April 22nd-29th, 2013

Hey guys,

Thanks a ton mom for the package, yes i got it in the zone conference we had this week in tuxtepec. Hey so i think it will be the 12th at six o clock in the evening, here. i don´t know what time it is over there. I just need to know what account to look for, or name to type in, cause i can´t remember from the last time.

Hey sorry, i don´t have a lot of time to write today because we went to the ranch of the hermano alvarado, picture attached. It is about a half an hour our of tierra blanca and we left at eight am and just got back like an hour ago and we still have to go wash our clothes. It was a ton of fun though. they gave us lots of good things to eat, fruit, hamburguesas, etc. and we got to help him work on his ranch, we helped him repair his fence, and we got to rope some cows haha it was fun. I hope the elderes enjoyed it as well, it looks like they did.

This week i went to tres valles to do divisiones and got to see my convert, cindy. she was my last convert in tres valles. her husband was already a member, so we reactivated him and baptized his wife cindy. they are donig really good. cindy is president of the young women and arturo (her husband) is president of the elders qourumn. It was so great to see them and to be able to get them excited again to go to the temple. in august she completes a year of member so i will still be here. it would be great to be able to go to the temple with them.

yes dad it is still incredibly hot here in tierra blanca. i´m sitting here sweating loads just typing this letter haha. we have to constantly be drinking water to stay hydrated. every house we go to we ask for a glass of water, and thats what we do to stay hydrated and to not have to carry water with us.

The zone conference we had this week was really awesome. i learned that a lot of times when we teach the gospel, we kind of skip over the repentenance step and jump right to baptism. President treviño talked a lot about repentance and that the investigatores have to feel godly sorrow in order to be able to truly repent and feel the need to be baptized. He also said that we need to constantly be repenting as well so that we can truly have a testimony of repentance and be able to teach it to the people. I have been thinking a lot abou it this week and have been trying to teach repentance better and also repent more. i´m trying to repent for a lot of things, but mainly for not loving my companion like i should. He´s a great missionary but just really bugs the heck out of me. i don´t know what it is but i know i need to love him and the only way to love someone is serve them. so  i have really been looking for ways to sevrve him these last few days and it has been helping me a lot. i feel like my testimony of repentance has been strengthened.
we baptized two this week. jasmin and roberto. the baptism of jasmin was a miracle because we had to marry her on friday but we also had to go to the zone conference in tuxtepec. we left everything in charge to the ward mission leader and started fasting. and by some miracle, and without the proper papeles she got married. and we could baptize her on sunday. and the best part is, her husband wants to get baptized  now too! haha we will be working with him this week. Roberto is also a great convert and we have activated his mom as well. I love teaching the kids, they´re awesome.

well we´ve gotta get going, and thats about it thanks so much for everything and i love you all a ton.
i´m excited to talk with you guys in two weeks!

hasta luego.

love elder broadhead

April 15th-22nd, 2013

Hey guys,

thanks for the updates. dad it´s good to hear that your back is feeling better. I hope it keeps going like that. Sounds like the jackie robinson was pretty good seeing that you both made comments about it. put it on reserve for me. it sounds like we will do skype on the 12th then. it will be in the late afternoon. i´ll tell you the exact time next week just remind me what account i should call. I can´t remember which one it was, i think dads.

this week was interesting. I went to temazcal to do divisiones and saw some beautiful scenery. i´ll send the pictures but the members are horrible there. We visited like five or six inactives and they all started to tell us how bad the bishop was and that they were never going to go back to church because of the bishop. So last night i was commenting all of this to the stake president and he starts to tell me that its really not like that, that all the members there are liars and the members made the last two bishops go inactive. haha the culture is completely different in temazcal. it´s only an hour from tierra blanca but completely different. It was a weird experience. This week we couldn´t get the mom of roberto to sign the cedula so we are going to baptize him this upcoming week. the mom said that today she would sign the cedula so we are going to go see her later tonight. we are also going to baptize jasmin. she has been in the teaching pool for awhile but has finally agreed to get married (there are a ton of problems with the law of chastity here in tierra blanca, it´s out of control haha) but she is really poor so me and my companion are going to pay for the wedding. This week on tuesday we are going to have a zone class because we only baptized 3 this last week in the zone. we are going to try to motivate them so they work harder. and then on friday we are going to have a multi zone conference in tuxtepec. I´m excited. tomorrow i´m going to teach the elders a little about spiritual gifts and that they need to recognize their spirtitual gifts and try to develop them so they can be better missionaries. I was inspired by a presidente eyering talk from the last conference when he talked about his boys and their spiritual gifts and the importance of recognizing them in those we serve.

