Feliz Navidad :)

Elder Aguilar & Elder Moberg in luchador masks

Elder Gilando & Elder Aguilar soaking wet

Either Hilda or Liliana's Baptism

Ditto

Maybe one of these ladies is Hilda or Liliana

Hey Fam!
How are you all? This week has gone a little better for us. We're still searching out more people who are ready for the gospel and it's tough but we're finally starting to see some results. Hopefully with in a week or two everything will be going smoothly in the area.
Anyway, so this week we went by the house of a family (the Sarabias) in the ward to see how they were doing. Last week when we were eating lunch with them and Sister Sarabia let us know that after lunch they were going to the doctor to find out if she had cancer. It was pretty hard to finish lunch with them because we just felt anxious and nervous for her. But anyway, this last monday we went by to see how she was doing. We shared a message with her and then asked if there was anything we could do for her while we were there. She said she wanted to show us her test results from the doctor. She brought out some papers and had my companion start to read. He read that where she was having the pains they had found about a three inch tumor that was really aggressive and dangerous. He then read a second test on the same tumor that confirmed the results of the first. He then read a third test that they had done to scan her whole body for signs of cancer. At this point we were all feeling pretty stressed of coarse, because if the first tumor was so aggressive it was pretty possible there would be more. The third test, however, showed no signs of cancer. The did a fourth test to re check for the tumor they had found originally, and it was gone! Sister Sarabia told us that after the second test she had prayed and truly humbled herself, committing her life to the will of the Lord, and later recieved two blessings, one from her son and the other from the bishop. She said after the blessings the pains she'd been having had left and she wasn't sure why, but then the tests showed that she's now healthy as can be, no sign of cancer anywhere. It was a pretty cool experience to hear about.
This last tuesday we went by with Marco and Beatrice and watched a video with them, "In the Hands of the Master," the one with the violin. It was pretty cool to see it in spanish for my first time. After the video we both bore our testimonies about the blessings we've recieved having our lives in the hands of the Lord. The topic of baptism came up while my companion was talking, and he asked how they felt lately about baptism. Beatrice said she was ready for baptism and knows the church is true, she just doesn't want to have to give talks in sacrament... I was pretty bummed. I let her know that talks were the last thing she should be worrying about, and that she should remember that this is their opportunity to start in the path towards an eternal family. They didn't take my comments very seriously, so I decided not to say anymore. Before we were about to leave Marco asked for a blessing because he had been sick for a few days. We said that would be fine of coarse, and gave him a blessing. After the blessing Beatrice was crying, and said she didn't know why, but she just felt the spirit strongly and started to cry. We headed home feeling a little confused about what to do. They both have really strong testimonies, but maybe it's just not their time right now.
The other night we went to visit a brother in the ward (Brother Lee) who recently had a stroke. He's a little bit loopy now but he loves our visits so we go by every week or two to share a message with him and his wife when we're on divisions. This last time I went with a brother from the ward, and neither Brother or Sister Lee recognized me. Brother Lee doesn't hear very well so we all have to shout the whole time while we're there so he feels included. He asked me what my name was after we shared the message, so I told him "Elder Aguilar" to which he replied "Feliz Navidad" (or Merry Christmas). We all laughed a little.
Well the weather down here is pretty much perfect, the day time ranges from about seventy to eighty degrees in the day time and sticks at about seventy two in the night. Recently it's been raining a ton every night after we're in the house, but the other day it started up before we had made it home and we got super soaked! it was pretty sweet. And the streets were flooded so every time a car would come by we'd get nailed with a big wave.
Me and my new companion are still getting along fine, this is the start of the fourth week for this change so I guess he's not my new companion anymore but I haven't really mentioned anything about him yet in the e mails. He's from about two hours north of here by car. He's twenty six years old. He's got a really different accent that's hard to understand, which has helped my spanish alot because it makes everyone else really easy to understand. He's a good missionary and recognizes the importance of having the Spirit in our lessons, and never tries to teach without the guidance of the Spirit so our lessons have been going really well. Anyway that's a little about my comp.
