July 14, 2010

hello family!

 

thanks for the testimonies that you shared with me recently. i really loved them :)

 

i'm glad to hear that things are going well with you all. that's great that your boss got to come visit dad! i'm sure it was a little hard and nerve-racking, but surely you impressed her. and i'm glad to hear that you got to go to the temple! isn't it great? we get to go to the temple more often now with the new mission president. i'm excited for that.

 

wow there's a new bishopric!? that's interesting. i remembered bishop saying that he might leave but i forgot! well i'm sure the new people will do a good job. i need to write bishop linnemeyer a letter before they leave! he's a great person. i'm glad that i was able to work with him while getting ready to come out here.

 

well the missions are officially combined. i have a north-sider for my companion. haha i wasnt' too excited about it at first. and the first couple days we had together were REALLY rough... but don't worry. things have gotten a lot better. he's kind of an odd guy. haha but i really do love him. i honestly and sincerely think that he has aspergers disorder. at first i just didn't understand that, so it was difficult. the first few days my patience was really tested. i really had to control myself to speak calmly and level-headed with him, because he kept having problems with me and if he felt i wasn't listening, he was rude. haha i made a kind suggestion that he should speak slower when we teach (because he talks really fast) and he got really mad and said "don't tell me what to do. you don't know spanish." LOW BLOW! haha don't worry i stayed calm and didn't retaliate. well so yes, it was hard at first but things are going a lot better now. we get along with each other and he really does have great insights and i've already learned much from him. so i'm thankful to have him with me. (btw my spanish is great :) haha)

 

well, yesterday we found 3 new investigators! one was a boy playing guitar on his porch. i rode my bike past him and i had a feeling that on the way back, i should stop and talk to him. so i stopped at his house and started talking to him about the guitar. he was a really nice college student who agreed to hear the first lesson! he also agreed to read and pray about the book of mormon! we meet with him tomorrow. my companion and i have really been feeling the spirit and seeing blessings in our lives. the Lord has his hands in the work.

 

my companion and i have been a lot more specific in our prayers and i already feel like i'm seeing a difference in everything i do. i've truly been keeping a prayer in my heart and it makes life so much easier! i don't really hesitate to talk to anyone anymore. i LOVE it! 

 

i don't know how to describe the strength my testimony has recieved. i love being here. even though sometimes it's hard, i see so much in a different perspective than so many of my brothers and sisters on the street. and it makes things so much better. and i want to share my eternal perspective with everyone. 

 

i love you all! thanks for your love. tell annie happy birthday for me! it was yesterday! ok??

til next week, elder munoz

July 7th, 2010

Hey there mom and dad!

 

it's great that you all had a good 4th of july! family parties are always a blast. haha we did the same thing that we always do. it was really hard on sunday though because some of our appointments fell through, and people did not want to talk to us when we were tracting! everyone was enjoying a bbq with family or friends so that was a little challenging. we did see a lot of fire works though when we got back to the apartment. there were loud bangs going off for hours! my companion and i sat on the roof for a little bit, watching them go off. it was fun.

 

it's great that you've been doing so well dad! way to go. so what happened with jeremy? i hope that he can find some success with Red McCombs. don't worry mom! i'm healthy and eating enough. well, i'm eating enough... not sure how healthy i am. we ate 4 times monday!!! so we were STUFFED. and as for health, i played soccer today so i ran around! ;)

 

thanks for sending me that package. ya'll are great. but don't worry i don't need anything at the moment.

 

well i've met my president now. he's a great man, it's just... different i guess, because of the changes. he seems like a really fun person and really caring. i don't understand why we do some of the things that we do, but i guess i don't have to. because we combined the missions, we had that short two week transfer until we got on track with the northside transfer schedule. so we just had transfers today! and guess what? they DID effect me. i have a new companion again. i guess i'm just a "1 transfer missionary" haha. i was only with Elder Devey for 2 weeks, and now i'm with an elder who came from the northside. he seems like a good kid. he's been out here for 20 months! so he's pretty old in the mission. he kind of seems young though for some reason. haha he's a little goofy (in a good way!) and i'm sure i'll love him. the most important thing is that he seems to know why he's here and wants to work, so i like that a lot. because that's the most important thing.

thanks for sharing that journal entry with me mom. i really enjoy reading your insights and having different glimpses of your testimony. you two dad! thanks for your comments on finding people to teach. you two are a great source of strength! i'm very grateful to have you both. i'm working hard to let people know why i am here as a missionary. like i mentioned, my last companion taught me a lot of things. recently we've had to learn to be very honest and bold with people and i love it. we let them know why we are here as missionaries. we explain that we are here to tell them of the one church of Jesus Chirst and to baptize them. then we figure out their commitment level and if we really should continue meeting with them. and with our members as well. we have been working on asking members to pray about people we can teach. my new companion and i should have a very successful time together.

 

we met with one of our investigators yesterday. we taught him at the church and he brought his girlfriend. it was great because we were able to show them around the church and then teach them both the message of the restoration in the building. the spirit was really strong and my companion and i worked together very well! i think that was one of the best lessons i've been apart of so far. the spirit testified even to me as i was teaching. i hope that they continue in their learning and read the book of mormons that we gave them. i'll let you know.

 

well i love you all! sometimes life is difficult, for me and for you all at home. but there is one thing that matters above all, and that is our testimonies of the gospel. i find so much more ease and comfort knowing our purpose here on the earth as God's children. like you said mom, that little piece of knowledge is very important. we are His children with potential to be like him. oh man the gospel is great! it makes me smile :) i hope you all are doing well and i'm glad to hear mom that you have been praying for missionary experiences. keep up the awesome work family!!

