What, no stretchy pants?

 Hey fam!

Good to hear from you! It sounds like everyone is keeping busy as usual! That's always good to hear!

How did McKenzie like going up in front of everyone at seminary graduation? She wasn't too nervous was she?  I imagine she did great! Tell Sister Farris hi!! I miss those cereal days at their house so I always buy cereal to eat at night after planning haha.  The cereal is way better  down here! I think they put a lot more sugar on it!! haha. I sent Bekah a letter for her birthday a while back. Tell Kayelee and Anna happy birthday also! Their birthdays are coming up real quick here!

Sounds like our family is getting pretty famous.  I am not sure if that is good or bad? haha. Just kidding. I remember listening to Elder Bednar's talk for priesthood session and thinking man....Elder Bednar and  I lived like the same life haha.

Our week went really well.  We had three baptisms this week. They are a grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter. We are working with the husband also. He didn't really want to listen to us before but he got a little teary eyed at the baptism so we are going to keep working with him.  He's just not too sure about the word of wisdom still.

Oh question. Could you send  me a scripture case for my Book of Mormon and Bible. They are 8 .5 by 5.75  inches I believe. It would  be nice just too keep them in good condition and all.

 Oh cool thing....I met a muslim yesterday! A muslim in Mexico!!!   What are the odds?!  Another cool fact...yes I did...buy a luchador mask like Nacho Libre. They are only like 9 dollars and way sweet! I want to bring a lot back! I will get one for all you guys for sure!

Something else cool happened yesterday. A lady we contacted a whole week ago showed up to church  on her own!  We talked to her last Sunday and she told us she would show up the next week  if she could, and she actually did!!!  We didn't even recognize her until we asked who she was cuz she didn't look familiar.

It was another good stressful week! Another transfer has gone by. I am still in the same area for another 6 weeks with Elder Kennedy. It will be interesting to see how it goes. Last night we discussed things we learned this transfer and how we would change accordingly. I am really looking forward to this transfer. I really have learned a lot and  I will be finished with training in two weeks. I normally would have  finished today but  becuase I was in Spokane and the MTC for two weeks it got thrown off.

I am  going to send letters back  for the first time since I got to Mexico! Tell everyone sorry! I wrote some letters over a month ago I still haven't sent. Especially tell Mark though not to fret because it is on its way in a couple hours!

Well I look forward to hearing from you again! Thanks for keeping me updated with everything! You guys are the best!!

Send pictures of graduation!

 Love ya!

Elder O'Brien

Trial of our faith

Up on the roof!

Hey fam!!!

Saturday was way fun! It went WAY too fast though! Seemed like we hardly even got to talk! 

Well I have already told you about most of the week but yeah it went well. It definitely had its trials. We went contacting a lot because we felt many of our investigators were not truly interested so many have had to be dropped lately. So we set out to find all the ´´escogidos´´ as we call them, which means the chosen, the ones who are ready to accept the gospel at this time. Oh man we found a lot!! We were so excited. We were praying and praying to be led by the Holy Spirit to those who were ready to hear it and man did they come. Then the trials started. It was so difficult to find anybody!! It is another vacation time again down here...like I said two weeks don't go by without them having vacation...but nobody was ever home! It was so difficult to get lessons. I couldn't understand why the Lord would lead us to all these great people then not allow us to find them ever again. So I prayed a lot to have the opportunity to share our message with them. Then on Saturday still nobody was home. Then Sunday came and we set out to look again. We wound up finding nearly all of them! We have appointments set up with all of them again now! I was reading in the Bible this morning in 1 Peter and some other places where it is said that we receive no witness until after the trial of our faith. I thought this must be true. The last month has definitely been trying many a time but I realize now the Lord is preparing me. He is teaching me all these things at this point in my mission so I can be even better and know how to react to them later in my mission and in life! As Joseph Smith once said ''sometimes the Lord brings us down so he can lift us even higher''. These times of hardship will make the times of success even sweeter and we will see many blessings.

We are working with our investigator who was a smoker. We talked to him yesterday night and he hadn't smoked yet that day which was awesome! We really stressed no more smoking  this week so he could be prepared for Saturday. He said he was ready for the baptism this Saturday and that is what he wants. 

We also have another family we are working with. We are really working hard with the husband. He is really hesitant about changing religions but we know he feels the spirit when we are there teaching him. We are really focusing and fasting for him this week.

That's about it for this week. We might have transfers next week but I am pretty sure I will stay! We will see though. You never know!!

Love ya all!! Keep being awesome!!

Elder O'Brien

Taylor hasn't written yet...

 Hey fam!!

Oh man things are getting exciting. I can't believe we get to skype this week!! We will be doing it at 5 o'clock your time. 5...5...5... don't forget haha. Yeah I asked my President also and he said it was fine so we are all good! 

The limit that we have to skype for is one hour. They made a big deal that it is ONE HOUR haha. It will be good though!

