Got Package! January 19, 2011

hey mom and dad!

i did have a great week thanks. i'm not sure if i told you about maria and antonio because i thinik we found them on thursday. BUT they are a blessing from heaven. they have been to many different churches and are looking for the truth. they are looking for what feels right. and we were able to teach them and invite them to church. they said yes, and ACTUALLY CAME! haha it's sometiems pretty hard to get people to come to church, but they were there! actually... they even got there before we arrived! but they really liked it and we'll see them again tomorrow. i'm excited. i know it's just the beginning, but hopefullly they continue to learn and progress toward baptism for next month.

my companion and i are doing well. we are going to teach a Zone Meeting tomorrow. we give a little instruction (along with the AP's and President) to our zone of about 22-24 missionaries. i'm a little nervous but i think that we will do a good job. we'll be fine :) i actually really enjoy teaching and speaking in front of people. i still get really nervous and hate to be the center of attention, but i like teaching! it's weird. like when i give a talk at home i get super nervous, but i love it! i think it's because i get to express how i feel or my perspective on a subject, and (especially when it's gospel topics) i can feel the Spirit teach and testify to ME of the truth of what i'm saying. so it's weird that i hate it and love it at the same time. i'll be sure to let you know how it went next week.

i got a package from the Walkers! the older walkers. they sent me a bunch of crackers, pringles, top roman, and hot-cocoa! it was so exciting to open haha and i've been eating the snacks like everyday. they are such a sweet couple and i'm going to send them a thank you note. but be sure to give them a hug for me. i honestly can't remember if i sent the Flicks a thank you note for their last package... i hope i did. they sent me 2 so far and i'm positive i sent one the first time...

i'm so glad to have the support of a wonderful family and a great ward. i hope that everyone is doing well and that the missionary work there is going awesome. please help out the missionaries! ask them what they need with their investigators. and mom i still want to know about your co-worker with the tattoos! i hope he's still active.

i love you all and hope that everyone is enjoying life.

elder derek munoz

Humberto... January 12, 2011

hey there!

mom i had a great week! it was awesome. well... i mean there was some discouraging moments because we were struggling to find some new investigators. BUT i began to really pray hard and to be specific in my prayers. and i was being Shaped by my Father. He knows exactly when to give me a pick-me-up. yesterday my companion and i were really diligent! i wanted to find 2 new investigators and that's what i asked God to help me accomplish. it was snowing and we went out to tract. and that's when we found Humberto. we had a great lesson with him and i was so happy because the spirit was strong in the room. Berto speaks spanish and english and we ended up teaching him in english. i love my mission language but it was nice to be able to have no language barrier whatsoever (well... execpt some gospel principles i had to translate into english in my head). we testified to him and asked him how he felt. he said that he felt so much better than before. he had been having a bad day and when we came up, something told him that he should listen to us. BAM! how cool is that? i'm so excited to continue teaching him. we're going to see him tomorrow.

that's not the only thing that i've been blessed with. we found another new investigator that we're going to teach saturday. we also found a less-active part-member family that we didn't know about. they agreed to let us come back when the whole family was there!

well as you can see things are going well here. HAPPY 26TH ANNIVERSARY! i hope your day was awesome! i love you mom and dad.

i looked at the family blog today so i could see your pictures. and wow! you all look so good! and the house looks different! you mentioned changes, but i didn't realize! nice big red couch! it'll be strange/fun coming home and getting used to everything.

haha you crazy old folks with your FHE. that's so great. i'm glad that you are strengthening yourselves spiritually and as a community. that's a really important thing.

i want to know how your co-worker is doing mom! the one that got baptized before i left with tattoos and stuff. i hope that he is still doing well. if not, you should find out what he's up to. yeah?? hopefully he's still strong in the church.

well have a great week. i love and miss you all.

elder MUnoZ!

New Year's Eve with Elder John!

Epiphany...January 5, 2011

hey mom and dad! and everyone else :)

things are going great! i have a completely new outlook on the mission now. i've been renewed in my excitement and love for the work! i know i was "if-y" about my mission president before but i had an epiphany... he is different than my last mission president, i know that. but that doesn't mean he isn't great. i actually thought about a story mom told me a while back.

mom you told me that you about when you had worked so hard to help out at, i think it was, youth conference. there was an activity and you put in your heart and soul to make sure everything went great. even still, you told me at the end of it someone had made an inconsiderate comment and you told me it made you cry! i was so upset when i heard that story. nobody makes my mom cry! but anyways, i related that to my situation right now. i realized that my leaders don't want to see me fail!! they want what's best for me, what's best for the mission. and i need to appreciate and respect that. so i had been thinking about that, plus we also had a mission council. that's where the mission president and the assistants, meet with all of the zone leaders. we talked a lot about the mission and how we had done the last year. we talked about things that need to change and improve so that we can push forward the work we are doing for Christ. and it got me so excited! i'm so happy about the vision and direction we now have for the mission. we have a goal to get the missionaries motivated and executing their purpose to baptize. we want to change the culture of the mission so that eveyone is working hard and being obedient because they want to. so that they can be worthy to recieve the blessing of God. we want each companionship to push for a goal to baptize MONTHLY.

