July 8th-15th, 2013

hey guys,

i always love getting your emails. it sure has been a long time and lots of things have happened while i´ve been gone. i like hearing about the things you guys do. 

well this week was pretty average. norma, the señorita that we were going to baptize had a family emergency and didn´t get home until like six o clock yesterday. when she got home we went over to see if she had enough energy to get baptized that night, but she said she was "in her days of the month" and now we have to wait until thursday to do the baptism jaja. this week it really was hard to find new people to teach. there are so many inactive converts here that we spend a lot of time working with them. we always ask for references and try to "find while we teach" but nothing turned out real well. the only fruit of our work was that two of the converts that were inactive went to church. on saturday we had a meeting with our bishop, the other missionaries in the ward and our ward mission leader, jorge. we had high hopes for the meeting but the bishop, like most mexicans, likes to talk and we spent most of the time listening to him go on about the needs of the ward. we tried to implement a ward mission plan, but on sunday they didn´t have ward council cause the bishop forgot to announce it haha. things are sometimes frustrating but in the mission i have learned a lot of patience. from my companions and the things that happen every day in the life of a missionary. it´s good. i know that before the misson i didn´t have any patience but i feel that i have improved bastante. i get angry less, and feel a lot more calm and at peace porque i understand the bigger plan. this week we are going to have zone conferences and so we will be gong to tuxtepec on friday. i love listening and learning from the presidente. we are the big hit in tierra blanca with our new sombreros haha. the members love making fun of us haha they call us tj´s (testigos de jehova) jehovas witnesses. i think i will be here another cambio because my companion is going home this cambio. if its like that, i will end up having six months here. it´s ok i like it here.

well there is not much more to report. i´m happy and working hard. if i was a sister missionary i´d just about be home haha. 18 months this week. 

love elder broadhead

July 1st-8th, 2013

hey guys,

thanks for all the updates, its always great to hear from you guys.

dad, we usually do divisiones two times a week. but the rest of the time we are in our own area. when i say divisiones i mean we change companions for 24 hours. i don´t know how you did the "splits" when you were zone leader?

this week was good. we baptized andres and rosenda. rosenda has 90 years old haha. she is my oldest convert but she is awesome. i can still remember the first time i met her. her whole family are members except her and i jokingly said hermana, you are on the only one left, when are you going to get baptized?? she shook her head and said, never, i´m catholic. and now she is so happy being a member of the church. the other convert, andres is an awesome little guy. he´s got 11 years and loves when we come to his house. he loves learning about the gospel and his little sister, melisa, thats seven is so cute haha. whenever we ask if she has any questions about what we have taught she always raises her little hand and asks some random question about a movie or why we are so white or something like that haha. andres´s older brother is still not member. every time he gets excited about the church his grandma tells him things that aren´t true and he gets desanimated. i don´t think that´s the right word but i don´t know how to say "desanimado." this week we are going to baptize norma. she is the aunt of one of my recent converts, roberto. she is awesome and excited to get baptized. she was gonna get baptized yesterday but she had to go be in charge of one of the voting houses because yesterday was voting day here in mexico. so it´ll have to be this sunday, her baptism.

this week we worked a lot with the recent converts. we have the goal of activating all of the converts of 2013 and it is hard. some of them really don´t want anything to do with the church. i sometimes wonder why they even got baptized in the first place. the culture and the way the people are down here has a lot to do with it, but it still seems weird to me. we saw that our work paid off because six of these recent converts went to church yesterday. i felt good. the bad part is that we spend a lot of time with these converts and don´t have a lot of time to look for new people to teach. so we don´t have anyone on date in two weeks. we´ll be hoping for a miracle this week. but i feel this is the way the lord wants us to be working now.

the other tidbit of news is that i am now wearing a sombrero haha. we wento to veracruz on tuesday for the counsil and president told me that he got permission for me and my companion to wear sombreros haha. so i bought me one and i love it. it helps protect me from the sun a ton. the members get a good laugh out of us wearing sombreros. 

