Life in the MTC (turn off the "sweet church tunes" at the bottom before playing!)

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

The Traveling Pillow

It was Derek's turn to mail the "Giving Tree" pillow to Mom and Dad during the month of April.

He added photos and motivation quotes. It was so fun to get and read. Loved it! 

I'm in Chicago!!

Hello family!!!

it's been a week since i've left the mtc! i've been working in Chicago for a while! ah exciting news!! where do i even start?

my companion is Elder Rios. His family is from Guatemala but he's actually from L.A. he's a great elder. i'm his first son! that means that i'm the first that he's trained on his mission. and i'm going to be there when he dies! that means that his mission will be over. we'll only be here together for this one transfer, then his 2 years are up. so i'm a little disappointed with that because usually you're with your trainer for a few transfers.

i love chicago. it's sometimes scary because i feel like i'm living in this game called Grand Theft Auto. you probably don't know what it is but maybe you can get a younster to explain it. my first area is in the city! and i'm surrounded by hispanic people. it's like 90% spanish here where my area is. some people are scary because they look at you like they want to hurt you, or they eye your bike up and down when you're locking it. i over heard one guy telling his friend that he stabbed someone... haha but don't worry!!! although i'm not invincible, if i do what the Lord has asked of me, i will be safe. it's really sad though. there is so much evil in the world. so many of the young girls have babies. and there are so many kids that have tattoos or piercings. we live across the street from like an elementary school and i can here them outside in the mornings during personal study. i hear little kids saying the worst words! and even a grown woman who works here at the library was having a conversation using the F word. yes, the F word (reference from the office). and much more things... we're not allowed to be out at night unless we have set appointments. it makes me sad. BUT don't you worry about me. don't take this negatively. the way i think about it is like i'm in the Book of Mormon! hahaha and i have a great desire to bring the gospel to the Lamanites, my brethren. that's what i'm here to do! called of God.

i have been here for only one week and i've already seen miracles! it's incredible! my companion and i have been working hard and talking to as many people as we are able to. wanna hear my first miracle? too bad. it's personal. kidding. here it is...

well as we were knocking doors we were about to change areas, get on our bikes and go somewhere else. BUT i saw a young man walking down the street on the opposite side. we almost didn't talk to him but i really wanted to for some reason. so i walked across and talked to him. we set up an appointment for Sunday evening to go back. well sunday evening came, we locked our bikes near his house and went to knock on the door. guess what?? he wasn't there... but you know what i knew i was supposed to do?! look around to see if God had placed anyone in our path, because he already knew that Gabriel wasn't going to be home. and guess what happened?? nobody was around... so we went to unlock our bikes and were going to visit another home. as i was unlocking my bike, guess what happened?? dogs came out of nowhere on the other side of the fence and were barking and growling at me! i was using a U shaped lock that was hooked around the fence. i had everything i needed except that part of the lock. i couldn't get it back around the fence because the dogs would be able to bite me. as i was struggling to figure out what to do, one of the two dogs bit my lock, carried it about ten yards inside the fence, dropped it, and came back to bark at me. AH! i HAVE to have my lock because we had more appointments that night, and i dont have another lock anyway, and you can't NOT have a lock on your bike or it will get jacked (stolen)! my comp and i stood there trying to figure out our options. the person who lived there wasn't home. we knocked on the neighbors door and they let us have a broom. the broom 1. didn't reach and 2. the dogs would bite at it. we spent about 20 minutes trying to work something out. guess who comes walking down the street? GABRIEL! our appointment! i walk up to him and talk to him and he looks like there's something wrong and tells me something like he didn't really want to talk to us right now (this was in spanish so i kinda had to guess what he actually said). at this point i'm laughing at the situation i'm in and try to tell him about the dogs and my lock, although i don't know the spanish vocab so he couldn't understand. i had my companion talk to him as i tried to figure out the situation. just then the owner came out of the back house, and he gave us the lock. we ended up talking to Gabriel and we taught him the 1st lesson outside of his house. we found out that he's 18 years old and lives alone here because his family is back home in Mexico. he had just gotten back from breaking up with his girlfriend. we also found out that he doesn't really have any friends because all he does is work. he needs a friend and he needs the gospel. i KNOW that this was an orchestrated miracle for us to stay there and talk with him. we visit him again tomorrow morning and i'm really excited about it! he's such a great kid! we're going to ask him to be baptized for sure.

