February 18th-25th, 2013

Dear family,

Well first off, thanks Dustin for the E-mail, i enjoyed hearing from you. Also I hope you have a great birthday this week!! 24 yrs old that`s crazy, what are you going to do for your b day?? Tell me about it next week. Hey, do you remember how I always used to cream you in ping pong en the basement?? haha good times you always spased and bit the paddle and yelled haha it makes me laugh thinking of your dumb serve where you hit your thigh and chest haha like it gave you anymore luck. Well have some more maches when I get home, to see if you got any better haha. Do you want any cool birthday gifts from mexico? I`ll pick you up a souvenir before I go back. Well I hope you have a great day and remember that I love you and look up to you a ton. haha remember when i used to copy everything you did and followed you around haha. you would get so mad haha. it`s cause i looked up to you then and i still do today. Happy Birthday!

Well Dad, we are still teaching Juan and his family, and they almost all came to church this sunday. They had a good experience as well. We also brought two other families to church. It was great. We had ten investigatores en the church, it was a record for me! We will be working with all of them more this week. They are all a little reluctant to accept a sure baptismal date, they progress a little slow, but it`s ok were excited for them. Hey mom, I got the package this week! Thanks for everything, the much needed garments most of all haha. E. chico says thanks a lot for the candy, we gobbled it down pretty fast. E. Chico is so pudgy and funny haha. This week when the trash man came to the door to ask for money, E. chico did this slow motion extremely pudgy dive so that the trash man wouldnt see him haha but it was way obvious that he had already been seen haha but i died laughing. Also mom thanks for the other little gifts, i already gave a way a few of the things to two little girls that we did the baptismal interview for this week.

well we are pretty happy with how all of the new elderes en our zone are working and we feel like the zone is improving. oh yeah and dad the zone class that we had was really good. I`ll send some pictures of it, but i talked about trust and how we need to trust in each other and most of all trust in the lord, and then we did a trust fall activity that was hillarious. Instead of falling into our arms, e chico got scared and triend to back out at the last second but it was already to late so he ended up just basically sittig into our arms instead of falling but it looked hillarious. also we have an elder in the zone that is really tall and when he did the trust fall he kept himself way rigid and did it way slow,it was sooo funny.

this week i have been reading the book of ether and studying about the faith a little bit. first off the book of ether is way sweet and the church should make a movie of it. i especially liked the chapter twelve about the faith, and charity and hope. I was reflecting a lot about the prophets both new and old that have seen jesus christ and the faith it must have taken to be able to do it. I don`t know if you read the liahona of january but it talks about lorenzo snow and how he saw christ as well. I got to thinking and i would love to be able to see him, to be able to talk to him and get to know him a little bit better. It would be such a cool learning experience and so sacred. i would ask him so many things, but mainly just listen and feel. But gosh a lot of faith is needed and i have a long way to go. But i don`t see why it couldn`t happen one day.

well thanks for everything and i love you all alot. I`m working hard here and trying my best.

talk to ya next week!
love Elder Broadhead

February 11th-18th, 2013

hey guys,

well dad i enjoyed your comments on the purpose of life and how it applies to me in my mission. It is something that i have thought a lot about on my mission and have understood a little bit better as well. but it is one thing to understand it and another thing to do it. the doing part is always going to be the hard part. it`s something i have been changing little by little for example yesterday when we were calling the district leaders for the weekly report, instead of talking to them about why some of the indicadores claves were low i just complimented them on their statistics that were high. it made me feel better and i think it helped them as well. i have continued studying a little bit this week about gospel leadership and i understand that my responsabilities extends far beyond that of just supervise and report numbers. its my job to bless the elders by motivating them, teaching them and doing all sorts of stuff. this week another transfer starts and so we will be having a zone class. we already have it planned and it`s gonna be cool. we are going to do a jeapardy game and also trust falls from the stage in the church haha. i`m going to talk a little bit about gaining the trust of the lord and e chico is going to tell a story. the elderes that are coming to the zone seem to be really good and we are exited to start another cambio.

well we continue teaching the family of juan. they talk a lot haha, like most mexicans. but he really likes it that we listen, so we usually just listen and then get in a tiny lesson. they progress slowly but i`m sure they``ll get baptized. we are mainly just working with the members this week we stopped by a lot of the members houses and put appointments with them to teach them the restauration. concluding the lessons we put another cita and told them to invite algun inactivo or non member for the next lesson. we are just teaching the missionary lessons to all the members and especially the converts to strengthen them. the focos of the mission is retain, activate, and of course baptize. but it is hard not being able to knock doors or contact. we still knock a little bit just cause sometimes we need a break from going with members.

well it was pretty much a normal week. not much to report. i`m still learning a lot and trying hard to have the spirit and be like christ. i love reading the scriptures and studying church history. i am excited to get back home so i can read all about church history. i love you guys and am thankful to be part of your family and to have your example. take care. i pray for you all every day.

well i`ve gotta get going i have to go to the dr. again so they can take off another ingrown toenail haha. i`m getting sick of it.
love, Elder broadhead

February 4th-11th, 2013

Hey,

I liked your comments about personal revelation tara, i`m sure the conference was great. it reminded me of a quote en preach my gospel from joseph smith that says we can`t be saved unless we learn how to recieve and act upon personal revelation. it`s a hard thing to do. my problem en trying to recieve reveltion like that and to make decisiones is just trying to calm down and think clearly. Looking for the influence of the spirit is key as well obviously.

