Saturday, April 12, 2014

Letter 20

Hello family, 

I wrote just a few days ago, but a lot has been going on since then. Elder Webster and I regulary have our P-day on Saturdays, and so after the craziness of the past few weeks, we're finally back to normal. 

On Monday, we had a special Zone Conference given by the President's Assistants; Elder Ellis, and Elder Cruz. Zone conference is usually given by the Zone Leaders, but this time it was a lttle different. We were instructed on setting more commitments with the people we teach. Chapter 11 of Preach My Gospel, is set and focused on this theme. We were taught of the importance of really setting goals that are guided by the Spirit, and that will help each individual investigator progress. 

This week, Elder Webster and I also set a goal of making more "street contacts". We decided to put into pracice the words that Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave during the dedication talk he gave for the new MTC in Mexico. He said, that we must start talking to everyone we see in the streets, markets, bus stops, etc. So Elder Webster and I got to work, and started to "open (our) mouths and proclaim the Gospel" (D&C 71:1) to even more people. So far we've gotten 6 new investigators, and are working for more! 

Yesterday as we were walking down one of the main roads, we heard somebody honking right behind us. We didn't pay much attention, and we kept on walking. Then this blue Jeep pulled up, and a brother got out of the car and handed us a 12 pack of Dr. Peppers. It was so weird, but hey, we got our Dr. Pepper on later that night.

This week we had an intense lesson with an old investigator from the area. Her name is Maria Elena, and she is the mother of a member in our ward, Luis Dominguez. She is very catholic (surprise!) and she's pretty old. I swear, it seems like everyone we are teaching is catholic and really old! Anyway, we stopped by her house to teach one of her sons, and we invited her to listen. Maria is a tough nut to crack, and we knew this from the start. We taught a lesson on prayer, and the power it has to respond to our doubts and questions. We asked Maria Elena if she had ever actually prayed about out church, and she told us that she honestly never had. A HA! I knew it! We told her that if she really wanted to know why our Church is true, and why we are so sure about it, she had to pray. It took some time, but at the end of the lesson, she was humbled and told us that she would pray. Funny side note: she told us, "What if I pray, and God tells me that the Catholic church is true?"  We told her that she would never know if she didn't ask...and we testified to her that God would respond to her.

We are doing fine here in Juarez. We are excited to see our ward start to grow, and we have established a great relationship with our ward (Pradera Dorada). 

Everyone have a great week

Elder Velazquez

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 Zone Conference. Elder Ellis is the one sitting on the Stage, Elder Brewster and Elder Rodriguez  (our Zone Leaders) are one the left and Elder Chigüila (our District leader) and Elder Jolley are on the right.

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At the Familia Yañez´s house

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