In the Zone

Dear O'Brien clan,

Hey! Well it has been another really quick week! Sorry that I didn't have much time last week to write. We had a zone activity and we spent a lot of time on the bus and so we didn't have much time to write. But now I will be able to write a lot more. :)

We had a really good time at the zone activity last week. We played a lot of soccer. We even got a little bit of basketball in which was a first for me here in Mexico. Let me tell you I have gotten really bad! Haha. But the soccer skills have definitely improved so I guess that is alright. 

I also got to do divisions with Elder Garcia again! He is a way cool Elder! He only has 2 months in the mission but I was amazed by his ability to teach and just bear testimony of everything! That was one thing I decided I will really improve. Simply teaching and sharing my testimony just a bit in the lesson isn't the most effective way to teach. I should be testifying of the truthfulness of everything I teach so that my investigators and the members will have the desire to ask and know for themselves that what I share is true.

We were able to find a couple more less actives this week. We are using a big map of the area and marking where all the members live so that the missionaries in the future won't have to look for everyone like we have to. It is kind of a pain because the numbers of the houses aren't good here. You'll pass the number 7 and the next house is number 94 then 37. It is all over the place! But the nice thing about it being a smaller town is that if you can get close you can ask and the people normally know who it is.

We are finally getting all ready to get a couple married so they can get baptized but now they haven't been coming to chruch. It has been fairly frustrating but we are doing all that we can so all will go well for them. We also have another investigator who lived in Utah before but never met the missionaries. She lives next door to a less active member so we have been teaching her for about a month now! She is way awesome and loves going to church but isn't sure about baptism still. She is actually thinking about going back to the United States in a couple months so we want to get her baptized so she can go back to Utah strong right? 

We also found a couple more investigators this week! It was actually pretty cool! We were walking around looking for less actives way out in the middle of nowhere when my companion and I thought we heard someone yelling Elder! We looked around and we saw a kid. We started talking to him and I felt I should ask where he lived and if his parents were in his house. He pointed to a nearby house and we headed over and started talking to his mom. She said the missionaries had spoken to her once nearly 2 years ago but they never returned to visit her. We then also talked with her 2 neighbors and they are now listening also! That was a really great blessing this week! 

It is really great to hear that everyone is doing so well! I can't believe that Ashley is almost done with school and McKenzie is almost ready to start up again! I hope that you are all excited for them and that all goes really well in school! 

Tell Lexie and Becky congratulations for their weddings! I am really excited for them! Sorry I couldn't be there but I know they had a great time!

Well I hope you all have a really good week! Remember I love you all and it is so great to be able to hear from you all each week! Keep working hard to be the best you all can be! 

Love ya!

Elder O'Brien