July 28, 2014 Aeropuerto

Well, with the new companion things are going alright. I feel like I'm training him and that I am teaching about 90 percent of each lesson. I am doing my best but its getting difficult here again. Hes a cool guy but really is new to everything still. I am doing my best with him and we get along just fine, its just with the fact that when we teach he really doesn't talk during lessons. When he does talk, its tough to get him to open up. I'm working on it.

We put three dates this week. One with Ajenor, a friend of the bishops, and the other two were from a reference that we received. Only Ajenor came to church so we may have to move the other two, Daniel and Karen to another date. We will have to see what happens there. They're golden investigators, but they really are just a little lazy with things.... They have a date set for the 23rd of August and are hopefully planning to attend church this week. Put them in your prayers.

We dropped a lot of oldies this week that weren't really progressing... including the family Diaz Cruz. They were cool at first, but they lost the fire because they were never home to let us teach them. We'd set a date or an appointment with them and then they'd flake on it every time. We dropped Nataniel because he was never home either... its sad, but it needs to be done. I hate to see that work we put in go down the drain, but the seed has been planted and its up to them to make it grow. We have met with a lot of people that speak English and Its really fun to get to speak the native language to someone every now and then. But we have found a new investigator named Lupe from a less active member named Alfred. Its his girlfriend. He lived in the US for the majority of his childhood and was deported and put in prison for three years for the US losing his papers to be considered a citizen. It was so sad to hear his story. He said," How would you feel if you were thrown in prison for three years for a crime that you never committed...?" It was heartbreaking. His family is there, his job and life was there... now he says over and over again that he hates it here. I feel so bad for the guy, but he has helped us out with his girlfriend a lot and we hope to continue to teach them... wish us luck. 

That's about it for this week. Kind of a rough one for me, but I am doing alright. Thanks for everything guys. Your letters, your support, and your love. I know you'll always be there for me. 

Love you guys,
Kia Kaha,

EP

This is the only picture I have this week. Sorry. Its of me and a menos activo named Antonio. He saw my camera and wanted a picture. 

July 21, 2014 Aeropuerto

Hey Guys! 

Well the Lord must have something special cooked up for me here in Aeropuerto because I am here at least until September now.... hahaha Elder Smith got transferred as Zone Leader to Palenque and Elder Ricks was transferred to Villahermosa. Elder Roberts is tranining and I am Senior COmp with the elder that my MTC comp trained... Elder Mociela or something like that. I still havent met him because he comes tonight. But he sounds like a decent fellow... We shall see and I will let you know next week how he is. From what I hear he is a big boy... 

I had a great testimony builder this last saturday. I got super sick... the sickest that Ive ever been in my enitre life. I cannot even begin to explain how bad it was. (Dont worry mom, Im okay now.) But it was something that Ive never experienced before. I was perfectly fine on saturday morning, but it got worse and worse as the day went on. We went back to the house at about 4 or five and ended up staying there all through sunday as well because I literally couldnt move....Elder Roberts and Elder Ricks gave me a blessing and said some really cool things... After the blessing everything was fine and I went back to bed. But I wasnt throwing up anymore.... I went back to bed and I didnt have anymore problems other than having to wake up to use the bathroom a million times. It was a huge tesitmony builder to me of the power of the priesthood. I still felt bad, but it helped me get through the rest of the weekend. 

Because I am here one more transfer, I am positive, more than positive actually, that I will me leaving in September. But that means that I have a lot of work to do here to finish up and leave on a good note. I have to baptize the sisters of hermana Maria Jose and then I have to baptize this familia Diaz Cruz. My goal is the get these people baptized before my time is up here =) 

Its tough. Saying goodbye to the people you've grown to love, but I know that the things that we have done here are something that will last beyond this life. I am proud of the way that we have helped these people.

New Pet?

Anyways, that's all for this week! I hope you have had a great week! I didnt hear much from anyone this week so I dont really know what happened. But oh well.... Seems that everyone starts getting bored with the things I say... sorry guys, workin on it. Love you guys and hope you have a great week!

Another Pet?

English Class Fun

Kia Kaha,

EP

Members

July 21, 2014 Aeropuerto HUMP DAY

Nice member made dessert to mark Elder P. halfway mark.

I have had a rather different week this week. Nothin overly special has happened and we are all layin low as this transfer, possibly my last in Carmen, is coming to an end quickly. We are basically saying goodbye to everyone and telling them how much we have loved being with them and teaching them. This area has been by far my favorite so far on the mission and I have loved being here. I will deeply miss this area if I do end up getting transferred. 

So far, we have been working with a new family that we contacted on the street named Famila Diaz Cruz. Theyre really nice people and a strong family of 5, but the only issue is, with the church services at 8 in the morning, its hard to get investigators out of bed. Its a constant struggle for us to pass by peoples houses and them have them not come to the door because theyre sleeping still... so, with this family, we reminded them and reminded them this week that the services are at 8 and that they needed to come in order to conitnue with the baptismal date we set with them. Theyre really flakey with things, and it makes it really difficult, but finally, we passed by their house on sunday morning. The husband, mario, comes out and says, Sorry guys, Im sick, but my wife and daughters are going to go. Theyre just getting ready right now. I was hurt that he wasnt able to come, but we had the mom and the three daughters come! Oorah! It was crazy! So, we had a grand total of 6 investigators in the church this week! The most that Ive ever had! Its really nice to see the fruits of our labors pay off. We worked SO HARD this last week walking around talking to everyone and it was great to see that it paid off. We hope to continue with this family and see where their faith takes them =) We may not be here, but we are praying that they continue to follow in the footsteps of the Savior.

