A Little Nudge

Hey there Family ''O''

 

Well another really quick week has come and gone! Another nice week down here in Tepatitlan. A few more trials this week but all is going well!

 

That is great that the Sister missionaries got to speak in sacrament meeting! Grandma told me they have a bit of an accent? Can everyone understand them well? I am sure it is exactly the same when people listen to me though! ;) 

 

McKenzie sounds like she is getting excited to go to Institute which is way cool! I hope she likes it!  Make sure to tell President Evans hi for me!

Wow more kids getting married! I guess that's how life gets after high school!

 

Haha Ashley sent me an email and said she is studying really hard for finals. Then you send me an email and say the contrary. I guess Ashley's idea of studying hard is 5 minutes a day ;) Haha just kidding Ash!

 

I do have a backup of all the pictures. Don't worry, I thought ahead for once! ;) If you send another package, send me some old SD cards if you can and I will use them to send you the pictures again.

Well life in Tepatitlan de Morelos, Jalisco, Mexico is pretty normal. This week was a bit slower with trying to find everybody (nearly all of our appointments fell through). We met with members quite a bit though. We had appointments to meet references also but those all fell through sadly. But the good thing is that we are sure the members have friends ready to hear the gospel. Now we just have to make sure we can get an appointment with them! :)

 

Funny story. We have an investigator who came to church with us yesterday. We were sitting in the sacrament meeting and he was sitting next to me. He was nearly asleep the whole meeting. I wanted it to be a spiritually uplifting experience for him so I had to subtly give a little nudge every couple seconds. That kept me pretty entertained for a while. He never said anything so I don't think he knows I was doing it on purpose! ;)

 

I am way behind on cards so tell everyone I am sorry! I'll be sending some next week for sure! McKenzie sent me way too many! ;)

 

Today we are finally going to do something fun on Pday. We are going to go the park with the coolest family in the branch to play. I think we are going to play tennis so I will be horrible but we'll see how it goes! I am way excited though :)

 

Well I hope you all have a really great week! We'll keep working hard here as the Lord's servants in Tepa and you all keep enjoying life and working hard also! We'll hear from ya next week!

 

Love,

 

Elder O'Brien ;)

Engaged in a great work

Hey family!

That's right. One year has already passed! Can you believe it? It scares me a little bit but it makes me want to work even harder and help the people here in Mexico come unto Christ even more.

Poor Sister Rogers! Let her know that all is fine. Austin is eating really well in the MTC . He's really enjoying himself right now, that is for sure! Of course a bit homesick but happy!

Haha what is McKenzie thinking of working in the store? I don't think they celebrate Valentine's day here. I haven't heard anything at least...They just had a holiday yesterday though for the 3 wise men. That is so fun that McKenzie went tubing. The idea of snow blows my mind right now! It has mostly been raining here this week but then the last couple days have been really warm again! It is crazy that it is so cold there! Is everyone dying from the cold?

How did McKenzie like the singles ward? Truly I liked the family wards a LOT more when I was back home. I don't know it probably depends though.

Relax!

That is so awesome that everyone is getting along so well in the house! Everyone is really enjoying those small chances to be home all together no?

What did Bishop Lords say to you when you gave him a hard time. Tell him that him, Jake, and Cody just need to get out their rifles like when I took Lexi to homecoming haha. Do they still have that picture? We need a copy of it!

Tell Grandma and Uncle John happy birthday for me. John finally hit that big 5-0 eh? I didn't know numbers got that high. ;)

All is going really well here in Tepa. We have a baptism coming up the 19th. We haven't been able to have many lessons with the investigator so we hope that he will be ready! He is a really great guy though! We'll see how that goes! We are meeting a lot of people which makes me happy! We committed some less actives to come to church this week to start the new year but sadly they didn't come. We gotta keep working hard though!

We are working a lot with the members also. What came to my mind last week was that we are really working to set the foundation of Zion. Therefore we must not only work with investigators, but with members also to make sure that all are converted to the Lord 110%. I know the Lord has great things planned here for Tepa! I am truly enjoying the fact that I am engaged in such a great work here in Tepa!

I hope you all have an amazing week! Hopefully everybody doesn't freeze to death! Love you all and have fun in the snow where ever it may be!

Oh, tell Paola thank you for the Christmas presents, I love the shirt and the stuffed bear that she gave me!!!!

Love,

Elder O'Brien :)

One year down...

Hey family!

I hope you all really enjoyed Christmas and New Year's Eve today! It was so great to be able to talk to everyone last week! The time went by so quick! I couldn't believe that it was already time to go! I felt like we had just started the conversation! Sadly we had to say goodbye but in one year we will be at home for Christmas time! Crazy to think huh?

