Family of Slackers!

FAMILY!

 

slackers. i have no email to respond to. thats ok though because i never have any time either. SO SORRY about the pillows. i'll send them off (hopefully) today. it's just hard because like i said it's hard to find time. Mom, thanks for the DearElder! i loved it.

 

anyway, happy wednesday!  it is such a beautiful day here in Provo! it's a little chilly outside for my Texas preference, but it's bright and sunny. how's the weather in texas? my friend from near Dallas said that it snowed there last weekend! 6 inches! and then the next day it was in the 70's haha. i won't be here for much longer though! i got my travel plans!

 

ok so i am leaving next wednesday. Elder Robbins (one of my comps) and i are the last to leave in my district! i'm not sure if this relates or not, maybe it doesn't, but listen to this... i really want to play out on the missionary field before i leave. enough to where... i simply asked my Father in Heaven for that one little favor. i asked the night before i got my travel plans, and i find out that i'm leaving WEDNSDAY! after everyone else is gone. i'm wondering if He's playing a small joke on me and i'll get to play on the field tuesday, the day before i leave. and i have to stay an extra day haha. maybe it's not related, who knows, but it wsa a funny thought. ok ANYWAYS i will be in the airport around 6:30 or 7 AM. my flight leaves at 8:45. so i'm not sure if i'll be able to talk to you mom, because you'll be at work. but dad i'll call you okay? that's going to be really strange. maybe we'll talk in spanish!! weird... so yeah, that's the plan. i'll be in chicago by 1 o'clock! (we're in the same time zone again padres!)

 

this week is awesome. instead of having classes all week, this is la semana de enseñanzas. or the week of teachings! it´s so much fun! because we have to contact other spanish missionaries so that we can teach them the discussions. and we can't teach the missionaries that are in our zone, so we have been talkng to and teaching people that we haven't met before and stuff. we go to other floors and other buildings to find people. we're teaching all 3 types of misisonaries too! we're teaching people that are also learning spanish, missionaries that are in intermediate and advanced spanish classes, and we're also teaching NATIVES! we have two really great missionaries that are from Mexico and from Cali, Colombia! they're here learning english. it's so much fun teaching native spanish speakers. they are really friendly, patient and helpful. it was so much fun too telling one of them that my dad was from Colombia. so this week is great. it's as real as we can get here. we've already had several appointments not work out. they didn't show up or forgot and they were in class. so we took it like we'd do in the field and found other people near by that we could teach.

 

so of course, being a missionary, i have to tell you a missionary thought. well i was thinking this, i know that our family is truly blessed. BUT all of us struggle. our family has a lot to do! we struggle getting through in school, in our callings, at work and other stuff. and these things really take a toll on our financial status. well, we just need to be faithful and put our trust in the Lord. we don't pay our tithing with money, but with faith. that's what i heard this week. we HAVE to pay our tithing and we will be taken care of. we have been promised that. 3 Ne 1:31-33 i think.

 

i love you all! time is running out!! you are the best

munoz

St Patty's Day

HEY family! happy st. pat day!

 

yes mom, i'm wearing my green tie! the one that devin gave me a while back (thanks bro, it rocks). so luckily i haven't been pinched or anything. although my friend in the district from Hawaii didn't wear any today... stinks for him (i'm not sure if it relates to him being from Hawaii haha...)

 

ok so let me pour out my deepest apologies for not having the time to send a letter last week. i really wanted to because my email had been so short, but i just didn't have the time. even though it is our preparation day, we have an investigator that we teach on Wednesday nights right after dinner so we have to prepare for that. and the temple takes a lot of our time too so really i don't have too much free time. which is fine though because going to the temple is AWESOME! one of the best parts of the week. but yes, i humbly apologize for not sending out a letter. forgive me. that's why i wrote on annie's letter to share some things with you all. i'm not sure if i told her this scripture to go with that story so i'll repeat myself, Alma 26:3. that's the scripture to go with the temple story and Elder Shilhabel.

 

how has everyone's week been? mom said that it's been busy! mom, how was Utah?? dad, how was it having to be without mama? (did you survive??) devin, how was visiting home? (i miss your guts) amber and jeremy, were you stoked to see mom!? that must have been so fun. by the way you two, one of my really good friends in my zone is from Pocatello Idaho! or wherever it's called. and whenever i meet sister missionaries that went to BYUI i ask them if they know you amber! but, you're married so idk if that makes it different. i haven't met anyone who knows you yet haha but maybe one day.

 

MOM! actually, EVERYBODY! that's so cool what you said about the missionary sharing that they try to look at everyone the way the Lord views them. that's definitely something that is important for everyone to learn. i'm trying hard to be that way too. i thought it was neat that you mentioned that to me because last night i realized something pretty similar to that. well we sometimes discuss how the gospel makes people feel so close to each other! many of these missionaries i feel like i have and will know them forever! many have become family! and we've only known each other for about 2 months. well what i thought about last night was that it's because when we discuss and try to live the gospel, we feel the Spirit strongly! and because we feel the Spirit so strongly, i feel that many times we get a glimpse of the Savior's love for them. i'm not perfect, and so sometimes different people in different situations, it is hard for me to feel that Christlike love. but when i'm putting myself ASIDE and trying to be more like the Lord, i do feel that love. i feel that pure love and that's what brings us so close. we all have those glimpses. so yeah, that is something i constantly work on. loving others. that's one of his commandments! "love one another, even as i have loved you".