well i´m loving life and hope you guys are too. wow a raspberry shake sounds sooo good haha. sometimes we buy little cups of icecream that they sell in the street on tricycles but it´s not the same hahaha.

love elder broadhead

June 24th-July 1st, 2013

Hey guys,

I enjoyed the emails this week. Tara that would have been really funny to see that bee/pool experience. That reminds me, i still have lots of fear of bees and this week we were teaching a lesson to some recent converts, and almost all the lessons we teach are outside of the houses, in the shade, and the people just put some chairs out, because the houses are like ovens, and its cooler outside. but we were teaching and a huge bee came out of nowhere, here there are huge black bees that scare the heck out of me, so i took off running and the converts started laughing so hard at me cause i´m scared of bees haha. 

I also got a good laugh out of that special needs experience that you had dad, when they collided. are they splitting the special needs boundaries or what? mom that´s good  that you are getting used to your new job. i´m sure you´re doing great. 

this week was good. we had a good baptismal service of the hermana rosa. She is already member, but her record got lost so we had to baptize her and confirm her again. but at the start of the week we went to her house to teach her and she tells us that she doesn´t want to get baptized until julio 21 and we´re like what happened hermana! but all we had to do was testify, we didn´t pressure her at all or anything, and she convinced herself that it was better to do it this week. i learned that we don´t have to pressure anyone, if we do our part, the spirit of the lord testifies and does his part. but the best part was that her mom, the old lady in the picture wants to get baptized now. we are also going to baptize andres this week. he is the kid of a family that is just starting to get active again. he´s excited for his baptism because he stayed to see the baptism of rosa, and liked it. we worked hard this week with the converts and the members. some of the members really caught on and are working good with us. it´s hard because some of the converts don´t want anything to do with the church. it´s hard for me to understand sometimes, why they got baptized in the first place. i am happy with the way we are working in the area, we are trying to implement this whole program in the zone but some of the elders are reluctant. we did a zone class this week that was good, the elders liked it. tomorrow we are going to veracruz for the monthly zone lideres council. my companion only has five weeks left but we are working really hard and taking advantage of every moment. it´s fun having another pair of missionaries in the ward, cause we get to work with each other a little more.

well there is not much else to say about this week, but thanks for everything and we´ll talk next week.

love elder broadhead

June 17th-24th, 2013

Hey guys, it sounds like you had a great time on your vacations and ash sounds like she is doing good. as well i was happy to get e mails from tara and dustin this week. sounds like everyone is well and that makes me happy. i hope your first day on the job is going well mom!

tara that training yesterday was awesome!! i cannot even beging to describe how much i loved it. it was way cool the way they used the videos and i especially loved that last one about pres. monson. I always get teary eyed when i listen to him talk because i dedicate everyday to telling people about how amazing it is that we have a prophet of god on earth today. and that´s why i love to hear him speak, because he lives up to everything that i say about him. I get so excited to listen to the apostoles and prophets it is such a great opportunity and i am dobly excited becasue the liahona got to us down here this week, so i have been studying the conference messages as well. wow these men are soo inspired. all that new stuff about the computers and facebook and open chapels is not going to make it down here for a while haha. i hope it gets here before i finish my mission but well see. but what they said is true, the world is changing and we have to change the way we do missionary work. me and my zone are already starting. on wednesday we are going to have a zone class to start this new transfer and we are going to put the goal to activate every one of the converts of 2013 in the zone. here in the zone there have been a ton of baptisims, but too few converts. we are going to go look for these baptisms and teach them the gospel until they get converted. the other piece of news is that because of the massive influx of missionaries, here in my ward they are going to send another pair of missionaries. we will be four now in the ward and we are going to divide the area. we already found them a good house to live in and i am excited because the missonary that is going to come was my second district leader, when i started my mission in 3 valles. he´s a good guy and missionary.

