August 19th-26th, 2013

hey guys,

thanks for all the emails this week. i especially love getting mail from my grandparents. thanks guys!!

well i don`t have much time today cause we got up at four o clock in the m orning and went to santiago to hike up a huge hill that is called cerro de la viejilla and we got back late cause it took a while. lots of people here think it is hill cummorah so we took a book of mormon signed it, dug a hole at the top of the hill and buried it with some other recuerdos haha it was pretty classic. i`ll send the pics. this is a beautiful place. 

this week was crazy cause we tried really hard to have a bautizona. we spent the week traveling throughout the zone to help the elderes and sisters asegurar their fechas. we worked really hard and their were a lot of miracles that happened in the zone but al final we couldn`t do it. we ended up baptizing 15 en total. en the zona. it was a lot and we were happy with it. it was a bautizona tecnica. cause we are fourteen companionships. one of the sister missionary companionshipes baptized five people. wow. we went to the baptismal service and it was really good. the hermana acevedo that is from peru sang a musical number that was really good. and the spirit touched my heart and confirmed to me one more time that the church is true. we baptized ivan on tuesdsay. we married them tuesday morning and baptized them in the afternoon. it was a crazy day. on thursday we traveled to veracruz for presidentes birthday. it was fun. we are going to veracruz again on tuesday for leadership conference. lots of travel. i`m getting sick of it. i just wanna be in my area working. it rained hard on sunday morning so a lot of people didn`t go to church.

my comps name is elder bahr. he`s a good guy. and dad, you can do whatever you like with the b ball hoop. giving it to the neighbors is a good idea. 

i love you guys a lot and am so happy to be a missionary. i love feeling the spirit all day long and am learning little by little how to listen to him better and it always yields great results. 

 love elder broadhead

August 12th-19th, 2013

Hey peeps,

well first i`ll answer moms questions.

my area is about three and a half hours from the mission offices, in bus. it`s a town with lots of surrounding "villages" sometimes i get a good laugh out of your word usage mom haha. the landscape is way different. there are lots of hills and it`s really pretty. tons of trees. it`s pure jungle. lots of cool things to see. like today when we finish writing we are going to go see a cool sight thats called ruiz cortinez. it`s just sight seeing. there is a store that comes from walmart thats called bodega auerrera thats wal mart brand but a lot smaller. there are no restaurants by your term of the word but there are lots of places that sell food. the new apartment is good. it was way way dirty when i got there but i gave it a good cleaning last munday. we have a small air conditioner where we sleep that helps alot. but it really isn`t that hot here. just really humid and rainy. in the night it cools down.

well i hope that answered your questions.

this week we couldn`t get ivan married cause we are waiting on the paper work but tomorrow we alreay have the appointment for the wedding at nine a clock. and his baptism is tomorrow at 4. we worked hard all week and couldn`t really find anything until yesterday that we found an awesome family of four that i`m pretty sure is gonna get baptized. they accepted fecha para el 1 de septiembre. yesterday we did an awesome presentation in the sacrament meeting of another branch. it consists of a lot of singing and a few messages shared by the missionaries. it`s like the primary program but for missionaries. we got about half the zone involved and it turned out really good. it`s something we will be doing in every one of the branches in these upcoming months. really espiritual. 

well thats about it. oh yeah. this week is president treviños birthday so we are all going to veracurz on the thursday to celebrate it. 

that`s weired that ash is already going to college. it doesn`t feel too long ago that i was in her position. well thanks for everything. i love you guys!

love elder broadhead

August 5th-12th, 2013

hey guys,

thanks for the emails this week. sounds like dads fishing trip was great. tara i always love your classic stories.

well i´m loving the tuxtlas. there is a lot of work to be done here. we are working so the district can become a stake in octubre. and we think it´s gonna happen. the branch is good. there are a lot of problems with the leadership and we end up having to do about everything like give home teaching assignments, conduct branch council, etc etc. when it becomes a stake, the leadership will get changed out and it should be better. my companion, elder bahr is really good. we are still getting adjusted to the changes but it looks like we´ll be a good companionship. the zone is huge, we are 30 missionaries. (one senor missionary couple) and there is lots of work to do. the tuxtlas are way pretty. this morning we went to el salto de eyipantla. it´s a big waterfall that was awesome to see. they also sent a pair of sister missionaries to our branch that has been kind of a hassle. it´s the first time that i have to work with sister missonaries in my mission and it is just not the same haha. this week we got to baptize cassandra. i´ll be honest this little girl is awesome. i met her the first day i got here and fell in love with her immediately. she is really smart and has an awesome love for the gospel. she is just here for the vacations and is going back to cancun this week but she really wanted to get baptized and we couldn´t say no. i feel lucky to have been able to do it. i can´t really describe to you how much i love this littls gal but i know there have been several times in my mission that the lord has let me feel a small portion of the love he has for every one of us. and i have completely come to understand on my mission why christ loves the kids so much.

well thats about it for this week. we have to go to the registro civil cause we are trying to get a couple married so he can get baptized this week. thanks for everything. i love you all and miss you!!

love elder broadhead.

