Surviving Chicago's Brutal Winter On A Bike!

Derek's companion

Gotta love the white stuff!

Way to stay positive Elder!

Dinner Time?!

Is this what they eat in Chicago? Derek is going to have
to explain this one in more detail.
We thought he wasn't on a foreign mission!

Excerpt from December 22nd Letter

I got transfered. i'm only moving to the neighboring
area with elder john as a zone leader. still the same ward and district. but
different families, house, and.... are you ready? i got a car!!!! ah,
finally i'm not biking or out using buses and stuff. i'm excited about that.
the only thing is that we don't have a lot of miles each month, but they
haven't given us bus passes. therefore we're goin to call president and ask
for either 1)more miles or 2) bus passes.

December 8, 2010

Hey there!

 

yeah i missed ya'll too but i get to call in 2 weeks!!! the mission is HARD but it's awesome. so yeah i'm lovin it. luckily my companion is still working! he's great. but he is on his 'dying transfer' meaning he's going to finish his mission Dec 23rd when we have transfers. but he is still working hard.

 

it's AWESOME to hear about all the blessing that you are all recieving! i'm glad that i'm not a burden. i shouldn't have said that because i know that the Lord promises to bless my family while i'm gone so i shouldn't be surprised that you are all doing okay. right now i'm doing great with the things that i need though. so don't worry about me! the Lord is taking care of me too :) dad told me that you think i might need pants or suits or things, but don't worry, there is a good thrift store near our house. dad put some money in my account a few weeks ago and i did use that for a suit, an AWESOME pair of pants, and yes... a few really cool ties. thanks a lot for that! i think that i mentioned that the suit was a little small, but i got the pants altered and i call it a "european style" fit. :)

 

(i think i might need my electric blanket in the near future though)

 

well the work is going well. my comp and i have found another family!!! i LOVE it. families are the best but in my experience hasn't been the most common. we found a really sweet family yesterday knocking doors. well, it was just an older couple that we taught but they loved us and want us to come back and said they have like two older sons we should teach too. well, it was only our first lesson and they didn't quite grasp what our message really was. but they said they would pray about Joseph Smith and we are going to teach them again later this week. i have hope for them. it seems like a lot of investigators come and go, and that's the life of a missionary, but it's sad. it's too bad they all can't accept the gospel. but i'm learning a lot, constantly. i'm trying to find out how we can improve and help these people to feel converted to the gospel.

 

it's so amazing the gospel that we have in our lives. i'm so very grateful to have the knowledge that i do. it makes me so happy. i love being able to share it with others. sometimes things are hard, but the best cure to get through anything is my faith in my Heavenly Father and in my Savior. if there's only one person converted on my mission, and that person is me, i'll still be thankful for the time i served and what the Lord has taught me.

 

i love and miss you all!

i look forward to next weeks' emails!!

elder MuNoZ

November 24, 2010

hey there family!

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

it's kinda wierd because it doesn't really seem like thanksgiving. just because we are still just doing missionary work and stuff. it's good though :) my comp and i have a few different places to eat tomorrow! haha tomorrow will be our p-day, but our mission president still wanted us to do shopping, laundry, email today before 12. i think some missionaries are going to meet up in the morning to play volleyball/basketball at the church, then we'll head out to stuff our faces. i look forward to it. it's interesting though because all the hispanic people here celebrate thanksgiving late in the day! haha we had all our invitations for either 6 or 7! only one family invited us at noon, so we'll get thanksgiving lunch, and dinner :)

 

i hope you all love and enjoy thanksgiving together. it's a fun holiday. you get to eat, and eat, be with family, and think about all the blessings that you have in your life. i hope you are all always remembering the things that the Lord has blessed our family with.

 

i'll miss your pies mom! but i won't miss out on the feeling of exploding! because hispanic people love to feed us haha. and sometimes we eat twice in a row. whew, it's hard work. but the love my companion and i for being able to eat their food haha.

 

well dad, you had asked about the golden woman we found. we've been struggling to get into contact with her, because of her work schedule, it's crazy. but anyway we talked with her daughter yesterday and we're going to stop by their house this sunday before church. hopefully things go well! things have been pretty... like a rollercoaster! we have been working hard and have seen the Spirit work with people. and we've also seen times where we lose contact with people! and then we find someone new waiting for us. so it's up and down and then back up again. i love it though, because it makes me try harder to focus on the fact that this is the LORDS work and not mine. i need to follow what the spirit teaches me and let things work on the Lords time instead of my own.

 

we recently got into contact with William. we had a come-back appointment to teach him. but when we arrived, we found out he wasn't at home. so we got our bikes and were about to head off, when my companion realized his tire was flat. so i took out my pump and started to fill it with air. it's a hand-pump so it takes a while to fill a tire up! but just when i was about done, guess who came walking up?? William! coincidence? i think not. haha he apologized and let us come in so we could teach him. he had EXCELLENT questions! and his understanding of what we taught was incredible. he enjoyed what we had to teach him and we look forward to going back friday. he said he would be baptized when he gets his answer on things. the only problem is that he works every sunday right now. but when i mentioned that hopefully we could work out a way to get him sundays off, he had no problem with it. i'm excited to see where he goes.

 

we're still working with lazaro. he's progressing, i guess i just wish he was moving a little faster! haha but it's okay. the important thing is that he feels ready and committed. he went to a "Turkey Bowl" with the ward last saturday and really liked that.

 

i am so grateful for all of you. i love you all so much. we are so blessed to have the gospel in our lives and to know all the things that we must do to be happy here and in the life to come. we are so blessed for the sound understanding of the gospel that others don't have. everyday i'm so very grateful to be able to have the testimony i do. it's undescribable.