 

until next week,

elder munoz out.

June 30, 2010 Letter

Dear Family,

 

well dad, i love that story that you all discussed. it is so true, that we all want to be like Nephi but in reality, there are many times where we are more like laman and lemuel. for instance, they went and they to go get the plates of brass, they just murmured and complained the whole time. we should not be that way. when we have been commanded or directed to do something from the prophets, we should be happy to do so! because we should find joy in doing what our Father in Heaven has asked of us. and recieve satisfaction of knowing that we are making Him happy! and like you said, we can't forget all the things that He does for us! there are so many small and simple gifts that we recieve on a daily basis and we need to remember His hand in our lives. thanks for your insights! that example of worth is great too. it makes me think about how Christ saw us through spiritual eyes. he loves us as his brothers and sisters and that's why he suffered for us. we need to look at others with spiritual eyes. we need to be concerned with the welfare of those around us and strive to take care of them! both temporally and spiritually like Mosiah 14 says.

 

wow mom! sounds like you guys got the hook up with the steaks! that should be really fun. where did the new restaurant open up? and i did not know that they were already getting married! wow that's really great! i'm glad that they are getting to drive up for the wedding :)

 

so my companion is great! he knows how to work hard and be a great missionary, but to have fun in the process. i've been laughing a lot lately! we get along well and it's kind of a brother-like relationship. haha i mean we sometimes tease each other and hit each other... haha it's funny though and i'm glad to have been getting along so well.

 

it's a great balance though because he has been teaching me a lot of things! he's been out almost a year and a half now, and has the language down! as well as good teaching skills. let me give you two quick examples of the work we've been doing. he's helping me to be bold because right now we have an investigator that is almost 17 years old. we've been teaching him since the end of my first transfer and he's even come to church the past few Sundays. BUT he's not able to get baptized because his mother is against it, and wants him to wait until he's 18 and an adult. well my other compaions and i were not sure what to do. but i didn't feel it was right to drop him. when Devey came into the area he was able to provide new insights. we've planned a great bold lesson on baptism to get him to understand the importance and to want it more (right now he does not want to go against his mother. which is a good thing i guess haha). so we are going to ask him to share his feelings with his mom and talk to her again about it, as well as hopefully letting us be apart of the conversation. we've also asked members in the ward to pray for him and for his mom's heart to be softened. 

we also have another family where the kids are all baptized, and the mother loves the church, but she's not married (the father isn't interested). we haven't been sure what we were going to do with that either because she said when the missionaries first taught them that she didn't want to get married. well my companion said it's time to be bold. so we taught a lesson on faith last monday. then at the end, i asked her to be baptized! when she said she couldn't because she didn't want to get married, my companion asked if she believed in the Book of Mormon. she said yes, and then he said that she should pray and ask God if getting married and then getting baptized is something she should do. she agreed to do so. whew! that was an intense lesson. but it went well! and i was happy that we were able to make this progress with her.

 

so all in all, i've been having lots of fun, while also learning new things, working better with the members, trying to be more bold, and doing my best to help these people. it's been a great week!

 

i haven't met the new mission president yet, but it is now officially the Chicago Illinois Mission! another big change. we have a meet and greet this week on friday. so i should be able to tell you a little more next week. it's going to be... different... but i know i'll love the new mission president. i just thought President and Sister Roach were so amazing. i'll miss them!

 

i love you all. thanks for you lovely letters! until next week!

Elder Munoz

June 23, 2010

hi familia!

well things are going really well here. it turns out that i'm staying in the same area for the next two weeks which i suspected, BUT something different is that my companion is leaving! i didn't really think that that would happen in these short two weeks. but yes, he's leaving and i'm going to be with my district leader, Elder Devey, who is coming over to 26th street. i'm exctied about it because i know that he's a good missionary. there is a possibility that we might butt heads a little bit... but i know that there is a reason the Lord wants us to serve together and also that i just need to love him.

my companion and i have been working really hard the last week. we have had to do a lot more tracting than usual. tracting can be tiresom and discouraging, but we have been doing our best to keep up good hopes and to do our best to share the gospel with everyone we talk to! sometimes it's hard because people don't actually listen to what you are saying... haha. they just say "si... si...." but then you ask them a question and they don't know what's going on. haha :) but don't worry! our efforts are paying off. we have been finding a few people to teach. AND we had another great experience. my companion and i had 3 out of 4 appointments cancel on us this past Sunday. and we were forced to fill some hours with tracting. and it was great!!! the way that things worked out with the timing and the area that we were knocking, led us straight to Juan. he is a very sincere young man that said "sure" when we asked if we could share a message with him. we talked to him right on his door step and told him about the restoration. whenever we asked him questions, his responses were great. he really wants to find something good in the world and said that it would mean a great deal to him to know if we truly do have a prophet in the world. we were led to this boy by the Lord. i'm sure of it. i'm so excited to teach him again this week.

there are countless miracles that we can find in our daily lives if we just keep our eyes open for them. there have been times where i am just filled with thanks because of a beautiful day. it's incredible what the gospel does for you. i just read "our search for happiness" and there is a very important point that elder ballard pointed out. with our knowledge as members of the gospel, our whole lives change. we are given an ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE. haha mom and dad you should remember how much i love those two little words. they make everything better. we know our purpose here on the earth and what we have to do to fufill it. i'm so greatful to have this knowledge with me of the gospel. everything is just, happier :)

i love you all, and i hope all is well. thanks for your updates, i really love them! i miss you all but i'm so glad for this blessed time i have to serve a mission!

-elder munoz