July 29th-August 5th, 2013

hey guys,

thanks for the updates. thats pretty funny and sad that that dog died on you tara. i can´t believe ashley is almost going off to school! time flies. 

well the big news is that i´m being changed to los tuxtlas, area primero de mayo. my companion will be elder bahr. he is from my generation. i was thinking that i might go to the offices  because three assistents (there are four in this mission) are gong home this week, but it turns out that i´ll be going to the tuxtlas. dad, i only made the comment about me training  last week cause usually for the last part of the mission, president sometimes lets the mission leaders train again. i´m excited. changes are always good. i´m a little nervous and sad to be leaving here but it´ll be good. the bad part is that i´ll still be zl. i´m a little tired of it but i´m gonna keep working hard. the tuxtlas is the only part of the mission that is not a stake, it´s a district. and it´s really pretty with lots of vegetation and witchcraft. the people are a little superstitious down there. it´s the most southern zone of the mission. i´ll be leaving tomorrow.

this week we worked really hard and only could bring one investigator to church. i feel a little bit bad cause i wont be leaving too many upcoming baptisms to the elderes that are going to be arriving here but they´ll have a lot of work to do. we are leaving them five or six good investigatores that have dates for these upcoming weeks. last night we went to say goodbye to Rosa, Rosenda and their family. they are sad to see us go but through tears thanked us a lot for our work with them. it made me feel really good. i know that the lord always has a plan and sends us to certain places for certain reseans. yesterday we tried to help the ward out in their ward council meeting and it was actually really good. they were able to make assignments to visit the investigators and converts. now we´ll just see if they do it this week. we also planned an activity this week for the 17th of agosto but now i won´t be here for it haha. 

dad it sounds like your mission was different. here a zone class (that we do two times every transfer) is diferent than a zone conference( that the mission president does once every three months) and when we do the zone classes both me and my companion give a training to the zone and sometimes we assign the district leaders to give a training as well. does that explain it better?

mom, i didn´t get your letter this week?? i´m sure it´s cause the computer problems. it´s ok.

well i love you guys a lot. and the photos are of my companion at the doctors cause he got sick haha. and of jorge when he gave my companion a gansito (it´s like a twinkie but better) on his birthday cause he completed años this week. and of my and my three companions that are going home this week.

Elder B

July 22-29th, 2013

hey guys,

thanks for the emails. sounds like the butler days went well and was a lot of work. it was also good to hear from dust.

this week was pretty average. we worked hard and found some really good new people to teach. the bad part was that they didn´t go to church. only one. but it´s ok because we have been working with the DIF and registro civil ( they are government orginazations here) so that we can  marry a couple we have been teaching. they are the parents of andres, a kid we baptized like three weeks ago. the problem is that the dad is from nicaragua and his pasport is expired and he would have to go to mexico city to renew it. the good thing is that we are in mexico and we can get around things like that with enough connections in the registro civil haha. it looks like they will get married this week and then margarita, his wife, will get baptized on saturday. the bishop told us he doesn´t want us baptizing on sundays anymore cause it gets in the way of ward council haha. i was tempted to tell him that when they start having ward council more than once a month we´ll stop baptizing on sunday haha. but i held my tongue and accepted it haha. sometimes the members are frustrating because they don´t work much in the obra misional but they are really good to give us food so it´s hard to complain. we keep working alot with the converts but it is tough, sometimes they are just so lazy haha or don´t understand why it´s important to go to church. we have been knocking a lot of doors this week because the members don´t have any more referencias to give us. i have to think of some new ways to ask for references. you guys have any ideas??


tomorrow we are going to veracurz for the monthly zone lideres conference. i always enjoy it. it could be one of my last because i have a feeling that i am not going to be zone leader much longer, maybe one transfer more and then they will lower me down to trainer to finish the mish. it´s ok. i am ready for a change. 

sorry i didn´t take any pictures this week. sometimes i forget haha. well thanks for everything guys, i love you all and think and pray for you often.

love elder broadhead

July 15th-22nd, 2013

hey guys,

thanks for all the updates this week. mom, i can`t think of anything i need that i can`t get here. if anything, it would just be another long sleeve shirt, socks and that`s about it. dad, my companion has two weeks left. i feel like i have good spanish, but i definitely haven`t mastered it yet. the grammar yes, i have it mastered, but the accent and vocab words i have a long way to go. i`m excited to continue studying it when i get back. i think i have about gotten as far as i can get as a missionary. to learn more i need to do other types of activities to learn vocab and how to say stuff in other types of situations, like playing sports, or swimming or being around or driving cars, things like that. but for the things that i have to do as a missionary, i have it down pretty well. ash thats cool your roomate got called to veracruz. tell her that it is the hands down the best mission in the world and that we have the best president of mission there could be. tell her to get ready for the heat and get ready to work hard haha. i guess that means they are going to start sending american girls here, or is it a guy? tara, thanks for the emails, always they are classic and funny. 

well today we went to temazcal to see the dam and to eat pizza. they have an investigator there that has a pizzeria and he just charged us the price of the ingredients, it was really fun and good to be with the elders. seeing the dam made me miss the water. i think its one of the main things i miss, being able to swim and cool off, especially going out boating, oh i miss it so much hahaha. it`s going to be fun to be able to do it again one day. 

this week we had a zone conference in tuxtepec. oh my heavens it was such a good conference. i am thouroughly convinced that my mission president is going to be a setenta. his trainings are outstanding and he always has us on the edge of our seat and loving it. it was really spiritual, and i came back ready to keep working and going for more. it`s been one of my biggest desafios here. i get tired of some of the things, like companionship study haha. sometimes i get tired of doing it everyday, practicing over and over again our lessons haha. but i know that it is good for us and it`s something i have to do. but we are always free to choose our attitude. having a good attitutde about the things has been a big lesson i have learned as a missionary. it helps a lot. 

over these past few weeks i have definitely felt a lot more love for the people and i know that it is a huge achievement for me. it is still hard for me to open up to people and share my feelings but i feel like i have really grown to love these people here. after a year and a half i think i finally learned how to love. and that makes everything else, easier to do. 

i love you guys so much and i really do miss you. i am comforted by the fact that for the eternities we can be together. and i am more than willing to finish up these two years, giving the lord everything that i have left. thanks for it all and i`ll talk to you next week!

love elder broadhead

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