we also went to veracruz on wednesday because we had a mision lider training conference. it was awesome. i sure do love president treviño he is amazing. i´m throughouly convinced that he´s gotta be the best president of mission there is and i´m sure he will be the next area seventy to come out of mexico.

we had a baptism on sunday that was good. the kids we baptized are awesome but there parents are so-so. we´ll continue working with them to try and help them change. well i am happy and working hard here in tierra blanca. thank you for your prayers and support i will never forget it.

the pictures are of us in the baptism, me washing my clothes. (sometimes we have to do it by hand) and my companion and the ward mission leader, jorge, with somethings that is called elote. it is corn on the cob on a stick with mayonesa and hot sause and lemon haha. they love it down here. it´s the only thing from nacho libre that is true about mexico haha.

love elder broadhead

June 11-17th, 2013

Hey guys,

first off, Happy Fathers day yesterday dad!! I hope you had a great day and are relaxing a bit on your vacation!! I love getting the e mails on p day and hearing about the stuff your doing. That´s cool that your gonna start workig mom, i think you´ll be able to handle it just fine. Whos is ash living with, how many? yes mom i am e mailing some of my friends and its pretty awesome to hear about their adventures. i´m also happy to hear the dad is feeling a litle bit better en his back.

well it was a good week this week. we didn´t baptize but we have two scheduled for this week. Benjamin, and ezequiel. This week was a stake conference in tierra blanca, the stake center is really small here, so we didn´t all fit but they put tv´s in other rooms so we could all fit. but we couldn´t hear too well, our tv was sucky haha. our president of mision came and also the temple president, to talk in the conference. the wife of president treviño saw me and she´s like wow, elder you are really red, are you using your sun block haha i was like yea hermana but its not working too well haha. she said she is going to try and get permission for the elders in tierra blanca to wear hats haha. we have a training on wednesday this week so we are going to go to veracruz all day wednesday.

We have been teaching some really poor families lately and i´ve realized that it really is hard for me to teach these really poor people, because i feel really bad. on friday we were sharing a message about the gospel to a family with a small baby, they can´t afford diapers or enough food for the bapy, so the naked starving child started going to the bathroom in his crib, and one of his older sisters took him out of the crib and put him in the brush to go the bathroom. then cleaned the poop out of his crib. i felt so sad for the poor baby and couldn´t take it anymore, so we quickly finished the lesson, went to the store and bought diapers for the baby. the family was really grateful. this is just one example. i haven´t really mentioned anything about the poverty here in my letters but it has really opened my eyes. it has made me feel so grateful to be from america and have a family that can cover my needs. we have been really blessed. The amazing thing is that the poverty, a lot of times, doesn´t affect their happiness at all. i have met some of the happiest people here that don´t have the commodoties that we do. I know that we won´t take any of the material things with us when we die and the things most important are spiritual.

well we had a problem in the zone this week because a companionship got in a fight. the result, president sent one to another area in another zone. It was sad because this elder has a lot of potential and could have been a good leader, but now he will be the junior companion for quite some time. the good part is that we will have the chance to train the new district leader that came to fill his spot. it´s the first time he´s been district leader, so we can mold him to work good with his district.

well i´m happy and loving life here in tierra blanca. thanks for everything guys, talk to ya next week!

love elder broadhead

June 3rd-11th, 2013

Hey guys,

Wow, i got a ton of e mails this week so i spent a lot of time reading and don´t have much time left to write but it´s ok, i like hearing about things back home. i have been gone for a long time. it is starting to settle in that my mission is going to have to come to an end someday, it is really hard to think about and it scares me a little bit. i love it here and i love being a missionary. that´s crazy to think that ashley is already out of the house. How´s the empty nest life mom and dad? it´s weird to think about it. sounds like you guys are not wasting any time getting going with the fun stuff haha. where is aruba? sounds like another fun vacation. It sounds like ash is really liking her first few days away from home. sorry to hear that you are sick tara, hope you get better. sounds like you have a good bishop.

