January 7th-14th, 2013

hey guys. well my new campanion is named elder chico, he is from ciudad juarez, and is a really good elder. he has 17 months in the mission. we had a good first week working together cause we got to baptize two awesome kids, jesus and talita. these two kids are really awesome and i have had some really good experiences with them. jesus is eleven and talita is ten. their dad is an inactive as well as their cousin. we went to visit their cousin two weeks ago, she went to church and brought these two kids with her. so we started visitng them and the first thing the mom (no member) says to us is that she wants them to get baptized haha we`re like, ok perfect haha. there have been very few times in my mission where i have been able to feel the true love of christ. and i can honestly say that with these kids i feel it. i love them like jesus christ would love them and i`m really happy to be able to say it. i understand better now why christ loved the kids so much and i`ve had similair feelings and experiences towards one of the kids, fanny, in the family that i baptized en camino real. these kids have come as an answer to my prayers. in my mission i have been trying hard to come to know my savior better and praying hard to be able to do it. i had an especially meaningful personal prayer this week and as an answer to that prayer the lord let me see these kids through his eyes and feel of his love for them manifested through me. i`m going to send you a picture of these kids wearing our name tags, it is one of my favorite pictues of the mission. just from the picture you can tell what great kids they are. this would be the experience that i would tell you for you lesson tara, to tell the truth i wasn`t to happy to be transfered from camino real, a companion that i liked and an area that was starting to have success thanks to the work we had done. when i left everyone that got baptized in the transfer after were people that i had found. but making the best of the situation and working hard in my new area i have been able to bloom where i was planted and have experiences like this.

as i approach the year mark i have been going through a renovation proccess and learning a lot of new things and understanding even better the gospel of jesus christ, most importantly i`ve learned that the success of a missionary depends completely on the inside of the missionary and that true happinness depends soly on our ability to positivley affect the lives of the people that surround us, especially our friends and loved ones. 

this week we only could bring one to church cause now in this new year the church starts at eight in the morning and it is harder to bring peeps to church. it was a little bumming to see that not one of the members came to our baptism, including the bishop and ward mission leader even though the baptism was announced in sacrament. but it`s ok it didn`t affect us. it was a great baptismal service. 

sorry dad i didn`t get to answer a lot of your questions, but i did get to see one of my converts this week when i went to go pick up my comp from the bus station, my hijo e. garcia was leaving from camino real and our convert, cesar, brought him to the bus station and then took us back to our house in volcanes so i got to talk with him, it was awesome, he is still active and doing great. it was great to see him. well i gotta go. thanks for everything, we`ll talk next week. i could use some new garment bottoms if you get the chance. mesh. 32-34 short. but it`s nothing urgent. love you all!

love elder broadhead

December 31st, 2012 - January 7th, 2013

family,

thanks for the updates and everything. sounds like your all having a pretty good time back there in utah, getting some things done and moving on without cuddles. me and my companion got a pretty good laugh about the karoakoe machine haha. what kind of a ward buys a karaoke machine haha and where did the money come from. and yes tara, i will work in the temple with you after, it´ll be pretty cool. i miss the temple yikes its a big blessing to be able to go. how often do you guys go?

well this week we had the zone leaders conference and president presented us with the new vision of the mission for this year. en the past year we baptized like 2300 or something like that, but the number of people that go to sacrament meeting just about stayed the same. that is not ok. so the new vision is, establish the church. it´s  a theme that comes from preach my gospel. we are going to do it through three things mainly, continue baptizing, strenthening new converts, and reactivating. we have been focusing too much on just baptizing and not enough on the other two things. so to be able to focus better on this, we are going to be reporting a new key indicator every week, the attendance of the sacrament meeting. the goal is to increase that number by at least ten percent every six weeks. so we can do it mainly by visiting inactives and strengthing new converts. we are going to help all of our new converts here in our area get taught all the missionary lessons again, by the members. and help them get involved in the family history work. by visiting the inactives and getting them to church, they will have a testimony and be able to give us more references. we put it in action this week and visited a lot of inactives. we got rewardes by seeing a few of them come to church this sunday and even more, one of them brought two non members with her, it was great. so we are seeing the results already of this new acivity. also this week we baptized adrian. he worked hard convincing his mom and she finally gave him permission. it was a great baptizmal service, only that the bishop didn´t really believe that the mom had given him permision so on sunday he wouldn´t confirm adrian until he called the mom and talked to her in person. it was really annoying but the mom said yes, again. for that very reason the parents have to sing the registro of the baptism. oh well, he got baptized and all is well.

