Ojo de Agua!!

Que tal familia y amigos!

Espero que todo ha sido bien chido en Orem! Im jealous of the beautiful fall weather over there, its still blistering hot here haha. We're getting there though, little by little.

What an amazing first week here in Ojo de Agua! We had a lot of success and a lot of fun. We met with all of the investigators from the previous Elders, and there are about four that could be baptized really soon! We also found some really cool people that have a lot of potential! Im excited to see how they progress. There is a lot of work to be done here in Ojo but wow things are already going so good.

It looks like Elder Molina is only going to be with me for one cycle because his visa is coming along pretty fast. Hes gonna have to go to Mexico City for a little interview soon and then we{ll know soon after that when he{s leaving exactly. But I{ll most likely have five more weeks with him. Guys im not even kidding, my companion is literally Moses from prince of Egypt hahahaha he has the exact same face. He is honestly so funny but wow we has a unique personality. Ill enjoy my time with him though, he does good in lessons he just needs to take more initiative and be more confident. Thats why he's in his training though, so he can learn good habits and use them his whole mish!

Ojo de Agua is honestly so amazing. There's a Walmart, Coppel, Little Ceasars, Dominos, home depot, and a place called Chedraui super close so basically we have everything we need. We have been studying our maps like the bible because our area is basically half of Mexico I swear. I'm honestly gonna have to start using my own money because of how many "combis" we have to take haha. But it's been a miracle because we haven't even got lost yet haha! And I guess we'll never have to worry about running out of houses to contact lol. It's kind of hard though because a lot of the different areas have a lot of "privadas" which our gated off communities which most of the time are very closed off to the missionaries, and sometimes they don't let us contact haha. So we just have to find the good spots with the people that will listen to us.

Feliz 15 de Septiembre!! Dia de independencia! We had a "Noche Mexicana" as a stake in Tecamac and it was honestly so fun haha. There were soooo many people there, and the music and dancing was just classic Mexican culture. We even got new investigators that just came to the party with their friend! Pres and Hna Kimball came to the party DECKED out in Mexican atire haha and everyone absolutely loved it. The party was on the 14th and on the actually 15th we had to be home at 7pm because it's too dangerous for Americans to be on the streets after that haha. I'm not gonna lie though, I thought people would be a little more patriotic. I barely saw any flags or decorations or anything but I think its because everything happens at night time when were already in the house haha. Theres a "grita" where everyone gathers in the center of every city in Mexico at 12 am and they all shout "VIVA MEXICO" repeatedly for a long time, I wish I could go, maybe after the mish when I'm allowed to see the number 12am on the clock.

We are being kept nice and busy here in Ojo. We're teaching english, teaching lessons, meeting members, and finding the people who are ready for the gospel! This ward is honestly so legit. They have an amazing program for the youth and every thursday night for mutual it is literally a full out party with food, activities and music and so many people! The chapel is literally just party central and it makes it easy to want to invite investigators to because we know they'll have fun! I'm not gonna lie, the youth get along so much better here than back at home because they meet all of their friends at church and it makes them all want to spend time with each other! The ward leaders are amazing and have already made us feel so welcome. There are about 150 people who assist every church every week so this is definitely one of the stronger wards in the mission but it could also be because our ward boundaries are so huge haha. Unfortunately there are a lot of inactives, but we're doing our best to try and find and reactivate them.

Yesterday was a pretty crazy sunday Im not gonna lie. First off, Elder Molina and I were biking to church in the morning. We turned the corner onto Boulevard Ojo de Agua which is the main street, after a few seconds I looked back and Elder Molina was gone! I waited a little to see if he just got stuck in the traffic or something but he never came so I turned around to go see what happened. Long story short, MY KID GOT HIT BY A CAR. Don't worry, it wasn't too serious but the guy didn't even get out to help my comp, he just kept on driving. I need to track him down, nobody messes with my kid. The front of his bike got wrecked but he only got like two minor bruises. I didnt see any of it happen but Im just glad it wasnt worse. There have been some pretty bike stories here in Mexico. I think thats one of the reasons why we are one of the only two missions in Mexico that has bikes. But its not really dangerous as long as we're careful and drive defensively haha. Second off, we get to church and after we welcomed our investigators, I went to go play some quick prelude for sacrament meeting. Then an hermana came up to me and told me that the hermana who was going to play piano for the primary program didnt show up. So I ended up playing all the songs for the primary program and it was soooo fun! It was honestly an amazing program and even though I had to sight read some of the songs for the first time, it went really well and it was so fun! Theres nothing better than hearing the tesimonies of 5 year old Mexicans who cant even roll their R's or anything yet haha. Third off, we get home yesterday night, walk through the gate and the alarm goes off! This crazy loud alarm that went on for like 10 minutes before we got a hold of our house owner that showed us how to turn it off haha. If it wouldve kept on going for longer, the police wouldve showed up and it wouldve been a lot more complicated of a situation haha. What a sunday haha.

Today we had a zone activity in the center of Tecamac, and it was super fun! We played soccer against another zone and holy crap it was a blast. Soccer is really starting to grow on me. It was super fin because at the end, all of gringos played all the latinos and we won!! It was honestly a miracle haha. It was fun to hang out with the other missionaries. I even found out that the father of one of the Elders in my zone created Fortnight!! Haha super crazy.

One of the common beliefs here in Mexico, especially with the Catholics, is that all we have to do is believe and then we are saved. It doesnt matter what we do during this life, as long as we believe and pray to God, we will be saved. What a sad way to think, honestly. We have a purpose here on Earth. We have things we have to do, a gospel to follow, and our Heavenly Father's will to submit to. Matthew 7:21 says "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven." Verse 14 talks about the path of the gospel and it says "few there be that find it". We are all so blessed that we have found this path. Now we just need to focus on sticking with it, and doing the will of the Father. The Lord promises eternal blessings to those that will put him first. I love you all! Have a great week!

VIVA MEXICO,

Elder Millard