March 11th-18th, 2013

Hey,

St. patricks day? haha no it doesn´t get celebrated here. I haven´t heard anything about it at least. What is even celebrated on that day anyway haha?? I got to thinking about it and i´m not sure, but here it is not heard of haha. That´s awesome that scott is going to get baptized! Nana told me last week en her e mail but thats so cool. Tell him congragulations for me please. The only advice I would have is that he doesn´t wait for you guys to get there! Mayo is really far away and anything could happen en that stretch of time, if he feels the desire to get baptized let him do it as fast as possible! But be sure to send me the pictures. That news really makes me feel happy i´ll be honest. Now that i understand the importance of baptism. that reminds me, a few months back, i think in christmas, you guys sent me a picture of my baptism and dads. Just to let you know i have been using it a ton to teach and testify to everyone about baptism and it works great so thanks for sending it. I also continue giving away the things you send mom, i give them to my converts and the people that i do baptismal interviews for. But thanks for sending the package with the razors and shirt mom, love ya. Sounds like you guys are gonna have a lot of fun on your upcoming vacations. dad, para answer your question i should be here about two more weeks, that´s when the transfer ends and it´s likely that they transfer me. but who knows i could be here another transfer mas. They just told us today that elder chico and i will be training a new missionary! president is giving to all the zone leaders the chance to train as zone leaders. we are really excited and our new missionary should get here on thursday, but he is having visa problems, coming from puerta rico o cuba and if he doesn´t get here this week he will be here the next week.

we are excited becase we have two probables that could get baptized this week. we are going to work hard with leo and marsalino so that they both commit for this saturday. marsalino has been progressing well and leo is a kid of 12 years old that loves to go to church. so we are probably going to baptize dos this week.

we had an interesting week because our house almost flooded. here in mexico every house has a big tank on top that gets filled with water and then with the help of gravity gives water to the house. the tank of the neighbor had a problem and started to over flow. he wasn´t there and neither were we and so when we got home that night the neighbors house was already flooded and our house was just barley starting. so i climbed up on the roof to fix the problem and much to my surprise found a hose running out of our tank and through the back window of our neighbor on the other side! they were robbing water from us! so i took out the hose and this morning had to chew them out for robbing water from us. I told them it would be ok if they were going to pay the water bill! Who knows for how long they have been taking advantage of the missionaries there.

this week i had a special moment where i learned a little bit more about the purpose of missionary work. The mission is nothing more than an excuse to be able to dedicate two years to becoming like christ. the purpose of our life, earthly and eternal, is to become a god one day. The mission is the only chance that exists to be able to do that. we don´t have to worry about nothing as missionaries. school, work, family, nothing. the only thing we have to worry about is doing, every day, what christ would do if he were here. God has given me two years where my only worry is trying to become more like him. That´s why a mission is so important and that´s why missionaries come back changed men and women. It´s not easy that´s for sure, because were not perfect. But it´s an opportunity that i´ll forever be grateful for. It´s helping me so much progress to that eternal goal of becoming a god.

well i love you all and miss you alot. I am motivated by the fun things that you´re doing and the course that your lives take. thanks for being a great family.

love elder broadhead

March 4th-11th, 2013

Hey guys,

Thanks for the updates.

This week was kind of tuff but also a really good week for me. it was a good week because on wednesday we had a capacitacion de lideres and it was really good. President shared a message about peter and how christ was such a good leader to him. He never got dissapointed in him, he had to repremend him a few times but more than anything he always showed him love, even when peter fell short of christ´s expectations.

I also got to go the temple on friday. it was a great experience because i could see the final goal of the missionary work. eternal families. Everything we do, we do it so that the people can go to the temple eventually. It was awesome to be there and see the sealing and endowment process. they were soo happy afterwards. Also on sunday we had a regional conference here in the south region of mexico. Elder Bednar, Elder Scott, Sister Dalton, and another elder of the presidency of the seventy talked. their messages were great and i loved the conference. it was a satellite transmision that lasted 2 hrs. It got me exicted again for this upcoming general conference.

