Raining

Elder Winters coming in to you guys loud and clear from the wonderful city of MEXICO!

How are we all feeling today? Great? Me too. Sweet.

Well not too much excitement going on this week.

It sure has been raining a LOT here. I really am just going to attach some pictures.

My companion and I bought matching sweatshirts :)

And finally we got our investigators to come to church with us this week! It was so awesome. They said they loved it and now they have their baptismal dates set and they seem very excited. I'm probably more excited than them to see what comes of them.

Sorry I haven't got much to write this week.

Love you all!

Elder Winters

Zone Conf

So I am sure you all heard about the USA team throwing away a great win yesterday. What a shame. I'm glad I didn't watch it. I probably would have cried.

Well all is sure going well down here a little more south. There has been storming non stop this week and I quite like it! On Tuesday night I woke up to thunder and lightning so strong that every car alarm in the neighborhood was going off. I have never heard of something like that but yes, it happened.

We also had zone conference this past Friday and I got the chance to see my old MTC companion Elder Fike. He seems like he is doing a great job as zone leader now a days!

To finish up the week we took pictures at stake conference with our mission president. Since we have the matching suits we figured we might as well use them. It was a very spiritually enlightening experience.

Not too much to complain about as of yet. I love hearing from you all!

Com mucho amor,

Elder Winters

Spoke in church, held a falcon

Hey guys, Its me. Elder Winters.

So being here on the mission in Mexico, during the World Cup, I'm guessing it was safe to assume that I would be seeing a little bit of Futball, but I never thought i would see SO MUCH soccer. Seriously, every house, every store, every square foot of Mexico is watching. Its almost impossible to get a word in while these guys are into it. So we will see how these next couple weeks will go.

Honestly not much new to talk about this week besides the little fun stuff that's been going on.

Spoke in Sacrament meeting, my companion took a little sneak shot.  

I got to learn how to train a falcon how to hunt, and basically just having fun and teaching the gospel.

All is really well. I love you all and thank you for everything!

Love hearing from you guys!

Elder Winters

Don't look back -- "Look how much more we have to do"

This week was so cool!

So I received my new companion. His name is Elder Guillen! He is from Bolivia. He can speak Portuguese, Spanish, and English. He is teaching me how to speak Portuguese right now and it is SO cool.

We got to listen to general conference this week and it was so uplifting to know that there are Prophets praying for our success and for our needs every single day. I hope that one day I can be so selfless.

There were a lot of changes in our zone here in Mexico so we didn't have to opportunity to teach very much but this week we are going to do everything in the world we can to get a lot of baptisms!

He just wants to talk to everybody in the streets and just get a thousand of references but we aren't allowed to do that kind of missionary work here so he is a little bummed.

Something quick that Id like to share that I learned this week from the conference is that we can never look back.

¨"Look how much we've done!"

"Look how much more we have to do"

I think that we should remember what we have done, but should always have our noses in the dirt, on the grind, and working as hard as we can to accomplish all the things that are yet to come. It was great to hear especially because I'm just starting my mission, but I have to work so much harder every day!

I love you all! I pray for you all every single night!

I hope you all don't forget me! haha

Con mucho amor.

Elder Winters

We had our 4th baptism yesterday!

Hey Family and Friends,

So this week my companion left to a different part of the city so I'm only with Elder Chacon in both areas. We are doing a lot of work! His companion and he have been teaching this family for 3 months and couldn't put their date for baptism. So I took that as a challenge :)

We went over there and taught them about baptism for two hours. We fought, laughed, they cried, everything that could happen in one lesson, happened. After these 2 hours they both committed to be baptized in 2 weeks! It was so rewarding to see them truly desire to change forever. I already love them.

I am going to have my first kid tomorrow! Which means I'm going to be a trainer to a new missionary! Its so exciting! Ive already had 4 companions and I'm excited to have one longer then 5 weeks.

We had our 4th baptism yesterday! Hermanan Eulalia Hernandez Hernandez. It was super funny. Her grandson did her baptism did her baptism but she was SO SCARED! So every time he went to dunk her she wouldn't go under all the way. They ended up having to do it 4 times! It was super funny but also a very spiritual baptism.

Thank you to all the family and friends who have sent me cards! They were all very funny. Especially the one that said "Adams state for life" and nothing more. hahaha

So we only had one incident with people being rude, well I guess two.

The first was a 15 year old kid trying to rob me and my companion. I just asked him if he knew anything about Americans, he confusedly responded that he didn't know anything. I started to laugh and was going to say something super weird but when I started laughing he kinda just thought I was crazy and turned away and walked away. But we were walking the same way that he came, so as we started walking again he thought we were following him and starting booking it! Probably not the best way to invite him to be baptized. haha

And the other which happened the same day, outside the house of a member (her mom isn't a member) we knocked on her door. And her bitter old mother said she wasn't home and slammed the door. She was home. So I knocked again, she opened and asked me if I was deaf and started to somewhat yell at me, but when she went to slam the door I got my foot in the way so I could try to talk to her daughter. I opened the door slightly and the lady had walked inside the house, and the next thing I know she was running (but for an old woman more like scuffling) towards me with a bowl of chicken bones and started to throw them at me and was yelling a whole bunch of mean words. haha, it was funny. We got to talk to her daughter about it with her daughter in church on Sunday and apparently her mother didn't say anything about it to her daughter. SUPER COOL! haha

Well I'm loving Mexico and I hope you enjoy my stories!

Love you all!

Elder Winters

No one asked in 4 years

So this week we got a new companion named Elder Chacon. From Guatemala. He wasn't getting along with his companion so now we are in a trio! Its so hard but we are learning more and more everyday. ITS LIKE HAVING TWO WIVES! I think I finally changed my mind on plural marriage. Hahaha, JOKE!  But really its so hard but also a lot more entertaining.

This week we ate pig calf and it was SOOO GOOD! The brother that fed us is going to give it to us more often because it was so good. I haven't had the opportunity to kill any more rabbits with him but the time will soon be at hand! mwahaha.

Spanish is getting a lot better everyday especially with two companions I am learning so much more from two different people instead of the same always.

We committed 4 people to be baptized this week! This one sister, she's been going to church for 4 years and nobody has asked her to be baptized so we finally taught her and are going to do her baptism this Saturday! She is so faithful. She never wanted to ask to be baptized because she can't read. And she thought she wouldn't be accepted. When she told us that I literally was trying with all my might not to cry. Her mom never had time to take her to school so she just never learned. It is so sad but also so exciting that she now has the chance to be a member!

I'm making more and more friends! And I'm loving Mexico more and more every week!

Thank you all for your love and concern! Especially all your letters!

LOVE YOU ALL!

Elder Winters

Independence Day

So this week has been pretty great for teaching. We have invited three new people to be baptized and they have all accepted! Its so cool seeing them just learn more and more everyday. I truly grow to love the people we teach everyday.

Its taking a little more time to love the people that rob us... haha

So this week we had the day of Independence here in Mexico, so we had to go home early because we live right next to a HUGE fair. Seeing it all reminded me of home and I really wanted to go and just enjoy it all but I know its for the better to obey the rules. 

Apparently quite a few people die every year while this is going on so I'm rather content with staying inside.

Nothing really new happened this week.

I spoke to two kids who are from the US! They are so cool. They both love speaking English more then Spanish and they teach English here. It was nice being able to speak English but its hard to think in English after a while of not speaking it. Every week I find it a challenge to spell in my own language. Tan triste no?

Well, I hope all is well this week.

I want you to all know that you re in my prayers and thoughts continually!

Love you!

Elder Winters