Juarez Missed Me

So this week was fantastic! I ended my last week in Lomas the best way possible. 

Elder Gomez and me with Angelica and Stephanie before the baptism.

The highlight of the week was for sure. Saturday and Sunday. Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock we started the baptismal service of Angelica and Stephanie. They were later baptized and it was an amazing experience. I'm so glad I was able to be a part of the conversion of these two daughters of our Heavenly Father. But Sunday was even more special--when they recived the gift of the Holy Ghost. Angelica was crying when she was getting blessed and I could feel the spirit soo strong. Later that day in Gospel Principals class Elder Gomez and I taught about temple work and that was an even more powerful experience. Angelica talked about how beautiful it is that we can perform the saving ordinances for ourselves and our ancestors. It was a beautiful experience that nearly brought me to tears. 

That was the biggest part of the week. But there is more news for you guys. 

Soo.. i guess that Ciudad Juarez missed me because yesterday the zone leaders called and told me that I'm going back! My new area is called Satelite. And my new companion is called Elder Lopez. And I'm still going to be a District Leader. 

I'm super excited to go there and I'll let you all now how it goes next week!

I love you all and hope this week is amazing for you!

Love,

Elder St John

The bishop (the tall man) with Angelica and Stephanie and Hno Rodriguez

Hno Rodriguz Angelica and Stephanie

Casi Soy Mexicano

 Academia Juarez, the best school in Mexico. (Because it's from the Church.) 

This week was just your average ordinary everyday week. We visited some members, investigators, less actives, and everything else. 

The highlighs of this week were when we taught Angelic and her daughter Stephanie about the laws and comandments of the Church like tithing and the Word of Wisdom. They both accepted to live the laws and hadn't really had problems with them before. And their baptism is this week and I'm suuuppper excited--as are they. 

Another highlight was that we found a new family to teach! And they are super cool and I hope that they can progress. 

And the last highlight is that this morning we went to Colonia Juarez which is another colony seperate from Dublan where more Americans live! It's also were the Academia Juarez is and the TEMPLE! 

The temple of Colonia Juarez, the worlds smallest temple.

This morning was amazing and I loved every second of it. One of the members of the ward is a bus driver and he said that he could give us a ride (it's about a half hour away) so we hopped in and were there from about 7:30 to 10:30 and I tooks pics so you can know what it was like there. 

The beautiful town of Colonia Juarez. 

But that's about it for the week! I love you all and hope you have a great week/July!

Love,

Elder St John

 

There is a story about this river. It is said that the Mormon settlers lived in a good town with a nice river and where kicked out by protesters so moved to Colonia Juarez and needed water so they prayed and fasted and then the old river changed its course and became the river where I'm standing. 

Journal Entry Number 3,298

Working hard as a district leader taking in dats en real inn.

This week was great! 

Tuesday afternoon i got on a bus and headed out to Juarez AGAIN! And it was super fun, especially because Elder Riding and I reunited and got to share the same hotel room. We had a great time! 

The dream team back in action for one day only. 

Wednesday we had a training meeting with the President for District Leaders and it was pretty good. We learned a lot and later got on the bus for another four-hour ride back to Casas Grandes. And it was a good time!

Came back to this little surprise waiting to greet me. 

Thursday we taught Angelica and her daughter, Stephanie, about the gospel and then Stephanie asked us when she could be baptized! So we put the date of July 4th as the baptismal date! I'm super excited for this day and I hope that everything goes well for them!

Friday there was a baptism in the district from the sisters in Huertas. 

Saturday there was a baptism in the district in Alamedas - and another meeting with President.

Sunday Angelica went to church with her daughter. And we wathced a member give his dog a shot in the bum. 

That's about all that happened this week! But it was a pretty good one! I love you all so much and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder St John

P.S. Happy Fathers Day!!

Another Week in Death Valley

So putting the fact that it is summer and a bajillion degrees here behind me, this week was awesome! 

The best part of the week was Wednesday. Wednesday we had a lesson planned with Angelica. She works till seven with her husband and so we had it planned to go to visit her at 7:30. Then she sent us a text that said that she wasn't going to be able to make it home on time and was going to cancel the appointment. I wasn't going to give up so I aksed her what we could do to help. We ended up deciding that the only way to get her home on time would be to help her close down her store for the day and take her home with us, we tried to find a member to help us with the plan. But it turned out that she got home on time and we didn't have to do anything but go to her house. And when we got there we met her daughter, Stephanie. Who also seems interested. And YES! They both went to church yesterday. It was an awesome week.