So all my friends back home are getting their mission calls! Cristobal man you're going to have a blast down there in San Fernando, my teacher in the MTC served near there and from the stories he told us it's a pretty incredible area to be in as a missionary. Jace Broadbent will actually be serving in the mission where my companion is from! My comp said the strawberries up there are the best in the world so that'll be sweet. Seth is going to Cali too huh? What part? haha. That's awesome that he gets to learn Spanish too. And Fui in New York, that's sweet. And TANNER! (I don't know if you read these e mails so if not hopefully my parents can tell you to read this one) Dude I think that mission call really reflects what a strong guy you are Spiritually. I can't even imagine the kind of blessings you're going to recieve while your serving down ther in Bolivia, and for the rest of your life as a result of your service. Man you're going to change the world for alot of people there with the gospel message. I can't wait to get to talk with you all about our missions after and in Spanish! I'm super excited for you dude. You're such a good example to me!
Anyway family, I'm finally sending some pictures this week, but I only have like three or four new ones. Don't worry I'll take more soon!
Shash- I can't believe your story about swimming! Is your foot ok? I hope so! I love you Sloosh! Have a good week! Thanks for your e mails!
Mom- Thanks for keeping me updated about all my friends and their mission calls. You'll have to let me know where JD gets his call to this week. Are you going to send those pictures of Dig and Pers in the package? That would be sweet. Is Persie still happy and healthy? Thanks for letting me know about the contacts. Also I was wondering if you could maybe send me some music in the package if it's not already sent... I would love to have the Prince of Egypt sound track and maybe some music from some Baptist choirs. I know that's a little random and if you can't get anything like that it's fine, but if you can I'd love it! I've been listening to Draper Sisters since I got Bam's package by the way. Oh I'm attaching pictures from Hilda's and Liliana's baptisms and one of me and my comp when we got home soaked in the rain. I'm also sending one of me and Elder Moberg in our luchador masks because I can't remember if I sent it already before. Anyway, thanks for your dear elders and e mails mom. I love getting dear elders from you because I never really know when they'll get here so it's always an awesome surprise! I love you Mom! Have a good week!
Dig- I can't believe Tanner really gave you his iTouch! You're a lucky guy. Be sure to share it with Den and Shash every once and a while so you don't get addicted to it and turn into a robot or something. So you're a Spain fan for the World cup huh? Mexico is out now too. They lost to Argentina really bad yesterday. We were walking in the street while the game was on and there was literally not a single person anywhere! All the stores were closed and everything because they were all watching the game. You'd think we were in like a ghost town or something, but when Mexico scored their only goal the whole city exploded with screaming and cheering and fireworks and stuff. But after the game everyone was really sad. Haha. Anyway, Love you Dig! Have a good week!
Dad- Thanks for keeping me updated on Tanner. That's awesome you guys still get to see him so often. Let him know I think his idea about the taco stand reunions sounds like a perfect idea to me! haha. That's cool that you and Den can just cross the street and practice golf at the park. That's fine that you're borrowing my clubs by the way, feel free! Sounds like your talk on Joseph Smith went really well. It seems to me that usually when people give talks that are really guided by the Spirit they say the same things after like you said, that they're not really sure what they talked about exactly, so I bet your talk was awesome! Sounds like mom's was really good too. Thanks for your testimony on the Priesthood also, and thanks for always being a great example to me as a worthy Priesthood holder. Love you Dad, have a great week!
Den- That's sweet that your still working on golf! You should keep it up so you can really become a pro at it. I never really had the patience to develope a talent really well, but when I get home from my mission I'm going to start practicing the banjo or something so I can have a cool talent. I hope it's not too late to start! Anyway, love you denny o! Have a great week!
Nay- I'm stoked to get your letter in the mail! So your off at soccer camp right now I guess. You'll have to let me know how it went! Thanks for that story about the tuna. Haha, I laughed a ton. There's a weird fruit here called tuna that's super good. It tastes like a kiwi only sweeter. Anyway, that's sweet that you ended up getting your purse back! Did that lady make you guys pay her? Anyway, Love you Nay. Have a great week!
Love you all! Thanks for everything!
Elder Dallas Robert Aguilar