tomorrow in the morning my companion goes to the offices and on thursday goes home to argentina, he arrives on friday haha, it´s a long way to argentina. my new companion will be elder chico. he´s coming from tuxtepec and from what i´ve heard he´s a great elder so i´m excited to be able to work with him.

this week we are going to do a tormenta blanca, that is where all the elders in the zone go to one area to knock or visit inactives or do anything to try and help the area. we have one area in the zone that hasn´t baptized in two months. so we are going to all go and help them.

the conference edition of the liahona finally got to us this week and it´s been great to be able to read. it´s really helped me reading the talks again, especially those of the first presidency. i didn´t pay good enough attention to those talks before the mission. i´ve realized that as part of their messages the prophets always give us invitations, or commitments. i got to thinking that i never really take them up on their invitations. we are all investigatores of the prophet and i haven´t been fulfilling my commitments. if i was the prophet i would´ve already stopped teaching me as an investigator, that´s what we do as misssionaries if the people don´t complete with their commitments, we have to leave them behind. and so i´m going to make a extra effort to make note of the invitations we recieve in conference and try to complete them. the prophet doesn´t invite us to do things just for the heck of it. i invite you guys to do the same.

this week i went to the doctor again to get some ingrown nails pulled. it didn´t hurt as bad as last time but it is getting annoying.

well i think that´s everything. i love you guys all and am so happy to be able to be serving the lord. i think of you and pray for you often. i am grateful to be part of such a good family. talk to ya next week.

love elder broadhead

December 24th-31st, 2012

dear family,

first off feliz nuevo año! also it was great to be able to talk with you guys this week. i really enjoyed it and it was fun, even if it did make me miss you guys a little bit haha. thanks for the e mails this week and all of your comments. it sounds like you have some good goals for the coming year. that´s something i need to work on really. setting goals. sometimes i think their pointless because i feel that wether i set the goal or not, i´m going to try my best. their is a quote en predicad mi evangelio that says if we don´t set goals we will get to a ripe old age and look back to see that we have only accomplished a third of what we could have accomplished. i´m going to try better to set new goals. for this year. something that helps me and that could help you guys as well is to set the yearly goals, and then from those goals, set smaller goals. for example, what do you have to achieve on a monthly basis to be able to achieve your yearly goals, and then what do you have to do on a weekly basis to achieve the monthly goal, and finally what to you have to do day to day to achieve the weekly goal. that´s what we do as missionaries, we call them mini metas. for example we alwasy have the goal of teaching two lessons before the comida everyday. that helps us achieve our daily goal, which helps towards the weekly of forty lessons.

did your record your talk dad so i can hear it when i get back? sounds like it was pretty good, i would´ve liked to be there. thanks for the comments you shared with me. by the way, where is mitch calder going?

well this is the last week of the cambio. my companion is ready to go home and it is a bit of a struggle getting him to keep working this last week haha. he really is a great teacher of the gospel though, and with him i have really learned how to teach people, and not just lessons. i really learned the the application of the teaching is the most imporant part. it is even more important than what gets taught. i feel grateful to have been able to learn that from him and i know feel like i am a better teacher of the gospel. this month of december we only baptized one, and the zone didn´t do to good. several areas didn´t even baptize this week. on tuesday we are going to have the consejo de los lideres de zona and i don´t know what we are going to tell presidente haha. i really don´t know why we are struggling so much to baptize. this week we have three possibles that can get baptized. carmelo was supposed to get baptized last week but wants to wait more, and know more. so we have him planned for this week. we are waiting for adrain to turn eighteen so we can baptize him, his mom still doesn´t give him permision, and our other option, gretel, goes to church everyweek but refuses to get baptized. we have no idea why haha.