well i really don´t have much else to say other than i´m excited to talk with you guys on mothers day and i´m still working hard and loving the mission. you guys didn´t ask me any questions this week! usually the questions help me think of things to say haha.
i´m happy to be serving jesus christ full time as a missionary and i know through the power of the holy ghost that he lives and loves everyone of us and that heavenly father has a plan for us. He cares about the small things in our life and wants us to be happy. Nevertheless we are free to choose and we can choose to make good decisiones and be happy or not. I hope you have a great week!

mom, tell the ward that i miss them but am doing great here in the mission and that my testimony has grown a lot. Other than that just tell them whatever you want haha.

well i´ll talk to you next week!

love elder broadhead

April 8th-15th, 2013

Hey guys,

Dad, i´m glad to hear you got a little relief on your back. I´m still waiting for the e mail that says your all better. i read a scripture in the morning that is pretty cool that talks about how everything has it´s time and that we just have to deliver our heart and mind to god and we will be blessed. its DC 64: 32-34. I got a good laugh out of mom´s boat/fishing comment and about taras new not too handsome boyfriend. It´s always classic to picture mom and her comments cause i know how they are haha. You´re a geat mom, mom. We can do skype again for mothers day if you guys want. i think it´s ok. this time it probably won´t be in the church so i don´t know how the connection will be. The only question is that here mothers day is on the tenth and where you guys are it´s on the 12th. we can skype on either of those days. which would be better for you guys?

This week we had a good week cause we could baptize two. Rocio and David. They are both really great and they converts that are going to stay. Rocio got up and shared her testimony yesterday, it was awesome, and David is going to go to institute on tuesday. They´re great converts. i´m glad that god let me play a small part in their conversion. We are going to be working with one niño this week so he can get baptized. its not a sure thing yet though. His name is robert and his grandma is a member that was in utah for a time. it was crazy to listen to her story about how she got to the united states. she almost died. I´ve heard so many of those stories that it sometimes makes me feel bad and grateful at the same time. it really is such a blessing to live in the united states. It´s so different here and life is just harder because we don´t have a lot of the simple things here that make life easier like there are in the united states. It reminds me of a part in my patriarchal blessing that says i have been blessed to live in a choice land. it really is a gran blessing being from the united states. It also makes me think of a talk i studies this week by president monson that he gave in the fall 2012 conference. it´s called consider the blessings and he invites us to look back on our life and consider some of the small blessings that the lord has given us. You should study the talk, it´s awesome.

I´ve learned a lot of things so far from my companion, E. paredes. he is a little bit different from all of the rest of my companions. He´s a little weird, but he really cares about the people and the missionary work. He tries to be the best that he can everyday. It´s really nice to see.

I went to tres valles this week to do divisiones. it was great to see some the members again and we went to see some of my old investigatores as well to see if they wanted to progresss now. It was funny they all said, wow you speak spanish now haha. This week we will be going to do divisions in one of the areas of our zone that is called temazcal, it is in the mountains in the state of oaxaca, they´re struggling a bit there we are gonig to see if we can help them.

overall i´m doing well and continuing to work here in the blazing heat in tierra blanca haha. i´m so red its sad. I love you guys all and wish the best for you this week.

Love Elder Broadhead

ps i still haven´t gotten the package but i´m sure it´l be there the next time i go to the office.

also the pictures are of the baptisms and one of my companion and the ward mission leader here. he´s really great.

that´s about it.

April 1st-8th, 2013

Hey guys,

well, i´m here in tierra blanca, and yes it is incredibly hot haha. but i am really excited to be here. the ward is really great and the elders are willing to work hard here in the zone. it was also way awesome to see my old friends en tres valles yesterday when they all came to the steak center here for the conference. i thought i´d never see them again but there they all were haha.

we have 2 baptisms for this upcoming week, daniel and rocio. both of them have been going to church forever but they finally accepted to be baptized. it confirmed my testimony that todos have their time. We had a really good zone class this tuesday. i gave a training on asking for references and my companion talked about the ´goliaths in our mission. and on thursday we traveled to veracruz for the zone lideres counsel that was also really good.i´m not going to lie my companion is a little bit different but he is a hard worker and good guy and that is all i can ask for. obviously the highlight of the week was the conference. nana told me that scott went to the conference too, how is everything going for his baptism?