 

i look forward to talking to you all next week!

love,

e. mUnOZ

December 8, 2010

yeah i missed ya'll too but i get to call in 2 weeks!!! the mission is HARD but it's awesome. so yeah i'm lovin it. luckily my companion is still working! he's great. but he is on his 'dying transfer' meaning he's going to finish his mission Dec 23rd when we have transfers. but he is still working hard.

 

it's AWESOME to hear about all the blessing that you are all recieving! i'm glad that i'm not a burden. i shouldn't have said that because i know that the Lord promises to bless my family while i'm gone so i shouldn't be surprised that you are all doing okay. right now i'm doing great with the things that i need though. so don't worry about me! the Lord is taking care of me too :) dad told me that you think i might need pants or suits or things, but don't worry, there is a good thrift store near our house. dad put some money in my account a few weeks ago and i did use that for a suit, an AWESOME pair of pants, and yes... a few really cool ties. thanks a lot for that! i think that i mentioned that the suit was a little small, but i got the pants altered and i call it a "european style" fit. :)

 

(i think i might need my electric blanket in the near future though)

 

wow... it would be AWESOME to have that little blue car when i came home and went off to school again. but even if that didn't work out (cuz you need a car mom), i'd be alright. i've been biking for... quite a few months ;) and so i would be totally fine biking to get around town in utah (hopefully i get into BYU)!

 

that's so great about edwin and his girlfriend. i'm glad that you are able to take part in their conversion and help them progress to baptism. that's really cool! way to go fam! and mom i'm glad you are going to reach your goal to read all of the scriptures! that's neat.

 

well the work is going well. my comp and i have found another family!!! i LOVE it. families are the best but in my experience hasn't been the most common. we found a really sweet family yesterday knocking doors. well, it was just an older couple that we taught but they loved us and want us to come back and said they have like two older sons we should teach too. well, it was only our first lesson and they didn't quite grasp what our message really was. but they said they would pray about Joseph Smith and we are going to teach them again later this week. i have hope for them. it seems like a lot of investigators come and go, and that's the life of a missionary, but it's sad. it's too bad they all can't accept the gospel. but i'm learning a lot, constantly. i'm trying to find out how we can improve and help these people to feel converted to the gospel.

 

it's so amazing the gospel that we have in our lives. i'm so very grateful to have the knowledge that i do. it makes me so happy. i love being able to share it with others. sometimes things are hard, but the best cure to get through anything is my faith in my Heavenly Father and in my Savior. if there's only one person converted on my mission, and that person is me, i'll still be thankful for the time i served and what the Lord has taught me.

 

i love and miss you all!

i look forward to next weeks' emails!!

elder MuNoZ

Thanksgiving Report.... December 1, 2010

hello family!!

i'm doing great here in the windy city. thanksgiving was great although it didnt' feel that much like the holidays without the family nearby. don't think it was sad though! it was actually LESS depressing that way. haha we played volleyball in the morning and then my comp and i had thanksgiving lunch AND dinner with families in the ward. it was fun even though i missed all of you. i can't wait for my phone call to you in 24 days!

it's pretty darn cold here in chicago. i'm handling it better than i thought i would. some days we can't spend long periods of time outside though, we have to go in and warm up! it just barely started snowing today. i'm not sure if that is exciting or not... haha. i've heard rumors that this winter might be REALLY bad. hmm... we'll have to see how that goes.

i got devin's package and letter just a few weeks ago. it was awesome! but i did send him a letter back. chicago mail system really really stinks so maybe that's why he hasn't heard back from me yet. you all should encourage him to pray and ask Heavenly Father specifically about the Book of Mormon and the church, and thihngs like that. that way he can obtain his own testimony and be able to do everything on his own will.

so my blue suit is still in good condition. but my black one (the one i've had for years) has taken a beating and i'll probably throw it out soon... and my brown suit (which gets the most compliments haha) is too small now and i'm going to give it away to one of the other missionaries. but usually i just wear pants and not the suits, and most of them are either beaten up or too small now. so here's what i did... i bought a new pair of pants that i love and fit great. i also just bought a new suit and i took it to a tailor to get the pants taken out a little bit so that suit will work great for a while. AND i decided to try my sewing skills and on one of my pants that are too small now, i'm trying to take them out myself. i'm just starting the sewing process so i'll tell you how it goes...

thanks for sending some packages! i look forward to putting them under our chirstmas tree. yes, we have a tree! we just need to make decorations for it :)

mom i know i'm already a financial burden with my mission costs, so don't worry about me! don't send any more packages for Christmas, i'll be fine! hopefully you all just have a nice modest, fun christmas and dont' worry too much on material things. i'm really sorry that i won't be able to give presents out :/ i'll try to find a way to give something though.

well the work is getting harder, just because it gets dark earlier, and it's colder. BUT we just found a great family! this is my first time getting to be able to teach the whole family! i love it. i can't wait to see them again this saturday. they are 5 in total, and the oldest kid is 11. we're going to bring a member so that they can start feeling welcome. i'm really hoping that they all come this sunday. we're still working with several different people, but they all have tough situations that we're trying to work through and hopefully we don't have to drop them.

i love it here. i love the work and the gospel is what makes me the most happy. i'm so thankful that we have this precious knowledge in our lives. the scriptures are such a blessing and they provide me with strength  everyday. i heard a quote that "faith isn't faith until it is tested". that is so true. our faith is going to be tested, and we need to stand strong in all we do! and the best way to get through the hard times is to do those DAILY steps such as scripture study and constant prayer. i hope that thigns are still going well with all of you in your scripture study.

i love you all and i hope that you look for missionary opportunities often. remember to pray for the missionaries in your own areas and offer to help them in more ways than just a meal. this is the season of giving! :)

i love you all so much. and miss you tons.

love,

e. MuNOz