today we are going to do a gift exchange with the zone and then play a little volibol. we are trying to get them excited, we feel that the elderes are a little down for not having seen as much succes as they wanted. hopefully the actividad gets them excited a little.

well i feel grateful to be starting another year and looking back i really can see the blessings of the lord in this year, especially as a missionary. i am excited to start another year and continue to learn and progress more. more than anything i just want you guys to know that i love our savior and will do absolutely anything for him. that´s really the sum of my testimony. i love you guys and wish the best for you!

love elder broadhead

December 17th-24th, 2012

hey guys,

 

thanks tara for your e mails, i laughed at you guys doing easy and enjoyed your letter about coming to the savior with haste. i will try and take you up on your invitation to really come to christ this christmas. the question is always "the how" or, how can we do it? how can we come to the savior with more haste? what do we need to change in our lives to be able to do it. the answer is fairly obvious. through sincere repentance and serving other people. i`ve thought a lot about repentance and studied it as well in my time in the mission to be able to better arrepentirme and teach it to other people. when you think about, repentance is pretty contradictory haha. part of the repentance process is not doing the same sin again. entonces when we think about it we should only need "one repentance" for every sin if we take part in a true repentance. it`s interesting to think about. and the blessings of coming to christ with mas haste, you mentioned them very clearly, mas peace and love in your life. i think it will be worth it.

 

dad to answer your questions, i am starting to get a little sick of the mexican food. the spicy factor doesn`t phase me anymore nor the diarieaha haha but i it`s ok it really is pretty good. i do mis some of the american food though.

 

sounds like your back isn`t getting any better. what are the risks with the procedure that your thinking about doing?

 

that is going to be pretty classic when you guys go sing. but it is a really good service that you`ll be doing. i`m sure it`ll be an experience that you won`t forget. good way to spend christmas.

that was also nice of you to invite the elders over. i`m sure they appreciated it.

 

tonight we are going to eat with the ward mission leader and so we won`t be really working tonight, only for like an hour. tomorrow in the morning we have district class and then i`ll be talking with you guys and then we`ll go to the comida and in the afternoon we`ll start to work again. we have one or two citas. it will be interesting to see if anyone recieves us. i think they will. by christmas night, christmas is just about over by then so i think at least a few people will let us in haha.

this week we could see the blessings of the lord in our lives. the week started out pretty rough again, so on thursday night my companion and i went into separate rooms to be able to pray alone outloud. we both had very good uplifting experiences and personally it gave me the opportunity to repent and recieve revelation to see what i could change and work on to have more success. the next day we put two fechas and both of them came to church. so we felt really blessed. i`m trying hard to improve and become a better missionary but it`s hard sometimes.

 

it really doesn`t feel like christmas for me but it will be way fun to talk to you guys tomorrow i`m pretty excited. think up some good questions so there aren`t any akward pauses eh? haha. thanks for everything and i`ll talk to you tomorrow like at twelve! (here)

love elder broadhead

December 10th-17th, 2012

hey guys,

 

sounds like everything will be good for our skype chat on christmas day then! it will be weird to be able to see you guys. it´s crazy to hear that lots of people in our ward are going on missions but really nice to hear that at the same time. the work of the lord will always go forward.

 

i guess the big news for you guys is that i got the package this week when i went to the mission offices, so no worries there. i am not gonna lie, i did open it. i was thinking about not telling you until next week but i figure i´ll jus tell you that i did indeed open it a bit temprano haha but it was awesome and great. thanks so much for all the gifts and candy and stuff. i´ll be sure to keep on to the wal mart card just in case. i used the twenty bucks today to go to the acuarium, wax musuem, and ripleys believe it or not museum. (i know my spelling sucks but i can hardly remember how to spell in english sorry.) we went with the district this morning and it was pretty cool. the acuarium was awesome and we got to see the last litle bit of a dolphin show. these were the first museums i´ve been to en mexico and it was pretty cool. they are right on the beach. i also really loved that picture of my baptism and dad´s baptism. it is a good keepsake. it is cool to be able to see. i try so hard to get people baptized and it was cool to be able to remember a little bit about my own baptism and dads.

