Derek's Letter on August 31, 2011

hey there!

 

i know ya'll love me. no doubt!! ya'll rock. don't worry i plan on finishing strong. it's been kinda hard because we see investigators come and go so quickly in our area... but i know that there are people prepared and will be baptized. we have a baptism this weekend. i haven't mentioned much about him tho just because he was already preparing to be baptized before i got here. but it's been great to have a small part in everything for him.

 

wow i cannot believe that there have been so many changes! so many weddings. cool! i know a couple of the people you were mentioning. i do remember the winegar family! thats neat to hear about so many things. i cannot believe that lise goreman is engaged to isabelle's brother! wow. i've been writing to isabelle and she never said that!!! crazy stuff. tell brooke jump and lise goreman congrats for me and give them a hug! thanks.

 

sounds like you all are having so much adventures. i can't wait to join ya'll! it's gonna be so different but good now that everyone is grown up and starting their lives. so yeah i want to start school asap too... but you still think that i should go to the summer term so i can get a little money yeah? spring term may be too quick. maybe not idk! so a cruise huh?? haha that would be a blast. i would do it! haha yeah why not?? but the thing is are we still going to be able to come visit chicago? yeah i may want to visit utah pretty soon after i get home too... but it's too early to tell that little detail. we'll see.

 

my comp and i are going to stay together one more transfer. that's good because we really get along. i enjoy it because he's a great worker and has pure desires. we are good about keeping eachother having a good attitude. we're teaching a deaf investigator. did i tell ya that? they are really cool. we'll see where it goes... i'm lovin chicago. we went by Obamas house today. it was wierd with all the secret service and what not. stinks for the people that live next to him...

 

well i love ya tons! i'm gonna email daddy.

your missionary,

elder derek munoz

Derek's Letter on August 24, 2011

hey there!

 

dude where is the love? where is the love? haha maybe my email last time wasn't good enough. but i'll try to be more entertaining this week. haha that might be hard cuz not a whole lot has happend. well, awesome stuff with the work actually...

 

so my comp and i have been workin hard of course. haha can you believe that the transfer is almost over?! that is crazy for me. next week we have transfers but i don't think there will be any changes here with elder hancock and i. which is a good thing because i'd like to work with him again. i only have 4 transfers left! time to work my butt off. it's the last stretch. President Roach always said that the way you end your mission is the way that you will remember it. and i want to finish strong! i love it. i'm going to miss it. and i believe it's true that i'll remember it for the rest of my life.

 

well we have been teaching Jesus and he's been doing great! there is a lot that he is going to need to change in his life but he wants to finally get right with God and be happy in his life. and we are here to help him do that! we have been having some awesome lessons with him. what makes them awesome is that we can feel the spirit and then when we ask him questions, we can see that the spirit is guiding him. helping him to answer the questions. that is the best kind of learning that he can do! he's talked to us about how he has alwasy had questions and wanted to know where it is that he could find truth but has never found it. and now he finally feels like we have been helping him recieve the answers that he is looking for. he said that he was going to read and pray about the book of mormon to know if it is true for himself and we'll see how it went when we go over tonight. he wasn't able to go to church last week but this week is looking good for it :)

 

we also have gotten back into contact with a really cool family. this woman has two kids, and one of them is 9 years old and he is a CHAMP! he loves church and learning about the prophets and knows a lot of the bible stories. it was funny because the first time we met them he wanted to learn a lot more from us and it was his mom that was hesitant. she just didn't know what she was looking for and so it was hard to keep in contact and teaching them. BUT just yesterday we stopped by to give the son a kids BOM and it was like perfect timing. we chatted with her for a little while and i showed her the picture in the Conference Ensign of the prophets and apostles, and it finally connected with her. she had her interest sparked again, and finally confessed to us that it's good we've been persistant because she now sees the need to find a spiritual foundation. she now wants to know what we have to say and if it's true! before she just thought it was interesting but wasn't really super serious about it all. but i knew there was somethin about the family and now their time has come. sweet yeah? we'll see how it goes but i have a lot of hope for them.

 

we have been teaching some others too and it's just incredible the feeling you get when you find someone who finally appreciates the comfort the answers we have are. i love it.

 

well so i was hoping to start school in the summer term for BYU. but there is a missionary i heard from that went home back in march. well he went to tennessee to sell security and made 15grand!!! in 2 and 1/2 months! may to july. i think that would be awesome. because i need money to go to school and everything. and that would be an incredible opportunity to make that. and i think that i can do it! but here's the thing, should i do that and put off school til the fall? or should i try to see if i can go sell and be back in utah for the summer term? what do ya'll think? that might keep me away from home for a while though because i want to go the fall right after the summer term.

 

i love ya'll! i have to go get something checked out at the doctor and i have to pay this co-pay. i was wondering if you could put 10 or 20 on my home card soon to pay for it. yeah? thanks

elder derek munoz

August 16, 2011 Letter

why hello there!

 

wow mom and dad you two have some demanding callings now. one of my friends on the mission said he hated going to his home ward after the mission because at church his dad stood on the stand in the bishopric and his mom was up there for the music. so he was sitting all by himself! i think that might be what i go through! dad on the stand, mom visiting different wards. lame... haha jk. i'm not sure if i'll want to go to the singles ward. it'll be wierd. who knows though. i hope dev and kat make new great friends too. that will make a big difference in their church experience. i bet they will though.

 

so how does amber and jeremy have friends from india? what is going on here?? haha that's really cool though. there is a big Indian community in chicago. there's really people from everywhere here. its really neat. right now though as you know i'm just serving in little mexico. that's cool that even ya'll are getting to see a new culture!