Hey Family!


How's everyone doing this week? This week has been pretty crazy. We've had some really rough times in the streets this week and it's become aparent to me that the adversary is working really hard in our area right now. I'm sure that's for a reason. I have a feeling there are some families hidden somewhere around here that are really ready for the gospel. Anyway. This week has been interesting because we had pretty much zero success the whole week up until yesterday after church. A seventy came to our mission to talk with all the zone leaders about how we need to change our outlook on the work, so we had a special meeting on saturday with the zone to discuss the things we need to change. The general authority explained to our zone leaders that we as missionaries are here to find the people who are ready for the gospel. In section 4 of Doctrine and Covenants it says the field is white, so there's no need to waste time planting seeds when we can be harvesting! Things that prepare people for the gospel are the Spirit, experiences in their lives, and their own decisions. We learned that if the people aren't ready for the gospel yet, we need to leave the preparing to them to the Lord, and get out of the way so they can progress in His hands, not ours. We still serve and share with everyone we talk to of coarse but our little meeting really opened our eyes. We've had to drop alot of investigators that really just aren't ready for baptism yet, and we've had to do alot of searching for new people! Saturday we started out in the streets just contacting people in the street. We were in an area we've worked alot in lately and our efforts seemed very fruitless. We even went to go invite a less active family to the family night activity at the church but they've gone back to being evangelists. Not that I have anything at all against evangelists, it was just a little discouraging to hear even our members are starting to not want to listen to us. In church on Sunday we had a record low in attendance. we arrived at the house just wondering why things are so hard right now. We decided to pray about what part of our area we could focus on with the new outlook the seventy gave us, to try to find new investigators. We prayed and decided on an area together. I also prayed and told the Lord that we finally recognize that our own efforts are getting us nowhere, and that we're turning it all over to Him since that's the way it should have been all along anyway. I also said that I wasn't planning on coming home until we taught at least two new people a full lesson that are ready for the gospel. Anyway, we headed out to look for new investigators. We arrived to the street we chose to find that even though it was in a more humble area, this particular street has alot of really wealthy people on it. I was a little nervous that we might not have been in the right place, since the wealthier people are usually less likely to listen. But we decided to be faithful and started knocking on doors. After about three hours of knocking we were happy to have planned about five appointments with families that really seem ready for the gospel. We didn't have much time left in the day, and we hadn't contacted our two hundred people for the week still. We had to make a choice to continue in the street where we were at, or go up to a plaza where we could quickly contact a large number of people to reach the two hundred goal. We both felt like we'd have more success if we continued knocking doors, but a rule is a rule! I called one of the zone leaders (my old companion Elder Moberg actually) to ask his advice. He let us know that we should never make any excuses to not complete with what the Mission President has asked, but that the spirit knew what we should do. He said that we should do whichever would bring about the best results for the people in our area, and that the Savior would be proud. Well we thought for a second, and remembered that we had already found alot more people than we had found in the entire two hundred contacts from last week. We both felt pretty strongly that we needed to continue knocking on doors. We kept going for a little and found another family who wants us to begin teaching them, but we didn't teach them right then because they were eating and at a birthday party. About then I remembered that we still hadn't taught anyone, and I had already told Heavenly Father that I didn't want to go back home until we taught at least two people who are ready for the gospel. We didn't have much time left, so I said a little private prayer for some extra help on our last contacts. At the next house we got to there were some girls leaving for catholic mass, which isn't usually the best sign, but we decided to talk to the mother and their brother anyway. The mother let us know she didn't believe there was anything after death in this life. We ended up teaching her and her son about the plan of salvation, and it went well. The spirit was present in their house, and they want us to start teaching them more about the gospel. We ended up getting home with seven new investigators that all seem to be ready for the gospel. It was a rough week and alot of patience and hard work, but I'm very thankful for the experience, and the opportunities our new investigators have in the near future.
Thanks everyone for your dear elders and letters! I love hearing about everyone it's a blast! I wish I had more time to write you all back but it's tough to fit it into the schedule. Thanks for all your support.
Bam- I got your other package with the cds! thanks bam! I love the snacks and I'm loving the cheerios as well. By the way I got your dear elder about the dried mangos thing and I actually love those dried mangoes and they're great for a quick snack and to take with while we're working. Thanks for keeping me updated on the fam. It sounds like you all had a good time with the graduations and stuff while grandma Joyce was in town. I love you Bam.
Gram- Thanks for that story in the dear elder about the missionary from Peru! That's an awesome conversion story and it sounds like it's really changed that missionary's life. You'll have to let me know as soon as Zach gets his call by the way! Thanks for your letters and your support Gram. I love you.
Mom- I got your letter from 'my day!' That was an awesome letter mom, I loved thinking back on all the great memories from those times. Thanks for your dear elders also! I was a little bummed to hear about Tina and all, that will be hard for the kids. Anyway, I've thought a bit about the old house too. It really was the greatest place on earth. I bet we'll be right back with our family in our home again feeling just like we use to someday in the future, because I'm pretty sure the Lord knows how much it means to our fam, and he's been preparing a place for us to be after this life! Thanks for all your love and support mom. About the package I actually could use more contacts in a couple months so if you're able to get those that'd be great! if know i have my glasses which is fine. I love you Mom.
Dad- That is so sweet about the U!!! I am stoked! By the time I get home we're going to have some sweet schedules and matchups going on! I can't wait! And the larger stadium will be awesome! Anyway, I'll make sure not to think too much about that and stay focussed on the work. About the Joseph Smith talk I feel the same way. There's so much stuff you can share about him, I would definitely include some strong testimony of the first vision and restoration of the priesthood. I bet it'll be a sweet talk. As far as the card I still haven't checked it! We'll leave a little early to start working so I can swing by the internet place by our house to let you know really fast. Oh and happy late fathers day! Love you dad.
Nay- That's hilarious about soccer! haha. Sorry i bet it's pretty tough to have a new coach again but it's pretty funny that story about how it happened with ashley! haha. Anyway. That's sweet that you're cooking a ton now! I wish I would have done that a little more. I'd offer you suggestions but I'm so hooked on tacos right now I can't even think of anything else. Anyway. Thanks for the e mail Nay. I love you!
Dig- Thanks for the story about the steaks! Sounds like it was a sweet fathers day. Thanks for your letters and all diggy o. I love you!
Den- That's sweet about golf! We'll definitely have to play when I get home. You'll probably win. I'll keep thinking of what you should ask for for your b day and let you know next week! Love you leonard!
Shash- I'm kind of jealous of your rope swing! I wish I had something like that! Oh well, haha. Thanks for your letters! I love you sloosh.
Love you all!
Elder Dallas Robert Aguilar

