Cuauhtemoc, Week 10

Well it is great to hear that the decision to move has finally been made.  In the end I’ve known for a while now, and it seems like everyone I’ve been talking to talk about how great Arizona is as a place to live.  It´s been cool though, my most recent convert visits Arizona 3 times a year and wants to enter the temple with me in one year. So that will be an awesome experience! I´ll also be down there when my mission president returns home to Arizona, so in the end I’ve felt it coming know for a while. Besides that, I look forward to my classes at USU, and I look forward to the challenge! it will be a busy year, but it´ll be a good year, and with my weekends more or less free I think it should all work out and allow me to have more or less social life. It sounds like everyone is doing good.  Maren is sending memes that I don´t understand, Nate is getting beautified, Ella has her horse, and Henry and Charlie are wimpy, yet sounds like everything is back to normal haha.

Well this has been one dramatic week here in my district that ultimately ended in changes for one of the missionaries within my district. Well let´s start at the beginning.  We know that the church is run on revelation, right? Well, whenever one gets changed to an area, part of the "fun" in that experience is to know why God wants you in that area. This week was one of those weeks.  We had some challenges with a companionship that led to their transfers despite trying to help.  We had the opportunity to work with each of them on their relationship and mission goals. It was needed because they have 11 investigators ready to be baptized.  Today arrived the new missionary, he is a super awesome missionary that has a lot of experience in the mission and will help a lot in the district, which is going to be necessary because our district has the goal of baptizing every week.  We are going strong!  Now we just need to keep it up! But yep in the end although it was hard to transfer someone I’m just glad that is was for the good of all and as long as the people here get baptized I’m happy haha.

Well the other more fun experience of this week happened today! I found a volleyball net and a grill while cleaning my house here, so... we organized a massive a volley BBQ with the zone. It ended up being super fun because we don´t do too much zone activities here and the zone was getting a little depressed with only writing every week. So, we decided to mix it up a bit. We charged everyone 50 pesos and we had a massive hamburger feast with cake! Everyone played volleyball while I cooked the burgers, that was a little sad, but that is what happens when you organize the event haha. 

Well that was my week, learning a little more about charity and ministering. The sister missionaries also dressed up the district with their respective personalities and style, i´ll send some pictures.

The mission is awesome! But the experiences are what makes it that great!

con mucho amor,

-- 

Elder Bunch

México Chihuahua Misión

Cuauhtemoc

Cuauhtemoc, Week 9

I´ll am waiting for someone to find those pictures of Maren and after her wisdom teeth, those will be worth gold pretty soon haha.  My classes in the school look pretty nice! Lots of science, math, and a bit of business to spice up life a little, it´s going to be a fun experience that is coming up fast! I only have 2.5 cycles left in the mission! That is crazy!  And in terms of the heat over there in Arizona, looks like we are both suffering with that, but it´s all good I can start to lose the thousands of tortillas (still counting but in my journal I’m around 2735ish) I’ve eaten by walking in the scorching heat.

Well this week was a bit crazy, but it was full of great experiences that ultimately ended with a baptism! Well I’m not sure I have commented it before hand, but I’m in charge of an Area called Anahuac where there are only sister missionaries right now.  This area has only been recently opened after 2 years (if you want to know why just google missionaries in Anahuac, Chihuahua, third result). Anyways the sister missionaries have finally prepared someone to be baptized this week. As their leader I was in charge of helping to prepare everything. Alright now to go into the step by step process.  First no one knows why but the water had been cut for the last 2 weeks, and well to save a long painful experience, the bathrooms were not the cleanest, best smelling thing that I have experienced in my mission. In reality it was probably the most potent smell that has every stained a church... Well we went with the man that is in charge of the building maintenance to Anahuac and we turned on the water and opened all the windows, the following day we returned with the Sister missionaries and about 4 gallons of cleaning liquids. We then spent the next couple of hours deep cleaning every aspect of this building. And we pulled it off! Although I now have great respect for the people that clean the portable bathrooms, that is something that I will never get into. After cleaning the building I did the baptism interview for the an investigator (Ruby).  Then we headed off to eat! Afterwards I contacted everyone in the zone trying to find baptism clothes and somehow there were no clothes in the entire zone... this was strange because our zone is baptizing more than any other zone, but hey I don´t judge haha. So in the end I had to use my recently gained taco money to buy a baptism dress, it´s alright though I consider that I’ll be blessed for the sacrifice haha. Big problem though is that we have a baptism planned that could result in more than 10 people being baptized at once!  Hopefully we can find some clothes by then haha. Alright on Saturday we arrived for the baptism along with half the zone, and the mission president! That was a surprise haha.  In the end it ended up going really well.  The water was warm and I didn´t mess up on the prayer, miracles happen haha.  Also, I learned how to play the EFY medley, which ended up being our special music number for the baptism, great times!