I can't believe I have reached the year mark in the mission. It has seriously been the quickest year of my life! It definitely had its trials and hardships but I have learned and grown so much that it makes me so happy! I know I am truly engaged in the Lord's work here in the mission field. He has blessed me in so many ways and I am so grateful for those blessings that He continually gives to me and all of you as well!

This week went very well. Elder Lopez got sick pretty bad this week. He was sick to the stomach and had a fever also. He was stuck in bed nearly all day Saturday which happened to be the day all the adults went to the temple in Guadalajara and none of the priests could help us so I got stuck at home also. Man I was bored haha. It made me very grateful for the times when we are healthy and we can work with 100% of our efforts. Elder Lopez got healthy enough to go visit some investigators at about 7:30 that night to make sure they would go to church which was very good!

Our Christmas Eve went very well! We ate a ton!! First some fish which was SO good! A member roasted it over coals. We then ate cake for my and Elder Lopez's birthdays. We then went and talked to you guys and ate more cake with the branch President and his family for our birthdays. Then we went to eat tacos with a member family and we ate more cake. When we went to eat it though the Sister shoved my face in the cake! I'll try to send some pics. They are on my companion's camera. It was a very good day though. Christmas day we ate some good tacos again haha. Go figure...WAY good though. We ate with one of our investigators. She also gave us gifts. We got socks, chocolates, and deodorant. I think she was trying to send a message ;) Hahaha! Another great day!

We had a great week in church. A family that was inactive since I got here finally came to church. It was so exciting to see them there with their whole family! We are going to work a lot with them so they can go to the temple as a family!

We also met some really great people this week. One young girl was very funny. She is the niece of a member. The member says her niece's parents might not let her come to church or teach her. I say let's give it a shot. I don't just want to teach her. I want to see if we can teach her whole family! We'll see how that goes this week!

Not too much else crazy happened this week. We had to go home early both the 24th and 25th. What a party! Haha. Everyone says they get really trunky this week but I was able to overcome it all pretty well!

It is crazy that Janessa is headed to Sweden! When does she head out? Tell her congratulations!

Elder Lopez and I are getting along well. We ran out of gas for the hot water this week and we have to wait until tomorrow to buy it or else we won't be able to reimburse it. Let's just say showers have been much faster this week than before haha. I guess it is good that someone gave us that deodorant! ;)

I hope all are doing well! It was great to hear all your stories from Christmas. Especially McKenzie's :)! I hope you all have a great New Year. Set some great goals everyone. The Lord is willing and ready to help. We first must set reasonable goals with faith then put that faith into action and achieve them.

26 For behold, it is not meet that I should command in all things; for he that is ^acompelled in all things, the same is a ^bslothful and not a wise servant; wherefore he receiveth no reward.

27 Verily I say, men should be ^aanxiously engaged in a good cause, and do many things of their own free will, and bring to pass much righteousness;

28 For the power is in them, wherein they are ^aagents unto themselves. And inasmuch as men do good they shall in nowise lose their ^breward.

All is possible with the help of the Lord and as we work to complete our goals!

Have an amazing 2013! See ya in a year! Love you all!

Elder O'Brien ;)

Making a difference

Hey family!

Half way through December already! Can you believe it? Pretty crazy!

It sounds like you all had a really great birthday party for mom! Spoiled her nice and good eh? Where did you all go to eat? The girls had a lot of fun with the stick notes huh? They did that to mom's Chrysler?

McKenzie is back home, safe and sound! How is she liking that? Will she have many friends back home right now?

I did get your other package that you sent. Elder Lopez and I really enjoy opening one everyday. I am dying to open the one for Christmas day though! :)

Well right now I am chatting with McKenzie and it looks like we will be skyping on the 24th in the night! We'll see how that goes! :) I need to look up my account information again haha.

Well there were changes again last night but I am still here in Tepa! I'll be completing 7 months here at the end of this change! Crazy huh? I'm pretty sure I'll have to head out at the end of this change but we will see what happens! I am really enjoying it here though because I am really seeing a big change here in the branch! Elder Lopez and I were discussing how big of changes we have seen here. We then set plans of what we would still like to change! It is really great to see that you are really making a difference in people's lives!

We are looking forward to a baptismal service this weekend! It will be a ''white Christmas'' like everyone is saying haha. We're really praying all will work out really well with that!

We had a really awesome Zone Christmas party last week. We played broom hockey but that didn't last too long! You know how us missionaries are. The brooms lasted about 3 minutes! We decided it would be easier to play soccer instead haha. Later we broke piñatas and ate Chinese food. Stinking Chinese food made me sick though haha. I also got cards from Bishop Millward, Elder Wasden, and Aubrey Palmer. It sounds like all are doing really well!

Well I hope all goes really well for you all this week! Have fun getting ready for Christmas! We'll be seeing you next week!

Love you!

Elder O'Brien :)