Elder Castillo came back as hermano Byron.... we went with him to Bostons to celebrate my one year mark and it was a lot of fun. Super weird to see him without a tag on and in normal clothes out in public, but it was great to spend some time with him again. He is a great guy. A little crazy for doing what hes doing, but overall a good guy. 

We almost got in a fist fight the other day! It was crazy! We were walkin along, minding our own business and then some drunk guys started swingin punches and yellin at us! It was Nuts!....... Nah just jokin, but we did see a fight. Two drunk guys were going at it and they ended up setting off some car alarms with the things they did.... one guy had a giant brick in his hand and the other with a giant glass of vodka... HAHA it was hilarious because they didnt know what they were saying, nor doing to each other.... hahaha . Definitely picked our mood up. Its not like we stood there and watched it, we kept walking along, but kept turning to back to see what happened. 

E.Castillo came back to visit some of his favorite people.

Well, thats it this week, nothin overly special, but with transfers coming up, I may be writing you from a different location this next week. We shall see what happens right? I would assume that were going to be transfered but who knows.... we will see. President came for Zone Conf and did'nt say anything about transfers so.... its all a mystery.

Have a great week everyone! I love you!

Kia Kaha!

-Elder Proctor

July 7, 2014 Aeropuerto

Quick stop at the beach.

Well, coming up on the one year mark... kinda scary to be honest. How fast that time feels like it went is unreal. I feel as though yesterday I was in deportiva with Elder Gray and now, Im coming up on the halfway mark... absolutely insane if you ask me. Its crazy to think that Ill be home next year.... AH!

Nothin overly special happened this week. We had a rough one trying to find new people. It felt as though everything we had planned fell through. Kinda frustrating. But we are still trudgin along. We taught a family of five that has plans to be baptized on the 19th but didnt attend church so their date fell through.... We havent been able to teach them yet, but we are going to pass by later toight with the Bishop and see what happened. Wish us luck there. 

With the englishy class that I teach we have had a young couple named Arturo and Jaquilin. They arent married so they cant get baptized, but they have been really kind to us as missionaries. We have taught all of lesson one to them and we are really trying to get them married. Its tough to have to deal with these little road blocks all the time, but we are trying our best. Theyre a great little family and have been through so much....we both, elder smith and I both want the best for them. 

Well.... the crazy news about this week is that ELder Castillo came back.... crazy right? Yeah we talked to him as Hermano Castillo and he left on a date with the bishops daughter that night.... who knows what happened. But I know that she is going to leave on the mission and he has plans to wait for her. Who knows whats going to happen there, but we shall see =)

I don't have anything that I need this week. Everything is good and I am doing everything the way that I should be doing it. Working just like I should and being as obedient as I can. I am doing my best. and I ask that you guys focus on what youre doing there. Dont worry about me. Ill be fine. Thank you for the letters and I hope to hear from you all next week. Stay busy yall!

Kia Kaha,

EP

June 29, 2014 Aeropuerto

Winding down the World Cup, Mexico has been absolutely crazy here... They played The Netherlands this last Sunday and they lost 2 to 1... everyone was going insane. So many drunk people were talking with us and wanting to have us go watch the game with them.... Yeah, we told em no. But it was cool hearing everyone go nuts when they scored that first goal.... hahaha I love the World Cup. But I have to say... USA USA USA USA!!!! Let me know how the game goes =)

Well this week was kind of a bust... We had plans for Galileas baptism on Saturday so we planned her interview for Thursday afternoon. We finally got to the church for the interview and we sat there waiting for 30 minutes... No one showed. I gave her mom a call and she picked up. She told me that she was really sick and couldn't have picked up the phone to text me or tell us that they couldn't make it. She had really been struggling physically so she decided to call off the baptism... BUMMER! So the only other day that they can do it is on the 19th of July... Such a long time away for someone who is so ready. I am just worried something will change there and that they will make it more of a priority than what it is now. Kinda frustrating, but its alright, we found someone new this week that is golden =)

His name is Nathaniel. Hes 16 and is super cool. He reminds me a lot of Jake Peterson.... haha =) Super smart kid. We taught him lesson 2 twice about the plan of salvation because he had some questions about it. After that, we went back and taught him lesson 1 about the restoration and he got really into it. It was a super powerful lesson, especially when we got to the book of Mormon. We had one with us to give to him at the end of the lesson and the coolest thing happened... He grabbed the book between his hands and just smiled =) But it wasn't a normal smile... it was like a, "I have been waiting so long for this moment," kind of smile. Probably one of the coolest things I have seen. Elder Smith and I were taken back by his response to this. He wasn't able to come to church, but plans to come next week with us. He has a baptismal date for the 19th of July also and we hope to be able to baptize him without any issues =) Hes a pretty legit kid. 

Its always hard trying to find new people. But we have had a lot of struggles with teaching people that are atheists or Jehovah Witnesses or Seventh Day Adventists... We cant seem to find a way around their doctrine to prove that they're wrong... maybe that's not the way to go about it, but its the only way that we can think of. 

Rewarding was seeing the face of Hermano Nataniel. It was one of those Kodak moments if you know what I mean =) You had to be there to feel how powerful it was. 

Well, to add to all this, I have finally finished reading the Bible in Spanish =) What a great accomplishment right? It was super tough because there are parts in Isaiah that I cant even understand in English so... yeah... its even harder in Spanish. But oh well =) I did my best to read it. My bible is full of notes and stuff. I cant wait to show you all =) Haha I am pretty savvy with them scriptures now =) You'd be proud of it. 

I really do love getting mail from you guys. I am trying my hardest here and doing the things that I should be doing and it brings joy to my heart knowing that even with all that you have going, you still think about me and love me even though I know that I'm not a perfect person. But with you guys behind me supporting me, I know that it is perfect =) Love you guys.

Kia Kaha!

EP

PS This is a picture of my new favorite drink =) Its so good.