing to witness. For a little while, it seemed like ALL of our work and effort was for nothing. I would like to say this story has a happy, miraculous, faith inspiring ending.......but it doesn't.

Simply put, the mission isn't all sunshine and rainbows. After eating, an appointment we had made fell through and on the way to the house to drop off our stuff (six blocks), three consecutive drunk dudes stopped us on our way to either ask for money or bug us about being gringos. Insult to injury. 

BUT! That is not going to get us down. Sometimes we have to pass through a teeny tiny bit of what our savior passed through during his ministry in order to really understand the importance of this work. The Lord works miracles, but at times we also have to learn how to rely on him more fully. These are the kinds of experiences that build our faith. It's tough, but it's worth it in the end. 

Se que este es la obra del Señor. Se que El nos ama y nos pruebe para mostrar este amor. Se que nunca debemos desanimarnos, porque el Señor siempre esta a nuestro lado. Se que mientras mas grande la lucha, mas glorioso el triunfo y que no importa cual es la lucha, Jesucristo nos ayudara si confiamos en El.

Los amo,

Elder Lambert

16 May 2016 - "Neutral Good Week

Dearest Friends and Family,

This week was "Neutral Good". Let me tell you why.

We didn't have our normal district meeting because on Thursday we had Zone Conference. It was a very good conference. We talked about emergency procedure with Hna McArthur and then talked extensively about finding new investigators efficiently with our ZL's. President talked about various different topics dealing with the work. Especially about the sanctity of our calling.

It has been raining off and on all week. I was awoken to rolling thunder and lightning in the middle of the night last night. It freaked me out.

 

Another thing that freaked me out was an open roof Mother's Day celebration on Tuesday (Mexican Mother's day is the 10th of May always) with a male stripper. I remind you that this was literally on the roof of a house.

We have been working and hoping all week to get two new investigators in church on Sunday. It didn't happen :( because it was Stake Conference. The messages from the Seventies that visited were amazing and inspiring. The lack of investigators in church was sad, but the ability to see old friends was awesome.

In the Anahuac stake, there are two missionary zones. I started the mission in Zona Anahuac and I am currently in the second one, Topo Chico. I got to see a lot of the people from my first ward Los Andes, including one of my converts, Erika. It was really amazing to see them after so long. It made me miss my old wards, but gave me inspiration to work hard in this one. 

Se que el Señor dirige este Iglesia por medio de sus siervos los Profetas. Se que Jesucristo vive y que Thomas S. Monson es un Profeta verdadero de El. Se que el Profeta Jose Smith restauro este Iglesia por medio de la  dirección de Dios. 

Los Amo,

Elder Lambert

PS: Props to those that "got" my intro.