I really enjoyed the priesthood session, the stake presidente set us up a little tv so we could watch it in english, half the zone are gringos. But i sure enjoyed listening to the messages. I can´t even begin to describe how good it makes me feel to see and listen to president monson. I spend so much time teaching people about how important it is to have a prophet on the earth, and i have a pictue of president monson that you guys sent to me that i always use to teach that principle, that when i see him and listen to him it almost brings me to tears. i know that he is a prophet of god. last night our investigator david told us about how he felt when he listened to him as well. he said that when he listened to him he felt something different than when all the other speakers talked. i know that what he felt, and i explained it to him, was the holy ghost testifying to him that indeed president monson is a prophet of god. I love listening to the messages of elder holland as well. wow that talk on faith was powerful. I loved how he talked about the toddler and that when a toddler tries to walk and stumbles and falls, the parents aren´t going to get mad, they´re going to love it and congragulate it. It´s the same with us, god just wants to see us try, he knows we are going to fall. But it makes him happy to see the intent. I liked how elder holland said that god must get frustrated sometimes working with all of us imperfects, the church is led by a bunch of imperfect mortal men. I thought a lot about his message and it applies to me a lot. a lot of times i don´t do things because i know that i am not going to be able to do it perfect or because i am scared of failure. But the lord just wants to see me try my best. nothing is ever going to be perfect, even though i wish a lot of things would be. I just have to go forward with faith and do what i feel is right and what the spirit prompts me to do. I tried to pay attention to all of the invitations that were made in the conference. i have learned that we are the investigatores of the general authorities and i want to be a good one, so i am trying to take them up on all of the invitations that they gave us this conference. i am now waiting for the conference edition of the liahona to come out so i can study the talks a bit more.

This week i have also heard from a lot of my old friends. there is a new worldwide mission rule that we can now e mail friends from home. Dad and mom, you´ve mentioned a lot of times that you have been grateful for the friends that i have, i feel the same way. it makes me so happy to hear from them and know that they are doing good. i still have yet to hear from zac, do you know anything about him?
overall i am doing good and slowy adjusting the life here in tierra blanca. it´s different. dad i hope the injection goes well this week, i´m sure it will. i love you guys!!

love elder broadhead

March 25th-April 1st, 2013

Hey fam,

Thanks for the emails. I had a great time reading about the california trip. haha sounds like it was fun, it was classic imagining you guys there. That`s too bad your back was hurting dad, i hope it goes well at the doctor this week.

Well i`m getting transfered to tierra blanca. I`m not going to lie, i got kind of bummed out because i was already there pretty close in tres valles last year at this time and it is unbelievably hot. these next few months are the most hot here in the mission and tierra blanca is the hottest place in the mission, but i got over it quickly and am excited to go. I might have to take out my good ol handy umbrella again but oh well. I read doctrine and covenants 58:3-6 and it helped me as well. My companion will be Elder paredes and we will be the zone leaders off that zone. it will be nice to go and do divisiones in tres valles to see my old friends there. I always get a little nervous when the transfers come but i know that change is good. I just feel really comfortable here in volcanes haha. but it`s ok because tierra blanca is the zone the baptizes most in the mission. This week was pascua (easter) and I enjoyed being able to focus more on the savior and his ressurrecion. I am also really excited to be able to see the conference. i don`t think i`ve ever been this excited in my life to see it but it really is so cool. in order to prepare i have been studying the talks from the past conferrence in the liahona. All of the talks by the first presidency in the last conference are awesome and i invite you to read them again, but the one that most sticks out to me is one by president uchtdorf that is called "of regrets and resolutions" it is really good and it would be awesome if you guys could study it.

This week i worked hard to try and find people to leave behind in the teaching pool. I worked hard to listen to the spirit all week in contacting and knocking doors. but it wasn`t until yesterday in the afternoon that we found an excellent couple to teach. they accepted everything really good including the baptismal date for the 14th of abril. I felt good knowing that i had been guided by the spirit to find them. I hope they can get baptized in these next couple of weeks. One of the skills most helpful that i have learned on my mission is that of listening to the spirit. I know it will serve me well for the rest of my life.

I worked hard to leave this area and zone better than i had found it and i think i did it. i`ll be sad to leave elder chico, we`ve become good friends. as well E. gonzalez haha those dominicans are hillarious. i`m going to try and send you a video that  i took last night during planning of a conversation in english that my companions had oh it was sooo funny and i almost died laughing.

we also did a missionary activity this week where we watched 17 miracles. it`s a great show if you haven`t seen it look for it. I`m so thankful to those pioneers. well i`ve gotta get going, thanks for everything, and i love you very much. have a great week!