Monday, September 24, 2012 - Changes....JK..ugh....!

Hola Mi Familia! So I am writing today because....we didn't have changes... >:l Yeah....every companionship in the zone had changes....except for us....*sigh* This has been a little hard to come to terms with. I think we both were looking forward to one of us being transferred, but yeah no! I feel like this next change will be a little rough, but we are going to try to make the most out of it. I guess the good thing is that I will be in Nacozari in the Mountains for a little bit of the cold. I guess that is nice, right? Well, we learned a lot of good things in this past conference that I hope to apply and implement to help the work out. I like transfers. They give you a chance to start again and change the things you want to change and better the things that you want to better. Here's to another 6 weeks! So we will get to this past week and everything that went down at the conference soon, but first, last week I failed to mention Mexican Independence Day! Independence Day was the 15th (and 16th ...and basically this whole month) of September. Since Mexicans like to party and all that, the festivities started a whole week before Independence Day! The week before they set up a whole bunch of games like a carnival or fair and little store tents in the town center and every night the center would be alive with people. So this happened the whole week before. The actual day of Independence was the same but they had like bands and more things going on. And that night at 12AM all of Mexico every Political leader of their town or city goes out into the town center and shouts "Viva Mexico!". Since there is a 2 hour difference between here and Mexico City, they did it at 10PM here. We didn't get to see it, but could definitely hear the fireworks afterward. The next day they had a parade at 10AM in the morning (the same time as church) in which all the schools participate in, so there was like NO ONE in church. And it was our turn to speak. Thank heavens that this time I had quite a few days to prepare unlike in the past. I spoke on the trials and tribulations we have in life and how the Atonement helps us overcome them. It was a pretty dang good talk if you ask me. I talked for almost 20 minutes, which I have never done before in my life! Go me! Ha! But yeah, there were only a total of 13 people in the church...it was depressing. Oh well! The next day we traveled to Esqueda to stay with our district and then to travel to Agua Prieta the next day and then Hermosillo. There is a sister in our ward who has a cake shop in Nacozari and I wanted to learn how to make a tres leche cake or something so we were going to do that this day, but since we had to go to Hermosillo we didn't. However, this sister has a daughter in Esqueda who also has a cake shop, so that night we went with her and although there wasn't time to learn how to make a cake, we learned how to decorate! It was pretty neat! Makes me want to go into cake making! HA! The next day we woke up and traveled to Agua Prieta and went straight to the other bus station to travel with our Zone to Hermosillo. We got to Hermosillo around 5PM that night and took a bus to a little place by the offices to eat (Grandma & Papa: we were going to go eat at Carl's Jr. but decided not to. Tough, I know! I wanted to!). Afterwards we went to the offices, but no one was there. Everyone must have gone to dinner, so we all went to the Dairy Queen around the corner! Yes, I know! AN AMERICAN ESTABLISHMENT!!!! Oh, it was such a beautiful experience! It makes me want to serve in Hermosillo really badly! We returned and everyone was back and more zones were starting to arrive. I was able to see my old Penasco Zone and friends and made me miss being there. I think that I would really like to serve in Penasco! I already basically know the area! We then left with the zone leaders of one of the Hermosillo Zones to their house to stay. The heat in Hermosillo was death! I guess being in the mountains, I kind of forgot about the heat and when it didn't get cool and fresh at night like it does here, it was not fun! I guess we are spoiled in this zone! The next morning we woke up early to get on a bus at 7AM to go to the offices because the house we were at was clear on the other side of Hermosillo. Well, being rush hour time it was hard to find a bus that wasn't packed, so we ended up just taking a taxi and getting there really - really early. No one was there and so we had to wait for like an hour and a half till more people came. Elder Castro was there and it was really great to talk to him and see how Sonoyta was doing. At the end of last change, I was so ready for a new companion, but I really miss him actually. We had fun as friends. Unfortunately it wasn't the whole mission that came, just the zones from the north. I was really hoping to see Elder Melchor, but since he is in Guymas in the South, I didn't get to. For the conference, first Pres. Hernandez spoke to us and then Elder Alonso from the Seventy. I thought that it was just going to be an area seventy, but it was an actual seventy from Salt Lake. He was so awesome! He served in this mission as a missionary quite a while back and was telling us a bunch of stories. We talked about so many things, but focused on getting references from everyone we talk to. Like you said mom, some missions are not contacting door to door anymore and are just getting references from members, this is what we talked about. Everyone knows someone that could benefit from the message of the Gospel. And it is so easy to get references just by asking members. This is cool: we did a little something. I don't remember exactly what we were talking about, I think we were demonstrating how everyone knows someone. Elder Alonso told us to take out a piece of paper and write the names of 3 people: a friend, family member, and neighbor that we would like to see baptized in the church. He then took all the papers and said that he was going to take these names to his meeting in the temple with the First Presidency next week and that they are going to say a special pray for the names. I can't remember what he exactly promised us, but it was something along the lines that at least 1 of those people that we wrote down would be baptized. It was really neat. It was such a great conference! And I learned so much that I want to change and apply to really help the work. Afterwards they fed us lunch and then we went on the bus station back to Auga Prieta. We arrived around 10PM at night. We stayed in a house that is in an area that is currently closed, but the mission still pays rent so that one day they can open the area again. Unfortunately they didn't pay the electricity so there was no light, but it was just overnight so it was all good! We then returned to Nacozari Thursday Morning and that was the trip....whew! So my package....yeah....I got one....just not the one that had my shoe....! Thanks for all the food though! Yum! I made my shells and cheese that night and boy oh boy was it good! I wanted to make the brownies, but haven't really felt like buying a ton of eggs just to use one and a whole bottle of oil to use just a little bit. I will probs give in soon enough though. Thanks for all the Cliff bars! My favorite! It is okay to send other flavors besides just chocolate chip! Not too much happened the rest of the week. We had a "Mexican Night" activity at the church Saturday. We just cooked a "Carne Asada" tacos which are the best tacos ever. And Sonora is really famous for Carne Asada. It is the best in Sonora, apparently, than all of Mexico. And boy is it good! :) Well, that about raps this week up for me! Whew! I just have one more little add in! I would like to encourage all who read this to think of someone who could benefit from the message of the Gospel. Everyone knows someone who could benefit....a friend, family member, or neighbor. Everyone knows someone. Give this reference to the missionaries! We LOVE reference and thrive off of them! They give us more people to teach and make us happy. You will find that doing this little deed with make you happier too by fulfilling your duty as "every member a missionary"! Do it! Missionary work is great and "how great will be your joy" if you help someone find the truth! I love and miss you all tons! Thanks for all of your love and support! Yo se que vive mi Senor! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Joyner