mom and pops it sounds like you have a fun couple of months coming up, where is aruba? i think its in spain. sounds fun though. you guys all go to lots of movies. make sure to make a list of the good ones for when i get back. congragulations ash that you got the job, that should be fun. i remember that i got scared a couple of times on the river rafting trip haha, especially after the river made me do that doble back flip haha, remember that dad?

i can`t believe anderew cook is already home. what he said about not being competitive is true, and especially i understand because here in mexico they`re always on top of us about the number of baptisms and sometimes we can`t help but compare. here in the mission we get an e mail every week about the announcemnts en the mision and they post the number of baptisms that there were in each zone, and as you already know i`m naturally competitive and that makes me even more competetive. but its true, it`s not a competititon at all. it`s a big lesson that andrew learned.

this week we baptized a girl named guadalupe. she is a good convert and her sister and mom are already members. the baptismal service was really spiritual and she is really happy to be a member of the church. i`ve been trying to work on loving the people more, especially just through praying to be able to love more. it`s amazing the power of prayer. i have been able to gain a strong testimony of that and miracles, here in the mission. so many times in the scriptures it says ask and ye shall recieve. the key though, is asking for things that heavenly father already wants to give us, but they are only granted to us if we ask. Our heavenly father has a lot of blessings for us, he is just waiting for us to ask for them. it results that i have been able to love more and it shows in the way i teach. i felt really good last night when we went to visit the family of juan that we were teaching all of last week, but for a family problem they couldn`t go to church at the last minute. so we stopped by last night and through tears he called us "angels". in my patriarchal blessing it says that during my mission people will be truly grateful for my service as i help them come into the waters of baptism. i have seen that blessing come true varias times on my mission so far and it alwasy makes me feel good. being thankful is a good attribute to have.

i haven`t seen the package yet mom, but i did get your letter. thanks a lot. but don`t worry mom i have gotten a few letters in the mail, about one a month. also i can`t remember if i already told you but keep a look out for some letters that i sent to the house that need to be delivered to the grandparents. i also got a letter from a little boy in our ward. they did an activity in the cub scouts where they sent letters to the missionaries. it was cute when in his letter he said, i would really love it if you wrote me back. haha so i`ll write him a letter back.

well that`s about it. everything is going well here and i am enjoying the mission life, thanks for everything.

love elder broadhead 

January 28th-February 4th, 2013

hey fam,

well i really enjoyed reading your e mails this week. it´s always a nice mental break. first of happy birthday tara!!!! i can´t believe a nother year has already passed for you! it sounds like your doing great and loving life. i have loved to see how you have grown over the years and you are such a great sister to have, i have always looked up to you and admired your ability to positively affect the lives of todos around you. thats why so many people went to your birthday party and ashley consideres you her best friend. it´s a great cuality you have and i know you have already found the key to happiness in this life. thanks for alwasy being such a great example. i´ll bring you back a mexican birthday gift and sing you the mexican happy birthday song next year.

ashley what you said in your e mail was the complete opposite of what mom and dad told me about you this week haha. keep your head up and don´t worry to much about anything, take a chill pill it sounds like you have aan awesome summer coming up. just do your best to be like jesus christ. are you thinking about a mission ash? this week two apostles came and closed down a mormon school here in mexico and turned it into an internation mtc. also they are going to start sending american girls here to mexico, so you could serve in my same mission!

it´s been awhile since i´ve heard from dustin, tell him to send me a update will ya!

well this week was allright. on saturday we arrived at the house of gretel, the girl who was going to get baptized, to verify that everything was good for later that afternoon when she was supposed to get baptized, and she told us that she didn´t want to get baptized anymore haha. so oh well we couldn´t baptize this week but we have a fecha for this week named guadalupe. we found her knocking doors, her mom and sister are inactives that moved here from chiapas and she is excited to get baptized. the dad is not a member and not to supportive, but we´ll see what happens.

this week i have felt very edified for the chance we had to fast and pray. i have thought and studied this week a lot about love. i feel like i need to love the people here more. that has alwasy been one of my weak points, love people i don´t know. i´ve thought a lot about how i can improve in that aspect and studied in the scriptures about how god loved us so much that he sent his son and that christ performed the atonement out of pure love. it´s always easy to love someone that loves you back and that is why i don´t have any problem loving the savior, my family, or my companions and the other missionaries, but when people slam doors in our face or don´t respect us, sometimes i get a little angry and frustrated, and when that happens i don´t have the spirit. i literally feel it as it leaves me when i get angry. i know we can develop love through service and i´m trying hard to serve the people by sharing the gospel but sometimes i just don´t love them as much as i should. i´ve realized that that is the difference between a good missionary and a great misionary. the ability to love. those missionaries that really love the people, and show it through word and action, have the most success. so that is what i am going to be working on. first off i´m going to start praying to be able to love the people more, it´s something i have never done until right now but i think it will help me a lot, and as a result i´ll have more success. i feel grateful to be able to be a missionary because i´m learning so much. i know that i won´t be able to take my converts back home with me, neither any of the best parts of the mission here in mexico, but i will be able to take with me everything i learn and change about myself. it´s something i´ve understood and it´s helped me to have a better outlook on things.

well sorry i didn´t answer any of your questions, but just keep writing them down and i´ll answer everything afterwards. i love you all very much. till next week!

love, elder broadhead