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