Jan 19 - A week with a 70!

Hey everyone!

So this was one of the most incredible weeks of my entire mission! It was highlighted by the visit to our mission by Elder Paul B Pieper of the first quorum of the 70. He is in the presidency of Mexico, so that was such a cool opportunity to be able to meet him. Pretty much all of my email is just going to be about the amazing opportunities we had last week for that.

So our big training with him was on Thursday we had four of the seven zones in our mission all come together to hear him that day. To start off Elder Penrod and I had to get up in front of everyone and talk about the vision that we have for our zone and what things we have seen that are going good, or not so good. It was super stressful, I honestly never thought in my entire life that I would talk in front of or report to a 70 but there it was. But afterwards he told us how professional we were and that he really liked our report so that was awesome. Elder Pieper was such a powerful speaker, he talked about how we need to do the Lord work in His way. He showed us a bunch of examples of how the Lord taught in the Bible and challenged us to become teachers like that! He shared a bunch of really cool experiences and pretty much told us is that a problem all over the world, is that the missionaries are converting the people, that we have more desire that they accept the gospel than sometimes they do, and that is not the Lords way. So he focused on how we can change our teaching style so that the people convert themselves, or better said so that it’s the Holy Ghost touching their heart that will change them, not the words of a 20-year old missionary. He focused a lot on how much importance we should place on DC 20 37 as missionaries but also how we should let the investigators know what the Lord expects of them, and let them be more in charge of completing those steps than us putting the timeframe. Something really profound that he said is that our testimony in the church doesn’t mean much, what is really important is our conversion to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

After the training, President Mecham got up and explained that Elder Pieper was going to interview 10 missionaries that President had selected to represent our mission. He started reading off the list, and I couldn’t believe it, but I was one of the names that he read. I was the last one to pass through, and it was such an incredible experience. He has such a powerful testimony of Jesus Christ, and it was just radiating from him. He shared with me experiences about his life, and really challenged me not just to be a missionary like Jesus Christ but a leader like him, to apply everything that I learned not just to investigators but to all those that I serve. Wow, what an incredibly awesome experience!

Then, on Saturday we had a super cool leadership council with Elder Peiper. All of the Zone Leaders and the Assistants were there with him and President, and we made a plan for how to bring to pass all of the things that he taught us in the mission. He talked to us about the importance of revelation as a leader and to truly be involved with every missionary that we are serving. He told us that he has NEVER taught to another mission what he taught to us and that it was not what he had planned to teach, but that after prayer and fasting, he knows that the Lord is preparing special things for this mission. He commented on the strength and unity of the leadership in this mission and called it an example mission ´´not only for Mexico but for the world´´ the spirit was so strong in that meeting and I am so happy for the opportunity that I had to be a part of it! We also got to take a picture with him, so Hermana Mecham will probably be putting it up on Facebook this week.

Also, I had the awesome opportunity to spend a bunch of time with President this week. On Thursday night after the conference, he came out to work with Elder Penrod and me and we had some awesome lessons with him, every time he opens his mouth, the spirit testifies so strongly of his words. After that, we had what Elder Penrod and I are calling the van training, because before dropping us off, he just shared some very spiritual thoughts with us about what we are going to do as a mission. All about the importance of becoming united through love with the members, so Elder Penrod and I are working super hard on that. We were both practically crying the Spirit was so strong telling us that we need to bring this work forward in our zone.

 

Then, yesterday I had my quarterly interview with President, and a lot like Dad told me in his email, he asked me how it was to go from being in the refiner’s fire in Topilejo to being in paradise in Churubusco, and we just laughed about how big of a change it has been. It was an awesome interview where he told me that it wasn’t just him that trusts me enough to put me here, but that it truly came from the Lord, he gave me some councils on how I can be better, such as truly coming to know and be like our Lord Jesus Christ. We were supposed to have our interview for 15 mins and we took a little over 30 haha but it was so worth it.

I just had such a spiritual high this week. I am so thankful to God for the opportunities that He has given me.

