Zarahemla Week 37

Eating Pupusas with Noel after his baptism!

I'm still in Zarahemla! I'm so grateful to have yet another transfer in this special place. My new companion is Elder Ramos Chen! He is so amazing, and is even teaching me a little bit of Chinese. We also were meant to be together; I have been really confused with which classes to take for BYU this fall, but he has already been to BYU for two years and was a student mentor! He's been helping me out a lot (Becuase of that, I took too much time looking at school stuff with him today that this email might be a bit short! Sorry!); he has literally been an answer to my prayers! We have been super busy these past few days, which has been amazing! Here are some highlights:

Saying goodbye to Elder Surette at the bus station

We had transfers on Thursday, which is always an exciting time. Elder Toledo went to Monte Rey, the Spanish branch on the other side of the island, which is still in my same district. Luckily we wont have to say goodbye! Elder Ramos Chen is such an amazing missionary, he is so energetic and positive in doing the work. It's been rubbing off on me a lot which is great!

Elder Toledo saying goodbye to Leonardo

There is a family in this ward whose father is a non member. The missionaries had tried to work with them before, but nothing much came of it. This past Sunday, they approached us and asked us to come and teach him! We taught them yesterday and it was such a spirit led lesson. It was so textbook it was insane; probably the most perfect lesson we've ever had! It was awesome to just feel the Spirit telling us exactly what to say, what to ask, and helping us discern what they were thinking and feeling. It was amazing!

Us and Leonardo and Rocio, who were baptized a bit ago

Well again I'm sorry that this is so short! But things are going amazing, I am glad that I have another transfer here in Zarahemla. Love you all so much, have a great week!

Saying goodbye to Antonio and Hermana Ortega

La Familia Cosme, one of the coolest families in the ward

La Familia Lemus, also one of the coolest families

Zarahemla Week 36

Exchanges with Elder Surette

We had a great week! We just got transfer calls... I will be staying here in Zarahemla for another transfer, and Elder Toledo will be leaving! He will be going to Monte Rey, which is still in the same district so we'll be seeing each other often, which will be a lot of fun! I will be receiving Elder Ramos Chen, who is a super amazing missionary. He is half Chinese, and half Mexican! I'm really wanting to learn some Chinese from him this transfer; we'll see how it goes! (He speaks Mandarin, English, French, and Spanish!)

Visiting Hermano Silva, who is struggling with
Cancer, but is in great spirits! 

Easter was fantastic; we were able to share a lot of special experiences with some of those we are teaching. It was a great time to be able to all reflect on the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. In my current study of the Book of Mormon, I'm studying a few questions regarding the Atonement, why it's necessary, how it works, what its effects are, etc. I was reading the other day in Alma 34, and I wanted to share a few verses with you:

"For it is expedient that an atonement should be made; for according to the great plan of the Eternal God there must be an atonement made, or else all mankind must unavoidably perish; yea, all are hardened; yea, all are fallen and are lost, and must perish except it be through the atonement which it is expedient should be made... And thus [Christ] shall bring salvation to all those who shall believe on His name; this being the intent of this last sacrifice, to bring about the bowels of mercy, which overpowereth justice, and bringeth about means unto men that they may have faith unto repentance... And thus mercy can satisfy the demands of justice, and encircles them in the arms of safety."

I know that it is only through Christ and His Atonement that we can receive that joyous and peaceful feeling of being encircled "in the arms of safety." It is a wonderous feeling, that we all can feel as we reach out to Him in faith!

Found Hermano Sanchez playing guitar in
one of the metro stations! He was so good!

Some updates as well, Alan and Leonardo will both receive the priesthood this Sunday! That will be amazing! Also, Horacio is slowly getting ready for baptism. Again, he is very old, so thus he does things a bit slower, but he's doing great! He got to church this week all by himself, and 30 minutes early! Doesn't sound like much, but when you realize that he is more than 80 years and has to take the bus and metro, it's impressive! The Lord truly has been and still is blessing us in Zarahemla!