 

this week we had a meeting with president treviño. all of the zone leaders and distric leaders of the four zones of the city of veracruz were present. he called the meeting because we are having trouble baptizing in the city. president concluded it was because of disobedience. so he planched us pretty good. then gave us some ways that we could improve. i´ve never had a problem with disobedience it´s always come pretty natural for me. but afterwards a few of the elderes in my zone confessed problems with disobedience. so now i am dealing with that. nothing too serios though. president talked a little bit more about the importance of the reazons why we are obedient. he taught us through the scriptures that when our obedience depends on someone else, instead of coming from our love for the savior and desire to obey his word. we only recieve half the blessing. i´ve thought a litle bit more about it and it is true. he gave us some examples to illustrate the point. he talked about the difference between being obedient for different reazons. an example of our obedience depending on someone else is when we are obedient because we know our bishop is going to ask us certain questions and we don´t want to have to answer him bad. the other type would be we are just obedient and do what the lord asks simply because we love him. if we are obedient for that reason, we recieve the whole blessing. afterwards i thought a little bit about my own reasons for being obedient and made some goals to improve.

 

we now have two weeks in a row that we haven´t baptized and i know that we have to be the example for the zone and we´re not doing it. we are trying hard but really don´t have very many possibilidades for this week. we have planned a bautizona we are one of the only areas that doesn´t have a solid fecha. we are working hard and sometimes struggle to have the faith suficient to find people. en this time of year the people are usually more open but in these last few weeks we haven´t had too much luck. we are not going to be discouraged though and we´ll keep working hard.

 

on a side note dad the word trunky is used still, even the mexicans use it haha. actually in the announcements of the mission it got used this week. ¡no se pongan trunky por la llamada a su casa! haha

 

i´m looking forward to being able to talk to you guys and don´t get worried if it doesn´t happen righ at twelve o clock ok. cause i´ll be working in the morning and we might be coming from a cita. there was something else i wanted to tell you guys but i forgot so i´ll tell you next week. think up some questions if you want and i´ll be able to answer them right away next week!

 

love you guys.

 

love, elder broadhead

December 3rd-10th, 2012

dear family,

 

first off thanks for the nine worder dust haha i got a good laugh out of it. shoot for a fifteen worder next week! tara i enjoyed your comments on saviors relationship with us. ash, good solid e mail, enjoyed it as well. mom and dad, i got a little confused cause mom said a call would be better and dad wants to skype. but either way i will be doing the call/skype the 25th at about twelve o clock here, i don`t know what time it will be in utah but you guys can figure that out. next week you need to let me know if you want skype or a phone call so i can figure it out here. i`ve heard mixed reviews about skype, sometimes it doesn`t have a signal and everyone is talking over each other but it is cool to be able to see each other. you guys can decide. let me know for sure next week. i will confirm the hour and day as well for you guys next week. but plan on the 25th at about midday here en veracruz.

 

well i thought i was doing a good job answering questions but according to all your grumbling apparently not haha. i`ll try better.

 

mom`s questions: no there is not a walmart nearby, we use a mexican supermarket called chedraui. no i haven`t had a closet but tomorrow i will cause today my companion elder garcia goes home.

 

ok i think i answered all of em haha. don`t worry i`m sure the package will get here.

 

this week we baptized omar. he is really a good guy and we had a few complications in the ordinace because we had another recent convert baptism him and he wasn`t very experienced haha but everything turned out ok. omar has a bright future en la iglesia.

 

today my companion elder garcia goes home and in four weeks e mielnikowitcz goes home. it`s weird being around these two that are going home. it makes me think a lot about home. i`ll be glad to get em outta here haha. no they`re both really good and i`m learning a lot from them.

 

we are still looking hard for lots of new investigatores and we are being patient, confident that the lord will reward our work. it`s weird being a zone leader cause we have to go to lots of conferences and put on conferences and sunday evening we basically just spend it calling all of the elders for their datos. it sucks a little cause we don`t have as much tme to work.