i've had another miracle happen. we went to another appointment and she wasn't there. so i looked around to see the first person i could talk to. some man had walked out of his house 2 doors down. i immediately walked toward him to talk to him. usually people keep walking or hurry on their way when they see us missionaries coming (haha) but he stood and waited for me as i said hello. my companion and i started talking to him and he was WAY nice and receptive. he liked the work that we were doing. we set up a time to teach the first lesson. then a Paleta guy, or ice cream cart pusher man, came by. the man insisted and bought us both some ice cream and went on his way. my comp and i sat on the sidewalk just for a minute to eat the popsicles. as we were eating them, the lady that we had the original appointment with, Patricia, walked out of the house! we talked to her and she said she was sorry and she must have been in the back yard when we knocked. she happily agreed to have us come back. okay so that was a miracle but it gets better. we go back to talk to this nice man who bought us Paletas. his name is Jesus (in english it sounds like hey-zeus). well we taught him the first lesson and it went great! he was way interactive and receptive. guess what? he agreed to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, he doesn't work sundays and will come to church with us, AND said he would prepare to be baptized on May 1st! AH! we already have investigators preparing to be baptized! super exciting. and the lady that i talked about, Patricia, we went to her house and she wasn't there again. but her son said she was down the street on the corner getting her hair done. we walked there, walked inside and started talking to her. it was so funny because she was in there getting her hair done while we asked where the heck she was haha. although it seems like she's not entirely interested, she is a way funny/nice woman and i think she's just been busy. i really have a good feeling about her. her personality would be great in the church! i feel like she'd be way involved.

well i'm not gonna write too much more because i want to go play soccer! and we're late already. but i'll say a few more things.

i almost forgot!!! when i arrived at the first place i would be staying at, i was so frustrated. yeah the house is really old, but it was just way messy and stuff just because of missionaries! ah it was way messy. there was stuff everywhere, i could barely walk around and you couldn't sit on the furniture without sitting on stuff. BUT i cleaned it up. mom, annie, you should be way proud! family, you may think i'm messy but i cannot stand to live in a messy house! so i cleaned every room. i was eager to get to work, and i didn't want to waste time cleaning, but this had to be done. the spirit would struggle to live there. we have been told to keep our homes clean, a place similar to the temple where the spirit thrives! so the second day i had to do it. we cleaned (mainly me...). i put tons of things in trash boxes and bags. mom, i even MOVED the furniture to vacuum under. i organized things, threw things away, wiped things down, and vacuumed. there's a closet that has all sorts of church pass-along cards, pamphlets and such, it was even a mess. all the papers and things were everywhere. guess what? i organized that too! it felt great.

chicago rocks! i'm on a bike and it's crazy riding on all the streets with so many cars and stuff. most houses have different families in the basement, 1st floor, 2nd floor, and attick. the weather is crazy. sunny, rainy, chilly, all sorts. i get SOAKED when we bike in the rain of course.

i love you all! mom and dad, i'm only allowed to write one email so please forward this to others. to annie too.annieanderson132@gaggle.net i THINK. devin and amber and jeremy and dad and mom, i miss ya'll. love you!!

love elder munoz.

p.s. i'll probably be needing some short sleeve shirts soon. also send some good, cheap recipies :) love you!

Family of Slackers!

FAMILY!

 

slackers. i have no email to respond to. thats ok though because i never have any time either. SO SORRY about the pillows. i'll send them off (hopefully) today. it's just hard because like i said it's hard to find time. Mom, thanks for the DearElder! i loved it.

 

anyway, happy wednesday!  it is such a beautiful day here in Provo! it's a little chilly outside for my Texas preference, but it's bright and sunny. how's the weather in texas? my friend from near Dallas said that it snowed there last weekend! 6 inches! and then the next day it was in the 70's haha. i won't be here for much longer though! i got my travel plans!

 

ok so i am leaving next wednesday. Elder Robbins (one of my comps) and i are the last to leave in my district! i'm not sure if this relates or not, maybe it doesn't, but listen to this... i really want to play out on the missionary field before i leave. enough to where... i simply asked my Father in Heaven for that one little favor. i asked the night before i got my travel plans, and i find out that i'm leaving WEDNSDAY! after everyone else is gone. i'm wondering if He's playing a small joke on me and i'll get to play on the field tuesday, the day before i leave. and i have to stay an extra day haha. maybe it's not related, who knows, but it wsa a funny thought. ok ANYWAYS i will be in the airport around 6:30 or 7 AM. my flight leaves at 8:45. so i'm not sure if i'll be able to talk to you mom, because you'll be at work. but dad i'll call you okay? that's going to be really strange. maybe we'll talk in spanish!! weird... so yeah, that's the plan. i'll be in chicago by 1 o'clock! (we're in the same time zone again padres!)