Cazuela with Hermana Guerra!

Transfer calls were sent out very late (we just found out last night!), so we had to go about these past few days saying goodbye to everyone just assuming that we were leaving! But at least it allowed us to see lots of people in a short amount of time! We've been able to eat a lot recently... Hermana Guerra made us some amazing classic Chilean soup, called Cazuela last night. It was delicious! Pictures will be attached.

Well I'm excited to have another transfer here in Zarahemla! It's going to be a powerful one!

Have a great week, I love you!

Elder James

Zarahemla Week 35

Exchanges with Elder Torres 

 Another week has gone by here in Zarahemla! We have transfer calls this Saturday, so I'm anxious to see what happens. I don't know what to expect, but if I leave it'll probably be the last change I have in the mission field which is kind of crazy! We'll see what happens! Anyway, we had an amazing week, here are some highlights.

Leonardo's baptism!

Leonardo's baptism went very well! He was so happy and excited to be baptized. He was one of the readiest people I've ever met! He bore testimony after, and he just seemed like a seasoned member already... But he's only been going to church for about 2 months! How crazy! Another cool thing, he was baptized on Saturday, confirmed on Sunday, and then he went teaching with us yesterday! He was so good! He testified, shared personal expériences, taught doctrine; he was basically a missionary! It was so cool to be able to see, easily something I will never forget. We're preparing him to receive the Priesthood and go to the temple soon, so we hope that that works out!

Celebrating Leonardo's baptism with a traditional
Guetemalteca meal at the Family De Leon's house

We have been teaching these two young people named Francisco and Moisés, who are doing so well. They love the Book of Mormon! We just started teaching them last week, and they are great. When we talked about the Book of Mormon, it was just so crazy how they understood the purpose and need for it SO fast and SO well! They love it! We were able to give both of them baptismal dates for the 18th of May. They have a while to go until that point, but if they keep up at this pace, they will be doing great! The Lord has really just been blessing us with so many people who are prepared, humble, and are honestly seeking the truth. It's been so humbling!

We had exchanges with the Zone Leaders again, and I got to have another exchange with Elder Torres! It was awesome! We were able to get a lot of work done, and see some cool miracles together. I introduced him to Shwarma which he loved. It was a lot of fun!

Things are great here, and we are having fun! Again, anxious to see what happens with transfers, but I know that whatever happens it is what the Lord needs to happen! I love you all so much, have an amazing week!

Elder James

Montreal Week 34

We had a great week! General Conference was amazing; we had an amazing experience watching it with one of our friends. I hope you all had a great experience as well! I loved the prophet, President Nelson's talk, which reminded us of what he spoke about one year ago. He invited us again to focus on receiving personal revelation frequently, because, as he stated last year, "in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost." I know that as we follow the prophet's council to receive personal revelation on a daily basis, we will be able to truly have the constant influence of the Holy Ghost present in our lives. As a missionary, there is a clear difference between the days in which we seek diligently for direction from the Lord and the days in which we omit to do so. As we seek for and use guidance from the Holy Spirit, not only do we see more success in the work, but we also are significantly happier and satisfied with our work. It doesn't even matter what perceivable results we see from our actions, if we know we have been led by the Spirit, we feel fantastic! I know that that applies in each of your personal lives just as much as it does in a missionary's life. All we have to do is seek for said guidance, and the Lord gives it to us! Sorry that was a lot, I just loved the fact that we had so many reminders about seeking for personal revelation; it must be important!

Ice Storm!