The week was a little rough as well. it is still not going too well for us here in the volcanes. we really couldn`t even teach too many lessons this week. and by saturday i was already fed up and frustrated because we hadn`t found anyone new the whole week. we had tried every finding activity and we just flat out were struggling. I was getting a little angry when we finally knocked on the door (piece of aluminum) of a shack. (We have started working in the poorer part of our area to try and find some humilde people.) that was when marsalino opened up and agreed to listen to our mensaje. He told us about some of his problems, he is a recovering alcoholic and his wife and kids left him a while back. we taught him about the gospel and invited him to the conference the next day. He accepted and we passed by for him the next day to take him to the capilla. He loved the conference and even stayed extra to watch the baptism service of another ward. He looks really excited to learn more and i feel confident he`ll get baptized. We are going to pass by tomorrow to teach him more. But from this experience i was able to learn again that the lord blesses us only after the trial of our faith.

Today in the morning we went to visit the ruins in the pueblo of zempoala. It was cool. It was the zone activity we had planned for this transfer. the elderes liked it. It was a lot of time traveling though. they are pyramides of the olmecas. i`ll attach some pictures. the tour guide though was a complete loco haha it was funny to listen to him.

mom, if you could look for razor blade replacements for gillet fusion it would be nice. it`s the razor that has five blades. i can`t seem to find them here. If you can`t find them either over there, tell me next week so i can buy myself another razor. If you do find them and decide to send them, another long sleeved shirt would also be nice. my old ones are starting to wear out pretty bad. 16 and a half.

thanks for everything. I love you guys!

love elder broadhead

February 25th-March 4th, 2013

Hey guys,

Thanks for your e mails I always enjoy hearing about the things you do. You guys always say it was just another normal week but then tell me about a ton of cools things that you did that week haha. No week has to be just normal, we only have a limited number of weeks, so make your weeks count! Or even better, do something that makes someone elses week even better than normal!

that`s too bad to hear about uncle don. But our time has to come eventually. I`m happy we have the knowledge about the plan of salvation.

Sounds like ashley has been really blessed by the lord lately. That`s awesome that`s everything is working out for ya!

Tara, pretty cool that you could hear from sister oaks. I still remember when she came to the MTc when i was there. It was good advice she gave then too.

This week has been pretty hectic. I`m not going to lie in these past couple of weeks i have fell into a little bit of a slump. with my studies and my animo. i can`t remember for the life of me how to say animo en english. every missionary comes to a point where he just kind of plains out. I`ve gotten to that point but i don`t want to continue like this. This week we had a zone lideres counsel and the hermana treviño told us a story about how two weeks ago when one of the elders was finishing his mission, the day before he left, a ton of people came to the mission office to say goodbye to him and everyone was crying and everything like that. She said it was becauase he really served well and loved everyone. She said that a lot of the things of the mission we can`t take with us when we go home, but even more important is what we leave behind, the people we teach and the lives we change. I got to thinking and it`s true. a long time ago i realized that the real purpose of missionary work is that the missionary gets truly converted. but that only happens when the missionary doesn`t concentrate on himself. real conversion comes when we forget ourselves and serve others. that is when the change takes place. the hermana treviño said that everyone has a point in their life when they become truly converted to the lord. and for a lot of us that have grown up in the church it doesn`t come until we experience a problem and really look for god and his help. but anyway i have been doing a lot of thinking this week, and continually asking myself, what am i going to leave behind here in my mission? i am trying hard to leave behind the people, my areas and the missionaries a lot better than when i found them. that`s my goal.

this week i could have the chance to go to the temple with my companion because a family he baptized last year is going to be sealed! it`s pretty cool. I`m holding out for a couple and a family to go through the temple in these upcoming months as well. lets hope they make it!

well i love you guys and am happy and serving hard here in mexico. take care and i`ll talk to you next week.

love elder broadhead

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