 

this week is awesome. instead of having classes all week, this is la semana de enseñanzas. or the week of teachings! it´s so much fun! because we have to contact other spanish missionaries so that we can teach them the discussions. and we can't teach the missionaries that are in our zone, so we have been talkng to and teaching people that we haven't met before and stuff. we go to other floors and other buildings to find people. we're teaching all 3 types of misisonaries too! we're teaching people that are also learning spanish, missionaries that are in intermediate and advanced spanish classes, and we're also teaching NATIVES! we have two really great missionaries that are from Mexico and from Cali, Colombia! they're here learning english. it's so much fun teaching native spanish speakers. they are really friendly, patient and helpful. it was so much fun too telling one of them that my dad was from Colombia. so this week is great. it's as real as we can get here. we've already had several appointments not work out. they didn't show up or forgot and they were in class. so we took it like we'd do in the field and found other people near by that we could teach.

 

so of course, being a missionary, i have to tell you a missionary thought. well i was thinking this, i know that our family is truly blessed. BUT all of us struggle. our family has a lot to do! we struggle getting through in school, in our callings, at work and other stuff. and these things really take a toll on our financial status. well, we just need to be faithful and put our trust in the Lord. we don't pay our tithing with money, but with faith. that's what i heard this week. we HAVE to pay our tithing and we will be taken care of. we have been promised that. 3 Ne 1:31-33 i think.

 

i love you all! time is running out!! you are the best

munoz

St Patty's Day

HEY family! happy st. pat day!

 

yes mom, i'm wearing my green tie! the one that devin gave me a while back (thanks bro, it rocks). so luckily i haven't been pinched or anything. although my friend in the district from Hawaii didn't wear any today... stinks for him (i'm not sure if it relates to him being from Hawaii haha...)

 

ok so let me pour out my deepest apologies for not having the time to send a letter last week. i really wanted to because my email had been so short, but i just didn't have the time. even though it is our preparation day, we have an investigator that we teach on Wednesday nights right after dinner so we have to prepare for that. and the temple takes a lot of our time too so really i don't have too much free time. which is fine though because going to the temple is AWESOME! one of the best parts of the week. but yes, i humbly apologize for not sending out a letter. forgive me. that's why i wrote on annie's letter to share some things with you all. i'm not sure if i told her this scripture to go with that story so i'll repeat myself, Alma 26:3. that's the scripture to go with the temple story and Elder Shilhabel.

 

how has everyone's week been? mom said that it's been busy! mom, how was Utah?? dad, how was it having to be without mama? (did you survive??) devin, how was visiting home? (i miss your guts) amber and jeremy, were you stoked to see mom!? that must have been so fun. by the way you two, one of my really good friends in my zone is from Pocatello Idaho! or wherever it's called. and whenever i meet sister missionaries that went to BYUI i ask them if they know you amber! but, you're married so idk if that makes it different. i haven't met anyone who knows you yet haha but maybe one day.

 

MOM! actually, EVERYBODY! that's so cool what you said about the missionary sharing that they try to look at everyone the way the Lord views them. that's definitely something that is important for everyone to learn. i'm trying hard to be that way too. i thought it was neat that you mentioned that to me because last night i realized something pretty similar to that. well we sometimes discuss how the gospel makes people feel so close to each other! many of these missionaries i feel like i have and will know them forever! many have become family! and we've only known each other for about 2 months. well what i thought about last night was that it's because when we discuss and try to live the gospel, we feel the Spirit strongly! and because we feel the Spirit so strongly, i feel that many times we get a glimpse of the Savior's love for them. i'm not perfect, and so sometimes different people in different situations, it is hard for me to feel that Christlike love. but when i'm putting myself ASIDE and trying to be more like the Lord, i do feel that love. i feel that pure love and that's what brings us so close. we all have those glimpses. so yeah, that is something i constantly work on. loving others. that's one of his commandments! "love one another, even as i have loved you".