We are preparing everything for Leonardo's baptism this Saturday! We're so excited! He was able to watch a couple of sessions of General Conference, and he loved them. He even took some notes on his own! We will do his interview for baptism tomorrow, so last night we went by and went over the questions again just to make sure he didn't have any questions. As we went over the questions, he bore his testimony and shared his understanding about each concept in the questions. He is SO READY! He is one of the most prepared people we've ever met. After the visit, as we were heading home, Elder Toledo and I discussed how cool it was that the Lord has been blessing us to see such amazing miracles. It is so clear that we did nothing to prepare Leonardo for his baptism, he was already prepared by the Lord! We're excited for his baptism!

Exchanges with Elder Alejo

We also had a cool experience with Horacio the other day. We are preparing him for his baptism next Saturday, and he is also very prepared! He is from Colombia, and as you may know, coffee is a big cultural thing for Colombians. We taught him the word of wisdom, and right away he said something along the lines of, "I drink coffee almost every day, but if God says I shouldn't, I won't." and then he proceeded to go to his cabinet and throw away the containers of coffee he had. It was so cool! He is so ready! It's been a pleasure working with him.

We saw another amazing miracle this past week. President Phillips in my latest interview told me about the many new Latinos that are immigrating into Montréal recently. He told me that Montréal now has the largest Latino population than any other city in all of Canada, and it just keeps growing! I have noticed that it's so true; most of the Latinos we contact in the busses and metros have only been here for around 1-6 months! He counseled us to focus as a district on finding ways of finding these recently moved Latinos, so we discussed as a district what we can do to find them. We came up with some good ideas of where new Latinos would be, and we tried them all. We tried contacting near government buildings where they have to get their papers, near refugee centers that they may be living, French schools, etc. We've been having some success! But, the coolest thing about it all, is how in following our President’s council and acting in faith, the Lord has simply been sending us those Latinos who have freshly immigrated to Canada! For example, this week we went to teach Julio, who we found the week before. We got there, and he invited us in, and in his one room apartment, he was housing three other Mexicans that had just gotten to Canada 13 days before! We got to teach all of them, and they were all so cool! It was just a cool experience of how sometimes we aren't the ones who find those who are ready, the Lord just puts them at our feet!

Again, everything is good up here in Montréal! We had an ice storm yesterday which was interesting, and now it's snowing a TON! I'll attach some pictures. Very unexpected for April. You never know what happens with weather in Québec! Well I love you all so much, I hope you have a great week!

Zarahemla Week 33

Playing Chess to celebrate Horacio's birthday!

Another week has quickly gone by in Zarahemla! The work continues to go well, and we keep seeing lots of miracles. And, of course, we've been eating lots of Latino food! Here are some highlights from the week!

We went to visit Julio, who we met a on Monday, and he was so solid. We were teaching him, and all of the sudden, his friend Carlos just walks into the apartment, grabs a chair, and sits down with us. They were both so amazing! They were very attentive, they understood the message of the restoration very well, and were very ready to act. It was amazing! We were able to give both of them baptismal dates for the 4 of May. They accepted very fast! It was awesome to see how the Lord basically just sent us Carlos as we were teaching Julio. We didn't do anything to contact him, he just showed up! It was so cool! In Preach My Gospel, the handbook that we use as missionaries, it talks about how as we have the faith to find people to teach, the Lord will lead us to them, or He will lead them to us. It is so true, and it all begins with our faith! It's so interesting! The Lord guides His work in a magnificent way.

We are finalizing things up for Leonardo's baptism! He's so cool, he is one of the most prepared people I've ever taught. He has been working and fellowshipping other people who come to church, and he's been inviting other people to activities and such! They play soccer frequently in the chapel, and last Friday he invited 5 of his friends to come and play! He's already a super missionary!

We are so excited for General Conference, and we've been preparing so many people for it. It's such a great opportunity for those we are teaching to hear from the living prophet and apostles, and they will be able to have a first-hand experience of the Restoration of the Gospel. It will be amazing. I hope you are prepared for it, we only get out as much as we prepare!

Things are amazing up here, still cold but still having fun! The mission is the best, I'm loving every minute of it! I hope you are all doing well. Have a great week!