Month 5

I just love him so much!!!


Hey Family,

This week has been pretty crazy. My new companion Elder Galindo doesn't know anything about the area yet so it's seemed a little bit like I'm a one missionary companionship with planning and everything. But it's been going well. My companion is a good missionary. He doesn't like it very much that me and the rest of the zone are extra obedient but I think he'll get use to it. We've been going on splits everyday with ward members for about two to four hours a day in the evening so I've only taught with him about ten times and almost all of the lessons were just in the street but they went well.

At the start of the week we started teaching a guy named Oscar that lives in a really tough part of the city. The people in his neighborhood really struggle to get by but their all really nice so that's cool. He's an awesome guy and seems pretty excited about the Book of Mormon. We got a reference from a different companionship that was an address by Oscar's house so we went looking for it a little after one of our lessons with him. We probably looked for that house talking to everyone we saw for about a half hour but finally decided it was a fake address. We were feeling a little discouraged as we started heading towards our next appointment. I realized the street we were walking in is the street a pretty awesome member family lives in, but they've been going a little inactive so we decided to stop by. We shared a message with them and then one of the Sisters from the ward asked if we could give a blessing to her daughter. We said that would be fine of coarse and gave the blessing. Later she told us that her little daughter had been really sick for a while and the doctors couldn't figure out why. That morning she had been praying for the missionaries to come by her house so her daughter could recieve a blessing, and she said she knew it was an answer to her prayers when we showed up. I love experiences like that because sometimes even when we feel discouraged like things aren't going well, later on we realize we'd been exactly where the Lord needed us the whole time.

The area isn't doing very well right now. We have alot of people that we've been teaching for a while that just don't want to take the step of baptism for one reason or another and it's been pretty tough for us trying to find new people to teach and trying to get the others excited with no apparent results, but hopefully things will turn around. Actually the Christlike Attribute I've been studying this week is Hope. So this week has been a good test for me. It's been hard but it's good to know that the Lord will ALWAYS keep his promises to us and is always giving us what we really need in our lives at this moment even if it doesn't really seem that way.

Rodolfo has been doing pretty well. The other night my companion was on splits with a member and they taught him more about the Word of Wisdom. After they finished teaching, Rodolfo went and grabbed his coffee powder and poured it out in the dirt outside so that's pretty sweet. He's been coming to church as well, and yesterday his sons brought a friend with them. Their little friend is probably six years old and he sat next to me in Sacrament. He sung along with all the hymns in his high little voice even though he hasn't learned how to read yet. He was wearing his sweet spiderman shoes to match his spiderman t shirt that lights up when he hits his chest. He had the biggest smile on ever when he got to have a piece of bread and a little tiny cup of watter for the Sacrament. I love working with the people here especially for the little kids like him, because the church can make a huge difference for the lives of little kids down here, and it's the greatest ever to see little kids learning about the Savior.