Mexican President Uchtdorf

I got the Easter package you sent on April 1st so that finally got here. So packages take about a month. I will probably get your other one real quick here. I also got some letters this week. The weeks all blend together anymore haha. The weather isn't too bad. Everyone that lives here complains about it but it's really not too bad at all. Maybe around the 90s tops but there is almost always a little breeze to go with it. The rainy season should be starting up in a couple months and here when it rains it pours I have heard so I am enjoying the sun while I've got it!

Oh that's so weird that everyone is graduating! I can't believe it was a year ago that I did already! Oh man time is a scary concept! Is McKenzie getting excited for graduation! More for just all the parties I am guessing. We all know that is the best part haha.

Well Elder Kennedy and I set pretty awesome goals for the month of May. We are fasting and praying a lot that we can fulfill all of them. We need a lot of faith to complete it! We are excited to have a baptism this Saturday.  We have helped him to quit smoking, and he has been a great person to work with. I actually gave him those Andes Mints you sent. Sorry, but it was for a good cause :)  It is really exciting to really see the work progressing here! We went from an area with virtually 0 investigators to having many families talking with us! It is such a tender mercy of the Lord and such a blessing because we have really been working our hardest every week!

This week was a little bit tougher because my companion had a leadership conference in the offices two of the days for almost the whole day so it was much harder to meet with everyone but we just about got them all. I felt very accomplished for what we were able to do with the time we had. 

Bowling last week was great! It was exactly the same as cosmic bowling back home. It is hard to really show my personality in spanish still cuz it is hard to joke and all but we all really enjoyed ourselves!

Our houses are getting checked this week to see if they are clean so Elder Kennedy and I are busy cleaning today! We have kept it really well except for the stuff that was already there when we came like some weird stain thing on the tile and some marks on the wall but all will be good!

The hardest thing to believe is that we are already a week into May! All my friends will be leaving soon! Man life is crazy! 

We played futbol against another zone today. My companion and I enjoy playing on our P day, and there never seems to be a shortage of people here who want to play. 

jalapeno with shrimp. yum!

Other than that all is great! I am really enjoying myself. We are working hard and I know as we continue to do so and have lots of faith, my companion and I will see many miracles this month of May. We are already beginning to see little ones happen nearly every day!

Thanks for the package and the songs from McKenzie. Oh I can't wait to hear Taylor Swift's beloved voice again! Give her my address. She might want to write me also. Oh even better she'll write a song about writing me and it will be a big hit. ''I can see it now'' ;) if you don't get that joke just ask Mark when he comes over this week. haha. 

¡Les amo mucho!

¡Hasta Sabado!

Elder Guapo O'Brien ;)

Bowling for investigators

Hey fam!!

Well it's been a real great week! They truly get faster and faster the
further you get along! We had a conference with all of the new elders
that came down with me. It was really great to see them all again!
They all sound like they are really doing great. We just had a meeting
cuz now that we have a little time in the mission they wanted to make
sure we were doing everything right and let us know how we could all improve. It
was really great! I learned a couple pointers that I felt I could really
put to use to help me down here.

We still didn't get our baptisms we wanted! This week though it is
going to happen! We have just had such a hard time getting those two
married! Man it is a hassle haha.

We have been working a lot with our other investigators. We have ten
planned baptisms for this next month I believe so we are really going
to work with all of them and do our best every day so we can have them
all baptized. It is getting near the end of President and Sister
Jesperson's time here so we want to be sure they can leave with a
bang!

We are about to go bowling with some of our investigators so this
might be a little shorter than normal cuz we are running late. They
are doing great though! They have come to church two Sundays in a row
and all the activities. We love being with them and having the
opportunity to teach them becuase they were truly chosen of the Lord.

Oh so the zone leaders were messing with me and I didn't get
the package. They told me they were eating all my candy and took all
my new ties so I believed them!! Oh those guys! I'll have to get them
back sometime!

I got a lot of letters this week! It was good to hear from them all. It was
hard to concentrate for like an hour after I read them so I am going to
start reading them only on P days so it doesn't distract me during the week.

One fun thing we did this week was play soccer for a bit with some
kids then found the one with the ¨fire in his eyes¨. We gave him a
pamplet of the restoration and told him we would be back the next day
to see his family. We went back and they were way cool! They had
talked to the missionaries when the 14 year old kid we were playing
with was really little so they loved the missionaries. They invited us
right in for cantelope and raspberries. Oh man it was good! Reminded
me of home. OH i loved it! I feel we will really be able to have
success with them. I am really excited to go back!

We continue to improve. Our numbers keep going up and up personally.
Church attendance is also improving dramatically. My first week we had
40 and in two weeks it is almost up to 60 in sacrament! It is so great
to see results like that! Makes you feel like all your efforts are
really making a difference!

Still haven't gotten sick from anything! Everyone is telling me my day
will come! I'm going to avoid it for as long as possible!

Well we're headed out but I hope you liked this letter.

Love ya!! Thanks for all your support!

Elder O'Brien