17 Months Today!

Hey Fam!

How is everyone this week? I'm doing well. I'm currently in Guadalajara. I came to sign some VISA paper stuff, kinda takes up the whole P day, but oh well.

This week has gone well. We've been finding more and more people who seem ready for the gospel, it'll be interesting to see in the coming week who's progressing and who's not. We found a family that's part member. The dad's been a member since he was eight, but his wife and kids aren't members. They actually lived in Utah for like the last fifteen years. They lived in South Salt Lake at like four hundred south and two hundred east or something like that. When I first met the dad I could have sworn I had seen him before. How crazy that I had lived my whole life a few minutes away from a family, and maybe even seen them before, but then met them in Zamora Michoacan hours and hours away from home, where they're first starting to really get to know the gospel. The kids in the family are super cool. They have a daughter that's like eleven, a boy that's like nine, and a girl that's like seven. They all love when we come over because they can speak in english for a little bit and talk about Utah. haha. They miss it alot. The family has all been progressing well, and they have even been reading the Book of Mormon together daily. The tough part has been gaining the trust of the Mom. She always seems a little bored in the lessons, and still hasn't shown any desire to come to church, even though her husband and her kids beg her to come. We'll have to see what happens, what the Lord can do to soften her heart.

On tuesday night I was on divisions with Elder Gerome, another missionary that was in town for a zone conference. We were in a pretty rough neighborhood, and as we walked past a small group of rather drunk men, one of them who looked pretty tough stood up and shouted "Hey! Come here!" We pretended we didn't hear him and kept walking. He followed us and kept shouting, but we just shouted back that we were in a hurry and couldn't come, because he was pretty drunk. A couple days later, Elder Zuñiga and I were walking to an appointment when a man stepped outside of his house. He looked kind of timid and nervous, as he quietly stepped forward and said: "hey would you have a little chance to talk with me?" I felt pretty bad when I realized it was the same guy, that had wanted to talk to us a couple nights before. This time he was sober. We stepped into his house and started to talk. It turns out he's a thirty one year old man trying to start a family, and he's had alcohol addiction problems since he was fifteen, more than half of his life time. He explained that when he had seen us that night he was just sobering up for the first time in two weeks. We taught him about the restoration and the word of wisdom, and he promised to stop drinking. Since then (about five days ago), he still hasn't had any alcohol, and is already seeing a difference in his family. It's going to be awesome to see the change in him as he decides to put his life into the Lord's hands.

In our house we ran out of gas (for cooking, hot water, etc.) like two weeks ago. All I really have in the house is food that's cooked on the stove, so I was starting to get tired of finding other ways to eat, not being able to cook anything. I finally decided to experiment a little with the things I have in the house. I remembered that we have a microwave, which is kind of rare in the mission, and I had never really used it. I grabbed the food that I had, and using the microwave, I made french toast, pancakes, and scrambled eggs. It was pretty sweet. I prefer the regular stove, but now at least I know what to do if there's a natural disaster, and the only things I have available are pancake mix, eggs, milk, and a microwave.

Den- Sounds like that was a sweet talk on the waters of Mormon story! Sorry about Chunk denny o. Love ya! Have a great week!

Dig- Way to jerk-dance at the dance. For your talk I would recommend Preach My Gospel Ch. 1, and the primary answers (read scriptures, go to church, say prayers, etc.) Love ya! Have a great week!

Shash- Sounds like you had a super fun week sloosh! Awesome! Love ya! Have a great week!

Dad- I got the money taken out and turned in to the mission for the bikes. Thanks for the help, I know there are alot of good things that will happen in the Lord's work with the extra resources of transportation. Thanks for the info on the new YSA stuff, but don't be too rushed cause I've still got over a half year left to go in the field! haha. Just kidding. Thanks for the reminder on the smiling and spirit stuff. Love ya! Have a great week!

Nay- That's sweet about the music building testimony thing. When I was with Elder Walker he use to focus on that alot, and it really helped us have more of the Spirit in the lessons when we utilized hymns. That's funny about your first singles ward experience, haha. You'll have to tell me about any sweet activities and stuff. Love ya! Have a great week!

Mom- As far as treats in the package go... Double stuff oreos are always cool. I would actually love if you could somehow safely ship me like powder mix for gatorade. I don't know how easy that would be though. I haven't really felt any need for new PJs or anything. The ties were all trades and gifts, like you said. I think i've spent a total of like four dollars in clothing items since I've been out, and it was for white socks for baptisms. That's funny about dad's dream. haha. Maybe it has some sort of profound double meaning that has to do with future events. just kidding. That might only be funny for someone who's been a missionary for a long time. Anyway. Thanks for everything Mom. Love ya! Have a great week!

Love you all!
Elder Aguilar