January 9, 2012

Hey family,

Glad to hear that you
survived New Year´s. Sounds like the whole family is involved in different
things. I still haven`t decided if I like New Year`s or not. For a missionary
its pretty boring. We sit in our room and normally we sleep. New Year`s is also
tough because of the amount of power that the adversary has on this day. There
is a bar in front of where we live here and they had a party until 8 a.m. on
the New Years Day. We left to go get ready for church and it was a sad scene.
The streets were a mess, there were people fighting in some areas. Drunk men
crying on street corners, and not very much attendance in church. It`s sad for
me to see how Satan takes the good things that New Year`s could be...
Resolutions to be better people, time with family, and a time to think about
how we have been living, and he turns it to be the opposite. Drinking and
entering into a stupor and many mistakes that seperate families... It`s our job
as members to show the world how it could be and not participate in what the
world has made it. It`s similar with many holidays....

This last week has had
its ups and downs. We went through a lot of trials during the week, but we were
also able to make plans to improve in the future. The life of a missionary is
never easy, but it is worth it. This week we were able to meet a bunch of new
people to start teaching. We met a woman named Ericka and she invited us to
come and teach her family. She has four kids, Estefani, Erick, Jean Pierre, and
Lex (yes, named after Lex Luther from Superman). They are pretty awesome. She
actually contacted us in the street instead of us contacting her. She had
attended church one time and the missionaries who were in the ward where she
attended never passed the reference or the Elders here didn`t look for her or
find her.

We also found a man
named Javier. He is an example of what New Year`s should be. He talked to us
telling us about the desire he had to change his life for the better, and we
are happy to help him do that. He is very honest with us, and has a good
desire. We also started working with a 9-year-old girl named Carla. She is
awesome and wants to get baptized. Her mother is a less-active member and Carla
has great desires. We are working with her mom and her so that they can start
attending church and Carla can be baptized.

We keep working with
Anabely and with Hugo. They both have great desires, we are just trying to help
them progress a little bit further to their baptisms. We are also working with
many of our other investigators to help them progress a little bit more and
become ready for their baptisms.

I have made many New Year`s goals, but only until July... ha ha. I decided that
the Lord would help me set good goals when I arrive home and help me achieve
them if I choose to focus in the mission and not in what my life will be like
after. It is amazing how quickly the time goes by, but the Lord blesses us when
we strive to do as He wants. The trials come, but they pass. As it says in the
New Testament... "We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens
us." This is the Lord`s work and so it must be done His way. There is no
other way to do it. I know that He loves us and wants us to succeed. I have
felt the power of the Atonement here and I am learning to love Him and know Him
more personally. I love you all and hope that you can continue to see His
blessings in your lives.

Tyler