Anyway, thanks everyone once again for all your dear elders and I'm still looking for a time to finish writing letters for you all because I really love hearing from everyone! I love you all.

Dad- Sounds like Utah weather is being as crazy as usual. It's been raining every night here the biggest rainstorms I've ever seen it's pretty sweet! That's sweet that you got to help bam with her new garden stuff. I bet she loves it. Your new calling sounds pretty awesome, I bet you'll have a blast preparing those lessons. Speaking of those Christlike Attributes like in that talk you told me about, we had a lesson in the MTC where they taught us that to develope all those attributes perfectly is really the ultimate goal of this life, to become like Christ. I thought that was pretty neat. Thanks for your testimony and all your advice and support Dad. Love you.

Mom- That's sweet about the dogs, you'll have to send me pictures of pers because I've seen like three dogs that look alot like her lately and I always hope she's doing ok. As far as my debit card goes I'll let you know next week because I don't have my card with me. Thanks for that story about Evan that sounds hilarious. haha. How's baby Trey doing by the way? Is everything still looking good? Thanks for everything mom. I love hearing all your thoughts about the house and everything too. I think the things I've learned most about on my mission are things for my family in the future, and the things you and dad have taught me all my life play a really big part in that too. I love you mom.

Dig- That job is sweet! There's nothing like real hard work to help you learn about life. haha. That's sweet that you get money too of coarse! As far as the 2012 thing goes, the scriptures say that not even the archangel michael knows when the great and last day will come so if the scriptures say nobody knows, and there are alot of people who think they know it's happening in 2012, I think for me I can be pretty sure that's when it definitely won't happen ya know? But anyway just a thought. Keep up the work dig that's some of my favorite summer memories is working. Love you diggy.

Denny o- That's sweet about your new street game leonard! sounds like a blast. I bet dig's pretty thankful you showed him for that other game too. That's coolio. Sounds like you're already having a pretty sweet summer so keep me updated on the sweet stuff you're doing for fun ok?! Love you denny.

Sloosh!- That's so cool that you got that ring and the picture of the Lord in your class! I love having pictures of the Savior around it's the best. So you gave a pretty wicked sweet talk huh? I bet it was the best talk ever. I can't wait to hear you give one after I get home. I love you shashy!

Nay- You've had the sweetest first week of summer ever! So you finally met David huh? How much taller are you than him in real life? just out of curiosity. haha. I'm just kidding. That's so sweet about summer games! holy cow! I wish I could have been there to see that all! It sounds like you really tore it up nay. And that's sweet about your front hand spring throw in getting used in the game! Ya it sounds to me like your a soccer captain this year haha. That's funny that you guys are like on church ball. You never know what might happen because on church ball they end up champions! You'll have to let me know how things go once your season gets rolling. Love you Nay.


I love you all! Have a good week!