Con mucho amor,

Elder Stout

Jan 12 - Bienvenido a Churubusco! (And Tuesday PDays)

Hey all!!

Well I have had an absolutely crazy week! We are just so busy all the time here with an awesome ward and all of the assignments that we have! First of all, I am going to be having a little less time to write:( because we are always going to be doing stuff for President and other missionaries and things like that, but I will do all I can to still respond to as many people as possible!

So first of all....I have never been happier in my entire mission!!! My companion is awesome! I love him! His name is Bryce Penrod, he’s from Pleasant Grove Utah, but is a recent convert to the church. He is 25 years old and has 20 months in the mission. He got baptized when he was 22! He is an incredible missionary, it is so nice for me to be a junior comp for the first time in such a long time because he is such an awesome missionary and I have already learned so much from him! We get along like super well!

Our ward as well is incredible! I love it! We have so many members who are willing to help us, and I have just felt so much love for every person that I have met here so far! I absolutely am in love with everything that we are doing here, I love my assignment I feel like I am helping so many missionaries, what a miracle is has been that every time I have met or been talking with one of the missionaries from my zone that I just feel this love for them and a desire to help them, I feel like I have started off so well building my relationship with every one of them! I am just so happy here, in the best area, best ward, best zone and with the best comp! It has been an incredible week. I feel so incredibly blessed by the Lord for all that he has given me.

We had a bunch of success finding people last week. First of all, a new returned missionary that got home the day I got here, took us around our area and just like introduced us to all of this friends which was super cool. One of them was a young man of like 20 years named Mauricio who I think is one of the Lords elect because since the first lesson he has completed every reading assignment we have given him because he is just looking to come unto the Lord. He told us that ever since he was a kid and has seen us on the street he has just had a super strong desire to take to us and now he finally has the chance. We also found a super cool family, the Olivares family. We just decided to contact the hermana in the street one day and then we went to talk with her and her family a couple days later. She, her husband, and their three daughters were just super receptive to the message of the gospel and we are hoping so much to help them again this week.

So to describe my area really fast before I have to go. Half of our ward is in a super rich area close to where President Mecham lives, and the other half is in delgation Iztapalapa, the ghetto of the city, and you guessed right, me and my comp work in the uglier half and the other missionaries from our ward work on the other side. But, I feel completely safe here, so many blessings this week from God!

Until next week,

Elder Stout

Jan 4 - Happy New Year

Hey all! So first of all, a note to all that starting next week my pday will be changing to Tuesdays for a change in assignment! Only the last week of every change will I have pdays on Mondays, that’s probably hard to remember...Haha but I will remind you guys for the week that I go back to Mondays!

Wow, so I can’t believe that I am heading out of Topilejo. All in all, it has been an incredibly hard area. I have learned how much difference it can truly make to have leaders who know what they are doing here because many times we have had to save the branch from some utter apostasy haha. But, I am going to miss more than anything the kindness of the people. Just everyone here is nice. Whether they be members or people who have never even heard of the church, it’s just incredible that you can pretty much talk with anyone!

The best thing to happen to me here in this area was to really see a huge improvement in the obedience of my district. We had a lot of difficulties in the beginning of my time here to truly try to be 100% obedient but after I searched through prayer and the scriptures I was able to find a way to motivate the missionaries to be who God wants them to be. I felt so good inside, a true manifestation of the Spirit to be able to help the work here in that way!

I am not going to lie, I am pretty worried about how it is all going to go because the two missionaries that have me worried, Elder B. and Elder B. are the two that are going to stay here because they are going to close one area and those two are going to work together, but I know the Lord knows what he is doing.

Finally, the biggest miracle that I was able to have here in the branch of Topilejo was the hermana Socorro that we found. From day one it was just a miracle, we just happened to run into here on the street and she was all like hey what took you guys so long to get here, so that was pretty cool. Then she was just so ready to accept the gospel and was truly one of the Lords elect that we were looking for. Even though her baptism went a little haywire as I have told y’all, but afterwards she just hit the ground running again and has been a super strong member, even helped us to find Salome her friend who should be the next person baptized here in Topilejo. Sad note on her that her health has declined a lot lately so please keep her in your prayers, I think that I will truly miss those two the most.