 

we are still working with adrian, the joven that needs permission from his mom to get baptized. this week we are planning to go to his house with the bishop to try and get the permission. the ward is pretty good here in volcanes. definitely a lot smaller than camino real but i like it. we gave talks yesterday about christmas. it was good.

 

we are also working with a hermana that is named ana. she doesn`t tecnically live in our area haha. so we are pirateando (pirating) haha.

 

everything is going well here in mexico and i hope you all have a very good christmas season and that you can focus on what really matters about christmas, sharing the gospel or the good news that we have. dad in your talk just talk about doing the missionary work cause that`s all that really matters. i think i ward in utah might suck at it too cause i can`t ever remember having a convert baptism en our ward. here en mexico the members are a lot more focused on the missonary work and i think that is the only difference. we just don`t focus on it in utah. if i remember right we have two families in our circle that aren`t members. when was the last time you guys invited them to church?? it`s ok if they say no, and they might because one of their names is tatoomania haha but it doesn`t matter. its the invitation that counts.

 

love you all, talk to you next week.

 

love elder broadhead

 

i forgot haha we also went to the temple this week, it was an awesome experience. after we had a christmas conference with half the mission, and then a dinner. it was pretty good. the veracruz temple is awesome! i really miss going to the temple. until next year i wont be able too aaahhh

 

 

 

November 26th-December 3rd, 2012

hey fam,

thanks for the updates and all. it was good to hear from dustin, even if it was a five worder haha. yeah mom now i´m feeling fine, don´t worry, not sick anymore.

 

tell gramps that i wish him a happy birthday and that i love him and am grateful for the great example that he is for me and the whole family.

 

tara good luck with this guy problem, try not to worry about it so much, it´s something i´ve learned in the mission is that stressing out doesn´t do any good. two scriptures that come to mind. men are that they might have joy, and this life is a time for men to prepare to meet god. in few words these scriptures sum up everything we have to worry about in this life.

 

this week i got to know my area a little bit. my companions are elder garcia from mexico and elder mielnikovicz from argentina, it´s nice having a companion with a harder name to say than mine haha. elder garcia goes home next week, and elder mielnikoviwcz goes home at the end of this transfer, so i´ll be "killing them" both, as it´s said in the mission and next transfer i´ll get a new comp. it is a little weird being around these two that are about to go home haha but they´re still working good. we have a lot of fun and laugh a lot. e. garcia was the trainer of my mtc companion elder wirthlin and i already know him from when i was in foraneos. this week e garcia just went and did divisiones with half of the zone and me and e mielnikoviwc stayed here in volcanes and worked. we´ll be doing the same this week. the ward is good and i like it. we have a really good ward mission leader. the new young mens president of the ward is a missionary that just got back from serving in utah and his trainer was my mtc teacher. small world i know. it was cool to talk with him and continue working with him.

 

this week we get to go to the temple and have a small conferencia navideña! we are pretty excited. thanks for sending a package i´ll be on the look out for it! i´ll buy you all christmas gifts before i go home, but you´ll have to wait a little bit for em haha.

 

the kid named adrian we were going to baptize this week, couldn´t because his mom doesn´t give him permission. he is sixteen years old and really wants to get baptized. we´ll talk to the mom this week. we have another baptism planned for this week named omar. i think he just wants to get baptized for a better shot at a girl in our ward haha. but he understands everything we teach him just fine so we are more than happy to baptize him.he´s a good guy.

 

i´ve had a few chances to get to know the zone this week, we had a clase de zona on wednesday and a consejo de lideres de distrito yesterday. i have ten companionsips in the zone and they are mostly all pretty good elderes. this zone had a bad month last month and i´m excited to try and help us do better this month. today we are going to have a zone activity, and i´m sure you can already guess that when i´m in charge of it, there will be food involved haha so we decided to go to a buffet for the activity haha.

 

the house i´m in is by far the best i´ve ever had. we have a big fridge and a washer and dryer. it´s like living in heaven.

 

hey for the call home i think i will be doing it on the 24th about midday or so. its a monday and so it will be p day. might do it on the 25th. i´ll let you know for sure next week. what number should i call?? well just do it like last time, i call then you call me back, is it ok like that?

 

love you all and thanks for everything

love, elder broadhead