Other than that experience the week was normal: contacting, visiting, teaching, eating. It was all good.

I love you all so much, Thanks for all the suport and I hope you all have great week!

Love,

Elder St John

P.S. Here is a picture of Elder Gomez and me.

10 Months as a Missionary

This week I hit my ten-month mark and that is super cool to use two full hands to tell people how long I've been a missionary. 

This week was a great! 

Tuesday and Wednesday I did divisons with the zone leader, and he came to my area in Lomas. I ate green enchiladas Tuesday and they were delicious. Then we tried contacting and went to a few appointments that we had. 

Wednesday we went to Hidalgo and later found a super cool investigator named Lourdes. 

Thursday we went back to Hidalgo and ate, then came back to Dublan and visited a few more people. 

Friday was a normal day.

Saturday was also a normal day. 

Sunday we went to church. ( Angelica was out of town so we didn't get to see here there but will see her this week!) And we also had an appointment with someone who lives in the middle of a cotton field and while we were looking for his house we found a cemetery where a lot of the original pioneers who came here are buried.  Attatched are a few pictures that I liked from the trip. It was really cool and unexpected. The cemetery is seriously out in the middle of no where. I had no idea it existed. But it is a cemetary from our church!! 

That's abut it for this week! I hope I have more to tell you next time! 

Love you all a lot!

Love,

Elder St John

LOMASBONITO

This week was good, there were a lot of changes but the week went well.

Elder Riding left Tuesday and I went to the bus station to get Elder Gomez. So that makes me the Elder with all the knowlege of the area... I managed to do pretty well around the area alone though!

We did a lot of contacting and had a little bit of success. We probably knocked about 20 doors and we found a few people who told us we could come back, which was good! 

There isn't too much to say about this week, its a little weird being with a different companion in the same area, but I'm sure I'll get used to it! I'm learning a lot more now that I do all the planning and make all the decisions!

A little about My comp:

He is from Oaxaca. 

He is the only member of the Church in his family.

He has 14 months as a missionary.

Thank you alll for the love and support! It means a lot! 

Love,

Elder St John

Pioneer Children Sang as They Walked

I found Mater. Feat. Blackie.

This week we walked a lot. And we didn't sing and we aren't pioneers so the title is only 1/3 true but we did walk so that's the best I could come up with. 

This week was super good though. This tuesday we woke up bright and early at 4:00 am so that we could catch a bus to go to Juarez because we had a mission conference and the ENTIRE mission went to Juarez to listen to Elder Christensen (from music and the spoken word) and Elder Valenzuela talk. They are super awesome people and I learned a TON. We came back the same day so we spent 8 hours on a bus that day. 

Wednesday was pretty normal. We walked to Hidalgo and on the way Elder Riding hit me in the face and gave me a bloody nose, so we went to a gas station to get napkins (see picture)  and then visited a few people. 

Elder Riding and I fist-fight all the time.

Thursday we had another normal day..... with lots of walking.

Friday we had a meeting with the president and learned about health and about lots of other cool stuff. After that it was a normal day...... 

Saturday nothing special happened so it was also a normal day...

Sunday was super good! Angelica went to church again! And we taught her the plan of salvation and she seemed super interested. We are going to put a baptismal date with her next time we visit her. And Sunday night we found out about transfers!!

The transfers: Elder Riding is leaving to Estacion, a ward really close to Lomas, and he will still be in my Zone, and he will be a distrct leader there.

Elder St. John is staying in Lomas!! And my new companions name is Elder Gomez. I have no idea who he is so I'm pretty interested to find out. 

I will have more next week! But I hope you all are doing well! I pray for you all all the time!

Have a great week! 

Love,

Elder St John

We also bought a pie of mango and Guyaba (guava) and it was AMAZING.

 Found a dead bunny in the road and took his foot for good luck. 

Me and my WHole district. 

Except the three sisters in the middle aren't from my district, 

and the sister in blue goes home tomorrow. :(