An interesting but cool experience occurred when we went to vist an investigator that we are preparing to be baptized in 2 weeks. We arrived, and we had planned to teach her about prophets (she came to conference), however when we arrived we started to talk and all of a sudden, she started asking us if she gets a divorce can she still get baptized. We were taken back a bit because she had never mentioned something like this to us.  We began to talk and explained that divorce should always be the last option and we started to identify what was the source of the problem. Anyways turns out she and her husband have tried to completely avoid each other for almost a year now due to differences in opinions and because the two of them have a lot of pride and don´t what to admit or accept the other´s point of view. We began to teach over the need of communication and something that we as missionaries do called a companionship “inventory” (horrible stuff but it works haha). That afternoon she and her spouse went off to a park and talked about all the problems they have, and so far it looks like it worked really well! We will see how everything goes with time, and we will try to teach the husband as well.

Oh almost forgot, changes came around, and nobody got changed.  The sister missionaries had one added on, but everyone else is the same. This was great news because our district and zone are strong! So it was a tiny miracle that we don´t have to start over from step 1 again.

Well that was our week, glad that everyone is doing well, and it was good to hear about everyone’s adventures! 

Con mucho amor,

-- 

Elder Bunch

México Chihuahua Misión

Cuauhtemoc

Cuauhtemoc, Week 8

Well there isn´t too much to update this week besides general conference.  My companion was dying from his cold this entire week, and to sum it up, I have learned that it takes two oxen to lead a wagon, but if one of those oxen is half dead, and the other works super hard, he can literally drag the other one to have some success.  That basically sums up my week hahaha, A good miracle that we had was when we were knocking on doors, my companion had decided that he was angry that I wanted to knock on doors while he wanted to rest with the members like we had the other days, but I decided to find new people, so he sat behind a parked car while I worked.  It ended up being a cool experience because we found a youth that had been visited by the missionaries previously and had been waiting to talk to us again.  He let us right in and we talked and taught with him.  It was a good day and my companion got to rest a bit in the house of someone who is not an already active member haha. But that is just how the mission is at times, just means we have to work hard and even though at times we have trials in this life we just got to keep pushing until we win, and as with all obstacles we learn a little and get a little stronger every time. So even though in the mission we have hard companions at times we have to take the opportunity to learn and become better. Because as they said in Conference, we must learn to be meek and learn that everyone has something to teach us.

Well onto Conference, the changes were amazing.  I still am not sure what the new ministering program is, but I assume I’ll learn more about that when I get home.  In terms of the high priests and Elders quorums being merged, that sounds like a very efficient improvement, that will help everyone to learn together in an environment of knowledge and experiences and if everything goes well create a very efficient ward.  So that will be quite the interesting experience to see here in the mission and in the house afterwards. One of the talks that I thoroughly enjoyed was by the Elder Zivic from the Sunday morning session, about how our kayak often can´t be steered because we have a crack we can´t see. Here in the mission there are often times when one can´t see why they aren´t having success or they aren´t receiving an answer, and often it is because they aren´t being obedient with exactness or they have their mind focused on things that aren´t important, as well as several other problems that arise. All of which at times I have seen in myself, and after almost a year and a half of being a leader and missionary, I have seen it in others and have helped them repair their cracks. In the end the most efficient way to fix the spiritual cracks in our own lives is by simply asking God what are causing them and like the prophet said, God wants to talk to us, he wants to hear us, and he wants to help us to improve. Cool Talk.

Well it was great to know that everyone is improving in health, and that spring is in the air, and I’m glad that everything for school is in order so I can stop stressing over that as well hahaha.  Well my companion got over his cold, so this week should be a great week! and end of cycle!

con mucho amor,

Elder Bunch

México Chihuahua Misión

Cuauhtemoc

Cuauhtemoc, Week 7

Well besides the super traumatic Goat birth at home, it sounds like you all had a pretty good week.  As a point of news, my leaving date has been confirmed, it is officialy the 24 of July.  Now that I am within 6 months my date is now official. I confirmed it with my president this last week during my monthly interview.  He also told me he is excited at the chance that we might move to Arizona (he is from Gilbert,AZ). So, I guess that is not new information but now it is confirmed information!

Alright, well by far the best part of this week was the baptism of the family of Claudia, Melissa, and Maria Ofelia. This was by far the strongest baptism I’ve had in my mission. This was true conversion and was a simply amazing trip of conversion! This week we showed up to teach them how to do a family home evening and to organize the last details for their baptism. When we arrived without even asking them they had all the people they wanted to talk at their baptism ready.  They had the hymns picked out and they even bought their own baptism clothes.  They had already invited all of their family members and friends to attend. We then had a super detailed Family home evening about the dream of Lehi, and it was no basic tree of life lesson, she made us literally dissect the entire thing and explain what everything represented and linking scriptures to the point that I learned several new things and I’ve been doing this family home evening with investigators for 20 months now haha.  We then  proceeded to make popcorn balls, and I got to show off my ability to mess up the entire kitchen within 5 minutes.  In the end it turned out well, and they enjoyed the fruit that is whiter and sweeter than anything else.