 

wow so the wards are growing out there?? tell me more about that. are they just going to need to split our ward or are they going to split other wards too? any more news about the members from the stake? any more recent marriages or anything exciting?

 

well the work here is going well too. we found a really cool new investigator recently. he's got a LOT of deep life questions and has felt like they've never really been answered, but he's never talked to us before! so we're going to teach him tonight. we also found a deaf person that we just started teaching! we ran into her tracting and although we couldn't speak with her, we wrote down a few messages on paper and she accepted to watch the restoration dvd because that has ASL to it. we're going back tonight to teach her too and we're bringing an interpreter from the suburbs haha! isn't that cool? that lesson we had was the first lesson i have had without talking! i'm telling ya, i really want to learn ASL when i go to BYU. i guarantee that it'll come up in my life and i'll need it.

 

my comp is doing well too. he is picking up spanish a lot! i'm so grateful to be working with him because we both have desire to be the best we can. so we openly execpt constructive criticism from one another and seek how to improve individually and as a companionship. he's got a great heart.

 

well i love you all. i printed off some pictures and i made a cd with some pictures too. i'll be sure to send it soon cuz i haven't had the chance to mail it. but you'll have it before i email ya again i'm sure!

love,

elder derek munoz

Visit With My Bro.... August 10, 2011 Letter with Photos!

hey MAH!!

i am still workin hard, but not really the rest of the things... haha i mean here's the deal. eating healthy is really hard to do when you have only 2 MAYBE 3 meals coming in for the week. haha it's hard to be healthy grocery shopping when many days you have to make 3 meals. p90x and knitting? well we are keeping pretty diligent and so i'm too tired to do those things! but don't worry i'm still applying many good things  in my life continually! i've been writing in my journal still and my comp and i work continually to self-improve. we are working hard to increase in diligence, obedience, and faith. 3 keys to success!

you chatted with annie's mom? haha that's fun. i didn't really know that you had ever communicated. annie sent me a christmas package! haha yeah she's a little late but Christmas in August is still cool. she made a stocking that was a missionary! haha it was a shirt, tie and tag. stuffed with candy! and i was TRYING to eat healthy! but man. when you just place candy in front of me...

well i gave dad some details of the visit with dev and kat. like i told him we just ate, talked and enjoyed our few moments together. i really enjoyed it. but i was explainging to dad that i couldn't think of what to say cuz i was just happy he was there! i really enjoyed the company of my new sis-in-law too. haha i really wanted her to step outside her comfort zone though. i'm not sure how she appreciated it... haha i took them out to eat at authentic mexican places, and i had them stay with a mexican couple that hardly spoke english and iwasn't able to be there to introduce them. Kat wanted to stay in a hotel but i insisted that they didn't. hahaha i think the mission has REALLY taught me to step outside my comfort zone and try new things. i'm not sure if i told you but recently when we went out to eat i voluntarily ordered cow tongue. i think i said that last week... but i like tryin new things.

anyways, it was a great visit. i can't wait to get home and visit with all of you!!!

but i still have 6 months left. it's going to go by FAST so i'm trying to enjoy every moment of it and work hard. it's gonna fly by, but it's plenty of time for me to have a great influence and do a lot of good work in the mission field. we have been finding like crazy. however we are filtering trhough many of them because we are striving to find the Lords elect! it's a fun quest.

i love ya. guess what?? i'm going to be ordering some pictures today so within the next week you should be getting some k? love ya'll.

Lunch with Devin in Chicago!

Great Times!

First time meeting the new Sister-in-Law!

Miracles Out The Wazoo! August 3, 2011

hey there familia!

miracles out the wazoo! haha my comp and i have been working so hard and having so much fun. ah... it's nice to be back in my greenie area and i am getting my "greenie fire" back! i think we are going to see a lot of success in this area/companionship. but let me respond to your letter first.

haha mom you are the famous cook among the missionaries? that is so cool! i want to ask them about it! haha there are sometimes certain families things that becomes the legend in the area and sometimes it spreads through lots of missionaries. i wonder if your cooking has acheived that!? haha i'm sure it has or will.

whew mom. AC out when dad goes out of town? sorry. i've heard that it has been really bad there in texas. many members have told me that there is a drought and that it's been really hot for a long time. hang in there! 

can you believe that devin is married and moving to new york? wierd huh? do you know if he is going to be staying there for the summer or what his plans are? so i was thinking. i think i asked but do you think the best choice for me is to wait and go to byu in the summer term? that starts in like end of june or beginning of july. the spring term would be like end of april or beginning of may. that might just be too soon to get sufficient money though.

so my companion is elder hancock and he has great desires. he's really helping me to improve my missionary efforts. we have been working well as a team so far constantly evaluating ourselves and talking about how we can improve. it's nice. i feel like i'm finally consistently fine-tuning myself to be a better tool for the lord. our teaching skills are getting better, our listening to the Spirit is finer-tuned, and we're having fun being tired at the end of the day!

we have our sights on having 3 baptisms next month. you know that i haven't had a ton of baptisms in my mission, and 3 baptisms in one month would be AWESOME for me. i feel like its' going to happen. we are working with someone already who will get baptized this month, but i know we can also have 3 next month. we're going to be working and praying for it at least! and i know the Lord will help us out. just yesterday we got a random call out of the blue from someone  who wanted us to come over. she is visiting from texas with one of her sons who is a member. but his wife isn't. well we showed up and they both have desires to turn to God to strenghthen their marriage! they are both young and going through a rough patch. but we invited his wife to prepare to be baptized and she accepted! 

i have to get going but we have been seeing miracles all over. the Lord is guiding us to those he has prepared and i love it!

love you all a ton! i miss ya!

elder derek munoz