 

This week was awesome. we baptized, tonio y flor, the two kids of the great family that we have in the teaching pool. They are so awesome and they love the gospel and the church. I know that i was sent here specifically to find them. they are so in love with the gospel and everything about it. they invite everyone they know to church and we are teaching two other families just because of their references. I baptized flor y elder offer hall baptized tonio. it was soo funny they wanted to take a dive in the font afterwards haha. they only bard part is that obdulio still doesn´t have enough money to go to veracruz to get divorced, he says that he can probably go this week, and then we will help them get married here in tierra blanca and they can finaly get baptized. this week we couldn´t find too many good new people to teach. two people went to church that we found saturday night and invited them for sunday morning, and they went! it was awesome. This week is going to be stake conference so we will see how it goes. we are working hard in the zone and we are improving every week. In tres valles they are going to baptize a family that i found last year when i was there.  haha. it is weird to think that sometimes we just plant seeds.

this week i dedicated to studying about the atonement. wow it was an awesome week of studies. I especially enjoyed reading a detailed, very detailed, description of the atonement out of Jesus the Christ. It really is a great book. Talmage analyzes every step of the life of jesuc christ and i feel like i have really gained a deeper understanding of christ´s infinite sacrifice. i feel like i can teach it better. one of the things i love most about being a missionary is teaching people about the atonement from the book of mormon. the words i use to teach it might be about the same, but i will definitly be speaking with greater conviction. I know that Jesus Christ is the savior of the world. The atonement is incomprehensible but i know that He suffered for me and that he thought about me and my life and my sins, even if it was just for a moment, when he was suffering in those terrible days. I know it was necessary that he suffered. I know He loves us and I love him in return and I try my best to do what he asks me to do so that i too can be exalted one day. 

thank you for everything guys!! I love you all so much!!

love elder broadhead

May 27th-June 3rd, 2013

Hey guys,

It was pretty funny hearing about the birthday fun and the new developments of the week. Sorry it´s a little late, but happy birthday dad!! I hope you have a great fifty third year, i´m sure you will. Thanks for being the best dad a guy could ask for. I love you a lot and wish you a happy birthday. Presents will have to wait until after haha.

This week was good. We worked really hard, Elder offer hall and i, and we had really good numbers. we brought eight people to church and the baptism of jose antonio was great. simple, fast, and spiritual. He was really nervous for his baptism but we did a few practices and he felt better. he is really timid, and i saw that he was shaking a little bit after the baptism but he was happy and thats what counts. the family we are teaching is progressing and they love going to church and the english class haha. the only problem is that they are not married and the dad, obdulio has to get divorced still. But we are going to baptise the two kids, this week. it´s great because this family always gives us a ton of references. they are really social and know a ton of people and anyone that passes by when we are there teaching them, they always yell at them so they come in and listen too haha it´s awesome. the only problem in the lessons is that obdulio talks a ton haha sometimes we have to cut him off a little bit, but it´s all part of being an effective misionary. That is one thing abou the people here, is that they talk like you can´t believe haha. This week the assistents came to do divisiones with us. it was good. we also went to veracruz on thursday for the counsil of leaders. it was also really good. This week we will be working with julian as well. he has been to church three times now, but he still feels like he wants to know more before his baptism. we almost have taught him all the lessons and commandments, and then we are going to let him decide.

the zone is slowy improving, we just have trouble with the elders en tres valles, they are not working very good. we are going to go do divisiones with them this week to see what is happening. It is still raining everyday in the night and morning and sometimes in the afternoon, but then the sun comes out and it´s hot. we have been lucky, we havent got too whet yet. Things are good with me and my comp, but i think we need to be a little bit more focused sometimes we get distracted talking about things cause he is about to finish his mission, but we are going good. I try to serve him alot, ironing his shirt, shining his shoes, little things so that we can have the spirit more. I have been lucky in the mission, my companions have been good.

well that´s about it, tell brother accord and cook that i say hi too! thanks for everything guys, I love you all! good luck in moab ash!