And like all baptisms, the day of the baptism was pure chaos. In the morning everything was calm, we got a few visits in, we started filling the fount.  We even got KFC for lunch so we were super good on time. However everything changed when we went to print out the programs.  My computer somehow ended up being the only one not connected to the printer by the time we finally got everything printed out and after paying double the amount of what I should, it was now about 4:30 (the baptism was at 5).  We then had to run back to the house to cut out the programs and to iron the baptism clothes, the iron decided to break in this exact moment and spewed out a ton of brown water staining everything, in this same moment my nail somehow ended splitting a bit, but somehow spewed blood all over to (it was literally a paper cut!   I have no idea how it happened.  Well we switched the clothes and took the other pair, un-ironed, and we arrived at 5 and only 1 family was there... luckily after about 15 minutes everyone had arrived (Mormon time will honestly be the death of me one of these days), in the end we had more people than space in the room and the family that got baptized felt a lot of support, love, and loved the experience even if the water was super cold and the smallest one started crying because of how cold it was (that just helps them remember it better) :). We also ended up using all the water in the church... it was alright though, it wasn´t my branches turn to clean the bathrooms. Yep good times.

Well it has also been confirmed that in this minute the plan is that I will spend my last 4 months here in the branch Cuauhtemoc! That was good news, this branch is super cool and we have started a major new program with the members becoming missionaries. Now every Sunday, when an investigator comes to church all the members come to greet them (sounds a little like the ward in Arizona), they have also started to put us in contact with all the neighbors and family members. If we keep going strong we will achieve the branch goal of one new member every week! Man I love missionary work!

Well that was our week here,

con mucho amor,

-- 

Elder Bunch

México Chihuahua Misión

Cuauhtemoc 

Cuauhtemoc, Week 6

To the Maren’s friend Kaden called to my mission, I wish him good luck.  The odds are that he will arrive after I leave, but he is headed to quite the amazing mission! Well this week can basically be described as a week of theaters and musicals. And once again taking out my soprano talent! It was quite the surprise for all the missionaries especially the sister missionaries (it was awesome!).

Well before explaining my acting skills, I´ll start by explaining the work week. This week we unfortunately didn´t get mugged or fall into sewage rivers, but we did get caught in some nasty dust storms, which in reality are honestly the worst things in the world because literally no one lets you enter their house.  In the end it is understandable because when you open the door long enough to listen to the missionaries your house is now full of dust and dirt.  In the end most have decided to not let the two missionaries that look a lot like the friend of Charlie brown, pig pin, in their house.  The good part was that we relied on the members to do our work.  We have started to visit several and teach them how to be a member missionary and we have seen so many miracles.  We have seen just how many of the members here have actually baptized some of their best friends and most of the ex-missionaries here baptize their wives or the other way around! This branch is simply amazing and their desire to work with the missionaries is fantastic! The only thing is that the missionaries in the area just has to look for the right members! These past 2 weeks we have received around 20 references to put that in reference my previous zone combined in one month to receive around 15 references. I feel like I’m a missionary in Salt Lake City! It´s great, I never knew how the mission could be! 

Alright onto the theater, well to explain it better I’ll divide it into two parts, the theater and the musical.  The theater program was called "the Book of Mormon" it is very different from the anti-Mormon play made by the south park guys, so don´t get confused.  Anyways in this play in the beginning I was given the part of Igor, and I was the best Igor ever, so they decided to promoted me to Igor.... and then to a dog that chases the sinner! Best promotion ever!  Well the play centers around a youth that commits a sin (represented by a chair) and he can´t get out of it, he then starts to resort to several means of getting rid of his sin, including; a doctor, psychologist, mad doctor and “super cool” companion Igor, and some witches. In the end the missionaries find him and help him change. my job as the dog was to chase the missionaries off the stage (this actually happens a lot, dogs hate missionaries, true fact!), in the actual play I decided to spiff it up a bit and peed on the missionaries (true acting improve, I should apply for studio C), I know Mom would appreciate the in the moment additions. Anyways between my dog acting winning the hearts of the children, and my Igor acting as I got electrocuted winning the hearts of the adults, I am ready for a new career on Broadway! Well after the theater we began with the musical it was the same musical we did over in Del Norte. Not too much to update there, just a couple of duets and singing some awesome soprano notes to surprise all the members that Elder Bunch can do.

On Monday, or I guess today, we finally got to play soccer.  I played the first game and then afterwards they decided that if was just too good so they promoted me to “coach/ref”.  I channeled my talents from years of playing as defensive lacrosse captain, I yelled, intimidated the opposing team of youth, and we ended up victorious.  The other team taught me several swear words.  That´s called success! Even if I currently can´t talk...good times.

Well this week is going to be awesome! We are going to baptize a family of 3 that a guy from the United States gave a Book of Mormon.  He is heading down now from Wyoming and is super excited to baptize his friend...he wants us to teach this single mother and her 2 kids the law of chastity, personally I think he wants us to teach her about the aspect of eternal marriage and getting sealed in the temple...but those are just my thoughts haha.

Well that was our week here! Don´t do anything to exciting next week! and I’ll update you all on how the baptism goes!

p.s. i took a pic of one of the breakfasts we made, we have been eating well, I’m not sure where you found that marshmallow cream but that was some good stuff.

-- 

Con mucho amor,

Elder Bunch

México Chihuahua Misión

Cuauhtémoc