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