Tracting... May 26, 2010

okay family, the work is going great here in Chicago! summer time so we have lots of opportunities to talk to people. something cool that happened recently is that we met with Maria for a second time and gave her a Book of Mormon. she is an elderly woman, 79 years old! she's got 8 kids and like a million grand/great-grand children. she's a really sweet lady that unfortunately has a lot of health issues due to her age. so she's in and out of doctors appointments, and it's hard to see her a lot. BUT we gave her a BOM and she was extremely grateful. it was wonderful to see how precious this scripture was to her. she even HUGGED it when we explained that the copy was for her. it was a beautiful thing and i can't wait to go back and see her later this week.

there is another great experience that i've had. whenever we go tracting, if the person is not there, we leave a card on their door. well this lady called for a free video. when we went to go talk to her it turns out that she had found the card in the street. she said that she saw it and thought that it was sad that there was someone throwing the card of Jesus Christ on the ground. she picked it up and called for the free video because she's been going through some struggles in life. she isn't sure how long her and her two kids are going to be able to live in their current house, because she hasn't been working. and her phone is going to be shut off soon. she recently found out she is pregnant and it doesn't seem like there is a father figure around. she's an extremely nice person who seems to really want God in her life. she was very receptive to our message. i feel really bad for the situation that she's in right now. i wish i could do so much more to help her! her and her two kids might be homeless at the end of this week. it's a sad story and we're going to do everything that we can to help her out. she said she wants to go to church, but is not sure about baptism until she knows that the church is true for herself. she's really honest and sincere in her search to be closer to Heavenly Father.

so i'm working hard here to help the people of Chicago as much as i can. i know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that can bring true happiness and that it can heal ALL wounds. that's such a great thing to know.

well it's getting really hot here in the windy city. we're biking a lot and the heat is pounding us! but that's okay because it gives us a slightly increased motivation to get inside peoples houses! so we can cool off haha. so want to know something COOL about the area i'm serving in? alright well try to think of the song, "welcome to the hotel california". well the rumor here is that it's talking about a prison! and guess what? that prison is in my area. it's a maximum security prison that i pass by at least once every week now that my area combined with anothers. i'm not sure if it's true but i thought it was pretty cool. haha

okay mom i have a question. are you with an email group or something where you can talk to other people who have children serving in Chicago? missionary mom or something? becasue my mission presidents wife is asking. she says she'll get me a dentist when i get her that information hahaha because i was supposed to ask you about it right when i got here. some cite that you used to find out things about chicago missionaries? let me know! thanks :)

well i love you all! thanks for your love! take care and until next week, missionary munoz OUT!

love

elder munoz

Happy Wednesday! May 5, 2010

Happy Wednesday,

The work here is going well. Jesus's baptism is this saturday! i'm so excited! he is really ready. let me tell you somethings about him... when we were about to teach him the Sabbath day and keeping it holy, we asked him what it meant to him. he told us that he probably shouldn't work out on sundays anymore. AH! that was before we even taught him! i was shocked at his faith and willingness to strive to be a better person! i actually laughed because i was so dumbfounded. yesterday we taught him about tithing and fast offerings. we (again, before we actually taught what it was and was for) asked him why it's important because he said he thought he knew what it was. he told us that it was important because it helps to build up the church for things like temples. again i was shocked hahaha. i'm not sure if i am getting across the fact that in the lesson he was giving golden answers to the things we were talking about. i was so excited for him because he's ready to be baptized. i'm so happy for him and for the blessing i have had to be apart of this process with him.

my companion and i have been working hard to find and teach as many people as we can. we have had our difficulties, (we had an intense and heated companionship inventory) but we pulled through and i really love Elder Rios. i only get to be with him for this one transfer and that is pretty sad. he's going to be going home this next Thursday! ah i can't believe it. i've learned so much from him and i hope he's learned from me. i know that the Lord put us together for a reason. we aren't the most compatable but i've seen that his strenghts are my weaknesses and my strenghts are his weaknesses. thus again we see the Master Hand taking a part in all things. His plan is intricate and i'm really thankful to know how much that He is aware of me.

well a few fun facts for you, i get to go to the Mexico vs. Senegal soccer game at Soldier Field Stadium next Monday! since it's my companions last week we got permission from the President to take our P-day on the day of the game! i'm so excited for that! it's going to be great because i know it will be a good game with an exciting crowd! haha i've never been to a real soccer game before! also, next transfer i'm MOST likely going to be with an Elder Rapier who is in my district now. and he is really a great missionary and i get along with him well. so that would be fun.

i love you all! i hope you are doing well and enjoying life. take care and keep me posted! i'll talk to you in a few days! what time should i call you? i get home from church around 2:30. honestly i don't even remember what time you have church but i think it's in the mornings now right? well we're in the same time zone so it will  be best for me to call after my church is over. so i'd say plan on me calling around... 3 okay? and don't worry, if for some reason you can't talk then, i'll be able to call later on in the evening. take care!

love

elder munoz

First Zone Conference...April 28th Letter

Hello Familia,

well last Thursday i had my first zone conference. i really enjoyed it a lot! it was something different, we all (the missionaries in the zone) got to get together with the mission president and learn a lot of things. we actually learned a lot about finances and keeping a budget and living within your means. what i really liked about the zone conference was they were teaching us things to learn on the mission, and how to apply it after a mission. the mission president talked about maintaining finances with your future spouse and home purchases and what-not. he based a lot of it off of what Elder Marvin J. Ashton taught LDS families about how to stay financially smart. they gave us a pamphlet that the church put together based on his talk. anyway we learned other things too. it was really spirtitually uplifting about always working hard to find people who are ready to accept the gospel.

things have been going great for my companion and i. i really have been blessed to start the mission in the area that i'm in. there's a LOT of work to be done here. we have a mission goal of teaching 20 lessons every week. while many other misisonaries have been struggling with this, Elder Rios and i have been able to meet it and this past week we had 23 lessons! we were really excited about that. altough we know that numbers are NOT a measure of success, we are just thankful for the work the Lord has given us and thankful that we have been able to reach our goals.

we have been really working with a few solid investigators, and trying to always find new people to teach. we found a family that has been really kind and listens intently when we teach (we've taught them twice). on this next appointment we hope to ask them to work towards a baptismal date.

It's been great working and teaching the members too. many of the members in our area i just realized are "recent converts" because they haven't even been members for a year yet. we've been meeting regularly with one family that is very strong and humble. they are SO kind to us. we just taught them about family home evening and what it is. we put on the first one they've ever had. it was so much fun and something that i never considered i'd be doing as a missionary! i just never really thought about all the things that i would share and teach people! i loved having FHE with them. i taught them a game too, the rythm game that we call in our family Matthew Mark Luke John. the one where you pat your legs, clap, and then snap while calling out the names or whatever. haha does that even make sense? well you know what game i mean. well i taught them that and they LOVED IT! they thought it was so much fun and we laughed a lot. what's funny to me is that the game actually went really horribly! haha only because it's a RYTHM game and you are supposed to say the names on the two snaps. they didn't really understand that and there was really no rythm to the game. so people just got out if they missed calling the right names or didn't realize it was their turn. i thought the family was so cute the enjoyment they were having. it was great.

well i love it here! things are a lot of fun and i really am so so grateful that it's finally my turn to serve a mission! there is nothing that makes me happier than the gospel. and i get to share that with people every single day. take care and know that i love you all!

love,

elder munoz