April 6, 2011

Hey there,

 

yeah i'm really happy to be here. i mean don't get me wrong, this is the hardest thing ever! haha it's hard physically, spiritually, emotionally. but ever bit of suffering is worth it! it's the greatest joy ever. so i'm happy for that. we still have our car, but we have limited miles that we can use each month. during the winter we recieved bus passes but now we are back on bikes. which, means more extra costs here and there. that's okay though i like biking.

 

i LOVED conference too. that talk on BEING and not just DOING was really good like you said. i also liked the talk about putting action to your hopes and dreams. the priesthood session was amazing like always. i really liked that talk by President Uchtdorf too. i'm not sure how much dad told you about it but i THINK that talk was about living up to your priesthood duties and priviledges. i watched all of conference so without my notes i can get mixed up sometimes. he talked about us living below our priveledges and how we need to overcome that. i loved it. my impressions? it's so true. i think to different extents we are all guilty of it. i'm going to try and be better and exemplify my callings and responsibilities more, while enjoying it every step of the way. oh! i also loved Elder Christoffersons talk on giving, taking and seeking righteous correction. i loved it because i want to be the best missionary i can be so i need to be accetpting and even SEARCH out constructive criticism.

 

mom i love the quotes you send me btw. i loved the one about the way to have a great, lasting relationship being that you take full responsibility for it and don't expect anytyhing in return. awesome. i've been trying to better live by that.

 

well, our two investigators with baptismal dates are progressing nicely along! i'm so happy and excited for each of them. they are both scheduled to be baptized on the 23rd of this month. they have come so far and i'm so excited for them. each one of them is excited for it too and have told us that they know that this is right. so cool. we were actually a little unsure of how solid Maria was feeling about it, but the last time we met with her she told us about how she has already started inviting her family to come and support her at the baptism!!! we were very happy to hear that.

 

so my district went to the temple today. it was great. such an incredible feeling of love, peace and happiness. whenever i go in there i just ccan't stop smiling. i think it's great you two get the chance to work there. so unfortunately like i said, i need garments but the distribution center was closed for another two hours by the time we were done. so we didn't get to buy any! darn right?

 

i love you all. hope everyone is doing fine. devin sent me his wedding invites~! i'm so stoked. i have been showing everyone. even members haha. i'm so happy and i can't wait to see pictures of the wedding.

love,

elder derek munoz

- Show quoted text -

Letter on March 30, 2011 with picture of my District!

hey there mama!

things are going well here, but YES it has been cold. and i don't like it! it's almost april! we were hoping that it would be warmer. but i think it should get warmer pretty soon. our bus passes expire soon so we will be back on bikes. it'll be good because i'll need that exercise. there hasn't been snow in a while though.

that's awesome that you get to work in the temple. we should be going next week. it'll be a great pday following general conference. which i'm WAY excited about. i love conference. it is so upliftin and makes me feel so much hope in the world. i can't wait to hear about what ya'll liked and share what i learned too.

it's incredible how much the Lord truly blesses us right? we have so much to be thankful for. elder john and i have been incredibly blessed. yesterday we found a new family to teach! a family of 4 and we also found a new woman to teach! so 5 new investigators yesterday! we're excited to see how they progress this week and we really hope that they can come to one of the sessions of conference this weekend.

we are still working with a couple other investigators. we had a GREAT lesson with the "husband" of one of our investigators. they aren't married and have said they think they want to wait to go back to Ecuador to get married, but now i think we might be able to set a marriage and baptismal date with her! she's a really kind woman and has desire to do what's right. she's just struggling because the onluy thing she's known is catholisism. however she's recieved an answer about joseph smith. so HECK YES! :) she'll be fine.

i love you all. thanks for all of your support. keep on moving forward!

love elder derek munoz

Missionaries in my District

March 23, 2011

hey there!

 

i'm doing great this week. it is great to hear about all that's going on back home. sounds like a lot of crazy stuff like always. don't worry mom, you and dad usually touch on different subjects or if it's the same thing, you both have different perspectives.

 

see how missionary work can be so easy mom?? we just need to let ourselves be mormons all the time. we need to always have Christ's image engraved in our countenance and invite people when we have an opportunity. and we ALWAYS have opportunities. if they aren't interested, that's okay. maybe right now they aren't prepared, but we can't make that decision for them! so many people try to make the decision for others, saying they aren't ready. but you never know...

 

that's crazy about the glass door shattering again. seems like our house has gone through so many changes bytheway... that's cool though

 

well the work is going forward! elder john and i are so excited for the changes in the zone. like i said, not because they old missionaries were bad, it's just good to have a change once in a while to get some fresh blood, fresh ideas for different areas. some of the missionaries had been there for a while. so we are hoping that the work here in the city increases a lot.

 

we lost one of our investigators last week. it was sad because he was the one that was so great! ha he was receptive and wanted to keep the commitments we had left him, but after his few weeks in mexico with other family, we lost him. he came back with just a different mind-set and stronger belief in his families religion. maybe in the future he'll regain his desire. so right now we are focusing harder on our other investigators that we have. they are doing well and all have different situations we have to work through. sometimes that is rough but we are going well and hoping that the Spirit really takes over with how we need to approach things with them.

 

so just so you know i picked up knitting again. i didn't really know much before but i feel like i know more now. my comp and i have been doing it at the end of the night before bed and it's been fun haha. we're both making big beanie hats. they are lookin pretty good. we got a new district member who likes to knit a lot and taught us some cool things. he's knitting a sweater!! haha he's so funny.

 

i love you all and hope you are well.

elder munoz