Elder Dallas Rober Aguilar

New Companion

Hey Fam,
This week has been pretty crazy. We went by Marcos and Beatrice's house and they've been doing alot better so one of the zone leaders came to give them baptismal interviews. Marcos normally gets home from work at about eight thirty so we got to their house just a little before nine hoping that it would work out just perfectly to do the interviews and head home. We were wrong. Marcos went first for his interview while the rest of us talked to the family, and his interview took almost an hour and a half. Then Beatrice went in for hers and we started talking with Marcos for a little. We were all super tired and I felt like I might fall asleep so I grabbed my hymn book and me and the other zone leader started singing. We finished singing every single hymn we knew the tune to in the hymn book when Beatrice finally came out of her interview (about two hours later). By then it was around one thirty in the morning! We all took off for home of coarse to get to bed. The next day we went by Beatrice and Marcos' house to see what they decided about their baptisms. They decided they still weren't ready to get baptized... Oh well. I definitely want them to have sure testimonies before they get baptized but they've seemed so ready for so long! I guess we'll just have to keep working with them.
I don't remember if I told you about Rodolfo. He's an old investigator that wasn't very interested after we first taught him, but then a few weeks ago we swung by his house just to see how he was doing and he invited us in to share a message looking pretty excited. He's been reading the Book of Mormon alot and yesterday he not only came to church but gave us a ride there. He loved the sacrament service, even though it was a testimony meeting that ended up going about twenty minutes over time. I'm looking forward to seeing him continue to gain a stronger testimony.
We had changes last night in the mission. My old companion Elder Moberg is now a traveling assistant to the president which is pretty sweet. One elder that use to be in our zone got moved up from junior companion to zone leader which is insane. I'm still in the same area with my new companion Elder Gilando (I think that's his name, but I'm not sure because his nametag has been covered up alot today by his backpack and stuff. I'll know for sure by next week.) This morning we had to go over to the offices to drop off Elder Moberg and pick up my new companion. Elder moberg didn't hear his early alarm and ended up waking up at the normal time, wih only an hour to pack everything and be at the offices. We called for a special taxi that could fit all of his luggage and it took forever to get to the house. It actually took a little over an hour to get there. And when it finally showed up it was just a regular taxi with no luggage rack or anything so we just squeezed everything in the best we could since we didn't want to wait for a taxi. It turned out that driver didn't have very much experience. He was probably about twenty years old. He accidentally went the wrong way down a one way street, then he was turning left and nailed a cement island in the middle of the road with his back left tire and his hub cap came off. We were on a pretty busy street so he had to park on the sidewalk then run back to get the hub cap. Anyway we finally got to the offices but my new companion still didn't get there for a little while. By the end of this transfer I'll have been in my first area for four and a half months already. None of the other elders who arrived with me are still in their areas, some have had as many as five areas already! Elder Newell who was in my district in the MTC is actually training this change which is pretty sweet. Anyway, enough about that stuff.
We've been working hard to handle the new contacting rule. The other day we were on divisions so I decided to see if I could contact alot of people after the visits with a brother from the ward. He didn't really help me contact but I got alot done. Alot of people seemed to be in big hurries that day. Everyone kept telling me they didn't have time to talk so I'd just walk next to them and ask if we could set an appointment or tell a little about our message. One lady told me she was in a really big hurry. I assured her I could keep up with her for a little ways walking just to share something quick with her. She kept picking up the pace the further we'd get down the sidewalk. By the time I was asking to set an appointment she was sort of running away from me while I was jogging along side her. I didn't end up setting an appointment but it's ok. We found alot of really nice people who want to learn more about the Savior.
I've been working on getting some letters written to sent home. I need to write about fifteen but in the last three weeks or so I've managed to find time to write two. Maybe someday they'll get there but I am getting everyone's dear elders which are all awesome. I love you all and thanks for all your support as always!
Bam- I got your package and it's sweet! There's a ton of great stuff you sent me especially the dried mangos and granola bars and beef jerky. I was actually in need of some of those other things you sent as well. As far as the Draper Sisters cd thing goes, I actually lost mine so it would definetly be nice to have it again. And the members down here actually love the songs "His Hands" and "Jesus Was No Ordinary Man." If you wanted to send a few down I'm sure there are some people that would really really love them. Alot of people down here only listen to music in English too by the way so that's no problem. Thanks for the package and everything you do bam. I have been getting about two dear elders a week from you, and yes they are pretty delayed but any news is still news to me down here because I don't really hear about the same things you write to me from anybody else. I love you Bam! Thanks for everything.
Denny- I can't belive your already gonna be in sixth grade Den! that's crazy! That's good that your able to keep hanging out with all your buddies over the summer. Is your voice really getting deeper? haha. Sweet. Love you denny-o!
Sloosh- That's sooo cool that you and mak got to ride those horses together! That sounds super fun! I'm glad your having fun in the new neighborhood. Tell mak I said thanks for the e mail if ya could. I love ya shash and I miss ya tons.
Dad- That's sweet that you met somebody else from down here. The people here are all super nice and most of them are really funny too! And they're all hard workers also. Must be a Guadalajara thing. Thanks for the baby bird analogy thing. I love you Dad.
Nay- The weather down here has been in the nineties which is rough, but the crazy big rain storms should be starting any day now which will be awesome. Alot of the streets here get flooded up to waist level so I'll have some fun days swimming to appointments soon! That graduation story really sounds like hunter. haha. That's cool you got to play in the orchestra though. I liked your story about borrowing the squeegees from the gas station. Haha. So your finally going to meet David huh? I must say I'm not super jealous. haha. But you should take pictures of it so you can show me like send them in a package or something. I bet your stoked! That's super cute that story about Sawyer. She's a cutie. That stinks that Keish has to get surgery. Anyway, thanks for your e mail nay, I'm looking forward to that letter. I love you!
Dig- That's sweet you got like sixty hugs on that little trip. Haha. That story about dill pickly was pretty sad though. It's funny you mentioned that about delta because I worked with a guy who married a girl from there and he said the same thing! haha. Thanks for your e mail diggy. Love you.
Mom- That's funny about Jud, because denny told me he got a new teacher but he didn't mention who it was. Yes I know JD. I actually had alot of classes with him in school. He's an awesome guy, tell him I said hello! Thanks for teaching everyone over there about supporting missionaries. They were learning from the best missionary's mother in the world you know! Thanks for that story about anna and addy. Haha, hopefully I'll get to see one of their concerts when I get home. Anyway, Love you mom. Thanks for everything.
Love you all! Have a great week!
Elder Dallas Robert Aguilar