 

I have learned SO much here in Topilejo that I look forward to applying in my next area the ward Churubusco, for those who know Elder Duncan Hamilton, I was told last night by a family that it sounds like I am following him because when he left from here he went to that ward as well, so that’s pretty cool! My new comp is named Elder Penrod but I won’t meet him until tomorrow in the changes!

Wow, so I will have a lot to update next TUESDAY! I hope that you all have a great week, keep me in your prayers that I can do the best possible in my new area where I am going!

Elder Stout

Dec 28 - Feliz Año Nuevo!

Hey so this week is going to be a really short email because about an hour ago I just finished talking with my fam, so I feel like there’s not much else to say!

Here’s 4 pictures for you this week.

#1 Is my mission family, its my dad Elder Hansen, his other son Elder Gomez, one of my sons Elder Hilario and his two sons Elder Gallejos and Elder Gomez!

#2 is us playing Jenga for Christmas with the family while we waited for the food to cook!

#3 these are Jorge and Gerson, two awesome 

young man (and future stellar missionaries) from the family that invited us to spend Christmas with them.

#4 I got to play Santa for all of the Elders in my district which was super fun! 

Well I hope everyone had a great Christmas! Love and miss you all a ton!

Su elder favorito,

Elder Stout

Dec 21 - Feliz Navidad

Hey all, first of all a very Feliz Navidad this week to all! I love and miss you, and hope that you all enjoy this special holiday. I want to invite everyone to ponder a little more on the Christ part of Christmas this year and to do your best to have the spirit of Christmas which is truly just the spirit of Christ.

This week is all kind of a blur, I am really sorry I am super tired right now, and all I can think about is our mission Christmas party that we had today! It was quite the adventure! We started of with skits as zones. Ours did a funny one it was the things we were going to ask Santa for. Our part of the skit was the best (in my opinion) in our zone there are two branches and the branches have the infamy of being the hardest and having a ton of problems, so we sang a parody of Demons by Imagine Dragons to Santa about all the problems in the two branches to try and get changes! haha it was funny! other people did about asking Santa for more food or other things, but our skit turned out really well. Then we ate, and while we ate, we watched Frozen, that was a hoot, because I haven’t seen a really movie since last September! Then we played basketball all afternoon, I am so rusty, but it was so fun to get out there again! Afterwards we had a white elephant gift exchange and I ended up with a tie that has the Virgin Mary on it, so that was interesting, and then some elders and hermanas presented their talents, which was super cool. They did some awesome like country versions of hymns and stuff like that. Then, President-who we didn’t know sings- got up and sang an incredible version of O Holy Night, the spirit was so strong!

Apart from that, we had some success finding new investigators. We found an hermana in a part member family where her mom is less active that wants to get baptized named Gabriela. We also found a couple that owns a store named Victor and Leticia who are both just awesome, and are already reading from the Book of Mormon!

We had our branch Christmas party last week as well and the elders we all sang a song together in English that was cool!

 

Well as I said I am wishing you all the best in this Christmas season, have a great week and a Merry Christmas!

Elder Stout

Dec 14 - Staying in Topilejo!

Hey all!!

Well first of all the big news is that the whole district up here in Topilejo, we are going to all stay together! Nobody has changes! These next transfers aren’t going to be for 7 weeks so I am going to be here in Topi until February! That’ll be 6 months, wow!

Also, about the mission, the big rundown is that we are going to have another stake! Right now we have 6 and they are going to add a 7th one! No one knows what the cause was, if they closed a mission or opened one or anything like that. Also, no one knows if the missionaries from the stake are going to come with it, or if they are all going to go to different parts of their own mission and everyone will be opening area there. Also, no one knows when it’s going down or anything, but it’s all good!