 

so one more thing from my study is one of my favorite chapters of the Book of Mormon. Mosiah chapter 4!!! it is FULL of great things. but i love how it talks about beggars. how do we treat beggars? what do we think of the homeless? well verse 17 says "perhaps thou shalt say: the man has brought upon himself his misery; therefore i will stay my hand, and will not give unto him of my food, nor impart unto him of my substance". isn't that true many times? don't we think that? well verse 18 says that those who think that should repent of that! and 19 says "are we not all beggars? do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God, for all the substance which we have"? yes, we all receive everything from our God and we should share these blessings with those who aren't as fortunate. the chapter is a great one to study.

 

well, i love the idea of looking for miracles! we should all look for them in our lives. the other day i was looking in my scriptures and found a note that someone had left for me, encouraging me and supporting me for all i have done in the district, with scriptures to go along with it. they said that God noticed all the good i did. i felt that immediately lift my spirit and i was so thankful.

 

i love you all! let me know how things are!

love elder munoz

Derek is a new District Leader

Hi family!
that is so cool that you sent this email the same day that i'm reading it haha. yeah i'm diong laundry right now. i finally got the package from devin! thanks brother! it was awesome. i was so excited and i loved it. the shirt you gave me and the "stress reliever" was awesome. everyone, thanks for your letters of love and support. it's so nice to hear from everyone! well i just set up this new email today so that took about half of my computer time! so this email won't be quite as long as they usually are. also, for some reason my ENTER key isn't working so this might not look as organized. 

well i got a letter from David in Japan that mom forwarded to me! he's doing great and loving it in the field. and guess who else i've finally heard from?? caleb! i finally got a letter from him and i was way excited for it. did you know that he passes out pieces of paper with his name and phone number so that people will call them to learn about the church. i've never heard of that before! i thought it was pretty cool. well this week was exciting! 

my district leader and his companion were made the new zone leaders. and i'm the new district leader! i'm excited to serve the people in my district further. i'm a little nervous about it. but i know that with the Lord's help i will be able to know their needs. it's pushing me to be a better missionary because i want to set the example for them. so that's great! 

well i want to share a scripture with you! read 2 Nephi 31:19-20. it's awesome. we must press forward in our faith in Christ. ah there is so much i want to say about these scriptures because they are great. it tells us exactly what we need to do in order to come closer to Christ and our Father in heaven. but i don't have time to write all i want to say. so take this in your personal study and see what you can get out of it. also, 2 Nephi 25:23-26. i love you all! sorry i didn't have more time! take care!!!!! 

- Show quoted text -

Another Letter From the MTC

Here is part of a letter that Derek emailed last week. He mailed us some pictures that I will post soon.


Hello again family!

i'm just hanging out in the dungeons of the laundry room. it's WAY exciting haha. well every week seems to go by so fast. i'm always busy, and things are intense. BUT it's great of course. i'm enjoying myself. some days i feel so beat though because of all that i'm learning. i am loving the spanish, and i'm trying to practice more!

so just so you know, it is beautiful here! i look at the mountains everyday. it's awesome. BUT it's freezing! i'm a texas kid! right now it's snowin out there! i guess i need to get used to it  because i am going to chicago... i heard something about it possibly snowing in texas?? what is that about?? am i gonna come home and have to more even MORE south? aye... it's not too bad... snow is fun! different from what i'm used to.

did i tell you about the pinata annie got me? like dad wrote in his email to me, sometimes it's hard to remember if i've said something the week before... well i'll tell you again and maybe it'll be a little different. okay so annie sent me a pinata for Valentines! how cool is that?? everyone was jealous. haha i had some people coming in my room to take pictures and i didn't even know them! it was a missionary pinata with an Elder Munoz tag. it was homemade too. i sent some pictures and i think you should get them real soon if you haven't already. it had all sorts of candy and things inside. i felt really bad busting it open though... haha it's still in my room.

so the unity between the district i'm in is really great. i love everyone in my class! sometimes people can get on my nerves.... but that's okay right? haha. my zone is really fun too. i've met so many people that have been good influences on me. everyone has their own personal experiencse and some of them are really personal, but through their adversity they have obtained amazing testimonies! luckily i don't think i cried this week about anything haha :) but there's always next week.


Love,
Derek

The Elders with Hermana Coleman (bottom) and Hermana Doeman.

We have a large district.

Pinata of Derek from Annie. 

Cute!! 

Notice the resemblance?!

Elder Munoz with Elders Thomas, Little, Reagan, Bean, 

Bottom: Boyd (new companion), Robbins (other new companion), 

and Hawk (old companion).

Elder Munoz with Elder Hawk