Ruben's Baptism

Quick note from the missionary mom:  I don't know why Katie is the only one who can comment on Dall's blog.  If any of you out there know how to fix that, please let me know. :)  Here's this week's email!

Hey Family,



How's everyone doing? Just so you know the shift key on the keyboard I'm using doesn't work very well so I might give up on capital letters partway through the e mail. This week has been a good one as usual. We've continued going on alot of divisions with the ward members and it's really helping us to get alot more visits in than usual. Ilda was baptized on wednesday by Elder Moberg and the service went really well. I have the pictures from it but I'll have to send them next week. We also found out her name is actually spelled Hilda, but the h is silent in spanish. Anyway, things had been great with Beatrice and Marcos up until yesterday. Beatrice has a hard time trusting Marcos, and thinks that he'll go back to his old ways some time down the road. We were sharing a message with them yesterday after church when things started to fall apart. The truth is that the Spirit wasn't doing the teaching, and there were alot of opinions thrown in to the lesson and not so many scriptures and invitations to learn from prayer and reading about the Savior's teachings. That's the worst possible approach in missionary work, because a couple of nineteen year old boys are never going to be able to change someone's life on their own, the Spirit has to be the teacher. Anyway, Beatrice and Marcos ended up in a fight. Marcos said he's tired of trying to gain the trust of his wife if she's never going to give him any credit for the changes he's already made for their family. I felt horrible after the visit and I definitely learned my lesson, that if the Spirit isn't doing the teaching I need to stop, or if it's my companion who's talking I need to say something to end the lesson or reinvite the Spirit.


Anyway, Jose our recent convert wasn't at church last week which was the Sunday after his confirmation and it stressed us out a little bit. He showed up on Saturday for a ward family night, and let us know that he was sorry, but was unable to come to church because he hadn't been able to get ahold of any food for almost a week! He had a little bit of fruit and some water but when Sunday came he literally didn't have enough strength to travel to the church. We got him very well fed at the ward family night and he was in church yesterday. It was a very humbling experience. He's been a great example to me of obedience and diligence, because he studies the commandments and the scriptures to know everything he can about the way the Savior wants him to live, and he doesn't even dare do anything outside of what the Lord wants.


For the past week I've been working on the Christ-like Attribute of Virtue, and the two weeks before that I was working on Faith. I learned alot about the fact that Faith is a principle of action, and we really don't have Faith if we aren't acting upon it. I learned that Virtue is a great gateway to help with other attributes. If our minds are pure and centered on the gospel the Lord can mold us into what He wants us to be alot more easily. I've also gained a testimony that each of these attributes are gifts. We can try to develop them on our own but we won't get far until we humble ourselves before the Lord and always pray for his help to become what He wants us to be.


So we have a new rule in the mission that each companionship has to contact at least 200 people a week. That's not a ton but it's more than we've been doing. They also encouraged us to make the contacts short and not to try to persuade people to let us come share a message with them, because the ones that feel the Spirit from just the invitation and don't need alot of convincing are probably the ones who will end up getting baptized. It's been pretty fun contacting this way and we've already found alot of really awesome people.


I don't know remember if I told you all the story of the crazy guy on drugs that we met my first week here, but we ran into him again this week. This time his hair was combed, he wasn't sweating so much, and he wasn't on drugs. He came up to us and asked us if we could lend him a peso. I was a little relieved that he didn't recognize us but it was all a little bizarre. Anyway, hopefully he used the peso to buy some food.