This week was a slower week! Hmmm...well I took a ton of pictures with members and investigators because I didn’t want to go without having pictures of them, but now I won’t have to worry the next time changes come around!

We didn’t really have any luck finding new investigators this week. One super cool lesson that we had was with the Family Ramierez. We found out that the Dad is a low key alcoholic and so we talked about why God doesn’t want that, and he just like started to cry, and we were like uh oh did we do something wrong? Then he left and came back with a big bottle of whisky and was like take it, I don’t want it anymore I AM DONE! It was super cool to see how the spirit touched his heart and was able to change him! So cool!! Also, we put a baptismal date with Salome so it was awesome to see that progress as well.

We got to see the temple dedication of the Tijuana temple yesterday and it was super cool! I have now seen 2 rededications and one dedication in the mission! Elder Uchtdorf gave an amazing talk and an amazing prayer, it was an incredibly spiritual meeting that I loved!

The pictures are the view from Topilejo, the setting up of the Christmas tree and the Family Ramierez!

Also, fun fact the highest part of our area called Parres is at 3200 meters above sea level or just a little under 10500 feet! Wow!!

Have a great week all!

Elder Stout

Dec 7 - Happy December!

Hey all!

Well first of all a very happy December and Christmas season to all! I know that the Christmas season will be an extra special one to be on the mission during because it’s just so easy to remember Jesus Christ during this time of year! This week absolutely went flying by! I am going to try and remember all that went down!

We had a super cool district meeting last week where we talked about the importance of talking with everyone. We played a game where I had a chocolate bar and I went and hid and everyone had to look for me, the 1st time they couldn’t find me. The second time I yelled and they all found me super fast. When we got to talking about it, someone said ´´well that was dumb, why didn’t you talk the first time, we couldn’t find you!´´ and I said ´´well, that’s exactly the point! There are people out there looking for the gospel that don’t know where to find it, and they aren’t going to find it because we aren’t opening our mouths! It was super cool! We also made a contest to see who could contact more people that would accept to listen to our message this week. The loser had to clean the whole house...Well today Elder Bojorquez and I spent the whole morning cleaning the whole house because Elder Bautista and Elder Pech beat us out 26-25! But, this week will be different!

Also, on Wednesday we had intercambios with our zone leaders and it was super fun! I was with Elder Crocket, and he’s just awesome! We had a great time in San Pedro 1, we had a super successful day, I learned a lot from the guy, he’s just awesome!

This Saturday and Sunday were cool too because we had out stake conference. The Saturday night session was pretty good but nothing amazing. Sunday literally was one of the most spiritual meetings that I have attended to in my life. The Hermana Mecham gave a super cool talk that focused on missionaries and members working together and kind of got after them for not looking to be the friends of converts more! We also had a 70 here with us, and he just gave an incredible talk on obedience. Pretty much the whole talk centered on the stupidity of disobedience to the commandments. He talked about how when we took upon us the name of Christ that we signed away our agency and that we cannot afford to come short on what He asks of us. He talked about how too many people think that its hard or that it’s a sacrifice to keep the commandments. Then he gave us a powerful illustration of the atonement of Christ and said that was a sacrifice, paying tithing is not a sacrifice. Just a bunch of super cool things about how really wanting to obey God is the only important thing!

Lastly, we had a super successful week in the district. We have been working super hard to reach the goal that President had put for us to teach 40 lessons per week and not going to lie, I honestly thought it was impossible, our first week in Topilejo we had 25 between the 2 companionships. But, this last week we got super excited in our district meeting and we were just like, yeah this is the week, let’s go! We ended up getting 81 as a district 40 from one companionship and 41 from the other! A branch in the middle of nowhere was able to find more people to teach than some of the big packed wards, that was awesome!

Pictures: Last week for pday we ran into Elder Herrera who is now an RM and got to eat pizzas with him! Elder Pech and I suffering the cold at the very highest point of the area. And, Cesar a less active teaching me how to fix tires!

Best wishes to all,

Elder Stout