 

so one more thing from my study is one of my favorite chapters of the Book of Mormon. Mosiah chapter 4!!! it is FULL of great things. but i love how it talks about beggars. how do we treat beggars? what do we think of the homeless? well verse 17 says "perhaps thou shalt say: the man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore i will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance". isn't that true many times? don't we think that? well verse 18 says that those who think that should repent of that! and 19 says "are we not all beggars? do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have"? yes, we all receive everything from our God and we should share these blessings with those who aren't as fortunate. the chapter is a great one to study.

 

well, i love the idea of looking for miracles! we should all look for them in our lives. the other day i was looking in my scriptures and found a note that someone had left for me, encouraging me and supporting me for all i have done in the district, with scriptures to go along with it. they said that God noticed all the good i did. i felt that immediately lift my spirit and i was so thankful.

 

i love you all! let me know how things are!

love elder munoz

Derek is a new District Leader

Hi family!
that is so cool that you sent this email the same day that i'm reading it haha. yeah i'm diong laundry right now. i finally got the package from devin! thanks brother! it was awesome. i was so excited and i loved it. the shirt you gave me and the "stress reliever" was awesome. everyone, thanks for your letters of love and support. it's so nice to hear from everyone! well i just set up this new email today so that took about half of my computer time! so this email won't be quite as long as they usually are. also, for some reason my ENTER key isn't working so this might not look as organized. 

well i got a letter from David in Japan that mom forwarded to me! he's doing great and loving it in the field. and guess who else i've finally heard from?? caleb! i finally got a letter from him and i was way excited for it. did you know that he passes out pieces of paper with his name and phone number so that people will call them to learn about the church. i've never heard of that before! i thought it was pretty cool. well this week was exciting! 

my district leader and his companion were made the new zone leaders. and i'm the new district leader! i'm excited to serve the people in my district further. i'm a little nervous about it. but i know that with the Lord's help i will be able to know their needs. it's pushing me to be a better missionary because i want to set the example for them. so that's great! 

well i want to share a scripture with you! read 2 Nephi 31:19-20. it's awesome. we must press forward in our faith in Christ. ah there is so much i want to say about these scriptures because they are great. it tells us exactly what we need to do in order to come closer to Christ and our Father in heaven. but i don't have time to write all i want to say. so take this in your personal study and see what you can get out of it. also, 2 Nephi 25:23-26. i love you all! sorry i didn't have more time! take care!!!!! 

- Show quoted text -

Another Letter From the MTC

Here is part of a letter that Derek emailed last week. He mailed us some pictures that I will post soon.


Hello again family!

i'm just hanging out in the dungeons of the laundry room. it's WAY exciting haha. well every week seems to go by so fast. i'm always busy, and things are intense. BUT it's great of course. i'm enjoying myself. some days i feel so beat though because of all that i'm learning. i am loving the spanish, and i'm trying to practice more!

so just so you know, it is beautiful here! i look at the mountains everyday. it's awesome. BUT it's freezing! i'm a texas kid! right now it's snowin out there! i guess i need to get used to it  because i am going to chicago... i heard something about it possibly snowing in texas?? what is that about?? am i gonna come home and have to more even MORE south? aye... it's not too bad... snow is fun! different from what i'm used to.

did i tell you about the pinata annie got me? like dad wrote in his email to me, sometimes it's hard to remember if i've said something the week before... well i'll tell you again and maybe it'll be a little different. okay so annie sent me a pinata for Valentines! how cool is that?? everyone was jealous. haha i had some people coming in my room to take pictures and i didn't even know them! it was a missionary pinata with an Elder Munoz tag. it was homemade too. i sent some pictures and i think you should get them real soon if you haven't already. it had all sorts of candy and things inside. i felt really bad busting it open though... haha it's still in my room.

so the unity between the district i'm in is really great. i love everyone in my class! sometimes people can get on my nerves.... but that's okay right? haha. my zone is really fun too. i've met so many people that have been good influences on me. everyone has their own personal experiencse and some of them are really personal, but through their adversity they have obtained amazing testimonies! luckily i don't think i cried this week about anything haha :) but there's always next week.


Love,
Derek

The Elders with Hermana Coleman (bottom) and Hermana Doeman.

We have a large district.

Pinata of Derek from Annie. 

Cute!! 

Notice the resemblance?!

Elder Munoz with Elders Thomas, Little, Reagan, Bean, 

Bottom: Boyd (new companion), Robbins (other new companion), 

and Hawk (old companion).

Elder Munoz with Elder Hawk