I can't remember if I told you about Frosty's artistic abilities, but he's an amazing artist. He was actually fifth in the world for portraits in 1993 which is pretty sweet. Anyway, Beatrice and Marcos have this little picture of the Savior in their house that I noticed the other day that they had cut out of a magazine. It's really small and kind of worn out, but I asked if I could borrow it to make a copy. I showed it to Frosty the next day and he offered to duplicate it for me only bigger on like a regular sized paper. He said he's tattooed that picture on four or five people. Haha. I accepted his offer of coarse and told him I'd keep my eye out for anything I could give him in return. He told me not to worry about it but I'm going to try to pay him back for it somehow.


Anyway, hopefully I'll have some more happy news for you all next week, I'm sure I probably will. Thanks for all your support and I love getting all your letters and dear elders and stuff! I'm writing you all letters to send home but I have no idea when they'll end up getting there. I love you all!


Dad- That's sweet about the neighbor's cars! They sound like some pretty sweet rides. I was walking past a car inspection place the other day and they were running the cop cars through for their yearly inspections. They were checking the brakes but it was a little different than back home. They just had three or four guys squatting down and watching the tires as the driver would take off then slam on the brakes. They gave him a thumbs up so I guess that car passed. Thanks for the reminder about the Spirit. I gain a stronger testimony of that every day. They actually told us a story in the MTC about someone who interviewed some recent converts to ask them about what first got their attention with the missionaries. They all said they didn't really catch any of the first lesson, but they felt something good so they invited the Elders back to their homes. That's really the only way anyone can gain a testimony. Thanks for keeping me updated on Tanner and Fui. Tell Tan I got his dear elder if you could please, and I'll see if I can get him a letter out before he ends up leaving for his mission. I can't wait to find out where he's going. I can send the pictures at a bigger size and I'm probably going to start doing that. I can also get them on to CDs to send home once I start to run out of memory on the camera but that should be a while. Thanks for everything dad. I love you.


Mom- Yes all the pictures I've sent home are still on the memory card. I do have two of them also by the way. So your teaching a lesson about writing supportive letters to missionaries? Sounds like a great topic. For me I love it the most when the fam really tells me how their doing. Not so much the things that are happening around our family but how they've been and what they've been up to and more sincere things. I also love hearing about little kids and funny stories. I love hearing from all the aunts about the cousins and I love getting little funny experiences in the letters. Anyway that's just my opinion. You can let brother Sessions use anything from my e mails that he might want to put into the news letter thing. He started to send the news letters to me also and I like reading the missionary experience section. I got the package you sent with the young women! Thanks I loved the treats and especially that aluminum water bottle it's sweet. Let them all know I loved it please :) Thanks for letting me know about Taylor's farewell. I didn't even realize it was already time for him to leave, and Fui's almost ready to go too! Time is flying by. I'm writing some letters for all the people who send me dear elders and I'll probably just send them home to you for the ones that live close if that's ok. I'm including the picture of Ruben's baptism and I'll have the one from Hilda's and Liliana's next week. Well anyway, I love you mom. Thanks for everything and have a good week!


Denny o- Den you had tons of sleep overs this week! Lucky. That's awesome that you got to go to the bees and blaze games. That's too bad the blaze lost major time though. It sounds like you've been having a sweet time with the fam and your friends. Love you denny, thanks for your letters!


Nay- I can't wait for your letter to get here! Hopefully it will be soon. Sounds like that tournament was pretty fun even though you guys didn't have alot of success. That stinks about keish though! Any news on whether or not she'll still be able to play? I can't believe your done being a junior already. Your senior year will fly by, especially if you don't stress out about alot of things. You're going to have a blast. Well I love you Nay, sounds like you probably had a sweet memorial day. Have a good week too!


Shash- That's good that your tooth finally fell out! you'll have to let me know how much money you get from the tooth fairy. To answer your question there isn't Memorial day in Mexico, which is too bad because we always have alot of fun with the fam so these guys are missin out! Anyway, Love ya sloosh. Have a good week.


Dig- Mom and Dad let me know you were out of town. You'll have to let me know how your trip went! Love ya diggy. have a wicked sweet week!


Love you all!


Elder Dallas Robert Aguilar