Monday, September 30, 2013 - "Wake my up when September ends....."

Hola Mi Familia! Ummm...so....September is over? Are you for reals? That was quick! And that just means one month less of heat! We can already feel the weather changing and the sun has shifted into its winter position and slowly it is starting to get darker faster. I opened the door one morning and felt a rush of cool air! They say we are just passing through a ¨cold front¨ and that a little bit of heat will return in a week or so, but who knows. Mexico never is too predictable with its weather patterns. But, we have enjoyed days as cool as lower 90s and nights as cool as lower 80s. Haha! How´s that for being cooler weather! Well, transfers were today, and just like we thought, my comp was transferred. He was sent to open a new area in Agua Prieta, but in the 3rd branch, where I was not. He is training a nubie. Here I sit with my new companion,.....another Gringo! He has 1 year in the mission. He sings as well. I have the reputation as the best singer in the whole mission (humbly) and I think he is second. Fun Fact: He tried out for American Idol one year and got his Golden Ticket and made it to the group round, but only made it to there. But it must have still been a cool experience. From what I hear from everyone else, he loves to work and is a really hard worker and so I think we will be able to do some damage this transfer. This is the real test for me, because I just finished being trained Zone Leader, and now I have to train him as ZL because this is his first time. So let´s just hope I learned all that I had to from my last comp to be able to continue forward. This week, was kind of a rough one for us. We weren´t able to have as many lessons as we would have wanted for various reasons. Tuesday we had a meeting. Some of the areas in our zone are in the other stake and so we had to go to the meeting with Pres. Hernandez and the Stake Pres. of the other stake to report on the wards and how they are progressing as far as the missionary work goes. Wednesday, we had our frequent interviews with the Pres. and we had to stay in the offices all afternoon to make sure everyone in our zone got there at their planned time slot. The rest of the week was just full of trying to find more and more work and people to teach. We did have a good moment this week. We reported our phone with the Secretaries that we had lost it and they were able to get another one with the same number and we got it pretty quickly. So that saved our lives! I have found quite a few families here who knew Crandon and Carmen and Carmen´s family. Although I didn´t know him, it is fun to hear the stories and memories that people still have after all of these years. One particular family in our ward actually knew the church because Crandon was the first missionary to knock on their door. Although he didn´t get to baptized them, they still have fond memories of the first time he went to their house. He is most widely known for his height! Haha! When someone starts out telling stories of a tall, but really tall missionary that served here a while back that married someone from Hermosillo and they mention the last name Pineda--I´m automatically like, ¨yup, that´s my distant cousin (or they would call it here my uncle)¨. I even have a few pictures of Carmen and Carmen´s family that I will try to send! We didn´t have anything really major happen this week, but we have found a family or two that could potentially progress. We just need to be consistent with them and make sure that everything goes well. I must say I am quite thrilled that this coming weekend is conference weekend! I LOVE conference weekend. I am excited to ponder certain questions this week that I want answered and to be able to receive personal revelation. This will be my last conference in the mission and I know it will just be a good one! Well, sorry if that was kind of a dry uneventful email, but I couldn´t really find anything too cool to say or think of anything too neat that happened this week. I hope you all have a super duper week and can also prepare yourselves to receive personal revelation this weekend! Love you all so much! ¡Yo sé que vive mi Señor! Con Mucho Amor, Elder Joyner