i'm also really looking forward to this calling of being a Zone Leader. i want to help the other missionaries. i'm thankful to have a part in this mission and to be able to serve others. opportunities like this are gifts from God. we just need to remember that it's WITH Him that we can be successful in what he calls us to do. so i'm trying to remember to fufill His will.

so all in all, i love my mission, i love my leaders, and i love my Savior. and i am going to try and focus on consecrating myself more fully to doing His work. it makes me happy :)

anyway, way to go mom on starting the day off with scripture studies! it makes an incredible difference doesn't it? once we realize something like that it's just like you said, we don't want to stop!

that is so cool that you  are going to begin to serve in the temple. it's going to be such a great experience. i can't wait to hear about it! my comp and i are going to try and go sometime this month. we both need new garment bottoms! don't worry though, the ones you sent helped a ton and i have funds to buy a few more for myself :) i did use some of the money dad put in my account to buy new sheets though... the ones i had were great while they lasted! but they were gettin old.

 so mom, i think what i would ask for in this package would be pictures!!! please :) i know last time you sent some i looked at them for a while and then sent some back.... that was partly because i didn't want to get trunky. but now i see that it wouldn't make me trunky. they're nice to have! which btw, i LOVE my family calendar. it's great :) but if you wanted to send some pics from the holidays, that would be great. also if you wanted to copy some pictures of my friends and i, maybe from my facebook onto a flash drive, and print some pics of my friends too, that'd be cool.

well i hope that all is going well. we have been finding people to teach and everytime, that's a miracle. God places people in our path and it's a great feeling to be apart of His plan.

i miss you and hope eveyone is happy!

love,

elder munoz

Christmas in the field... December 29, 2010

hey there mom,

yeah it was great to talk to you all too. it's so much easier to communicate and share more things when we can talk to each other! i DID wear my santa hat! i'm not sure if we have any pictures of it though so i'll have to pretend like you suggested :) and i'm glad that you liked the CD and are enjoying the pictures.

mom don't worry! you can get back in the routine of working and working out. i believe in you :) it always feels good, even if you are wanting a break, to be in a routine and feel purpose oriented.

so i'm glad that all went well with everything Christmas! we had fun here. after i got off the phone with you all, we went downtown! we sang Christmas hymns and passed out cards from the church. it was so much fun! even though we aren't the best singers... haha some people didn't like us, some people loved us! after that we ate with a family Christmas eve and then came home and drank some eggnogg. then Christmas morning my companion and i listened to Christmas music while opening our presents and taking pictures. then we got ready to head to another member families house. they have 4 little kids. the two youngest boys are less than a year apart and they are a little trouble making team! but they are so much fun and it was great spending brunch with them. they  are a little more americanized and the Sister speaks a lot of english. she mad us a typical american breakfast (for all the missionaries in the ward) with pancakes, bacon, cinnamon rolls, and orange juice. then i danced around with the kids. it was funny. later on my companion called his family and i played with Christmas stuff. then we were able to take a glorious nap before heading over to another members house for dinner. so mainly Christmas consisted of us eating a lot. i enjoyed it.

yeah i'm excited about this calling to be zone leader too. i really hope to make a difference. my companion and i are going to work hard and so far we are getting along fine. he is such a humble guy. he's a great missionary and really knows what's right. he is a little shy and on the conservative side, but we have been having much fun together. we have some ideas that we think will help the missionaries in our zone progress and move the work forward. hopefully we can stand strong and stand up for what we know is best.

i love my mission and i'm learning to love my mission president. i do respect him! i just want to point out a difference between him and my first that will hopefully get you to understand where i'm coming from better... so with president Roach, we heavily focused on "becoming baptizing missionaries"! which was GREAT because that is our ultimate purpose as full-time missionaries. we even had a member of the 70 come and tell us that. (of course it's not about numbers! baptizing still includes making sure everyone is ready and hopefully going to be strong faithful members til the end). but now with president Doll, we are more focused on "becoming contacting missionaries". and that is NOT our purpose. that is just what we obviously do as missionaries. SO, elder john and i, being original southside missionaries, want to help the other missionaries remember their purpose is to baptize.

don't worry about me though, we are really loving what we do. i don't know if you could see it in our conversation, but i feel like i've grown a lot. there's so much i've learned. i love the gospel. i know that there is a TRUE mental, physical, emotional, spiritual difference in your life when you are doing all that is possible to live the gospel of Jesus Christ and when you are not. the gospel is happiness. God loves us and wants to bless us. that's why the gospel is here. so that through our obedience, we will obtain everything that our Father has for us. it's so exciting to bring  that to others!!!!

i love you all and miss you much. i hope all is going well. i hope you have a great new years! i think we'll celebrate by going to bed early since we can't be out late! haha

much love,

elder munoz

Last Christmas with Elder Ferrell