Saturday, February 22, 2014

Càstulo

February 17, 2014

Hola familia y amigos!!

I`ve got a joke... What do mexicans use to cut their pizza??....... Little Caesars!! Hahaha. Gosh I laugh about that joke every day. So things are pretty good here in Morelia!! Transfers passed over us, Elder Ormeño and I will serve here together for another 6 weeks. This transfer I will be serving as district leader, so I`m pretty excited to get to know the other people in the district better. This week was such a good one!! We went to Guadalajara and had a mission conference combined with the other mission in Guadalajara. We were 500 missionaries between the two missions. It was so cool to be with so many missionaries and listening to a member from the quorum of the seventy, Elder Christianson. He said a lot of good stuff but my favorite thing he said is that we are the hope of israel. I was so tempted to throw my fist into the air and yell "POR ISRAEL!!". I always get way too pumped at conferences.

This week we had such an awesome experience. I think it was my favorite of my whole mission. We were walking in the street and we stopped and started talking to this guy that was sitting on the sidewalk. Long story short, his life is rough. Càstulo has a ton of problems with his wife and kids and he has turned to drinking to get away from it. So we asked the guy, "do you want to change?" and he thought about it for a while and looked up at us and said he did and then he invited us to his house. We sat down and started talking and he poured his alcohol into a soda and started sipping on it. He was sober but said that he had to start drinking. He told us about all his problems and was crying and was saying that his life doesn`t matter anymore. We told him that he`s got to stop drinking if he wants to change but he told us that if he stops he will die because his body depeneds on it so much. I promised him as a representative of Jesus Christ that if he would stop drinking that night the Lord would help him leave his addiction and his body would no longer need alcohol. His wife was there and was saying that he has tried to stop many times before and he would never be able to quit. Càstulo was just crying and trying to tell his wife that he loves her. It was so intense, I swear it could be in one of those mexican television shows! I was like Càstulo, pour out your acohol. And he said he couldn`t. He said the next day would be a better time to quit. He said to his wife that he loves her but he just cant stop. I yelled to him "Càstulo pour out your alcohol if you love her!!!!" I said "You have the Lords promise that he will help you stop!!"... Gosh my adrenaline is pumping just thinking about it! haha... But he looked at us, took the cap off the bottle, and started swearing a ton and poured out the alcohol. he stompped on the bottle and gave us a hug. haha it was awesome. He asked us like five times, "did you see that?!?! I poured it out!!" haha his little grandkids came out of their room and said "look, grandpa isn`t going to drink anymore!". He asked what next and we told him we were going to clean his house and then give him a priesthood blessing. We are so excited for Càstulo. We gave him 3 pamphlets and a book of mormon to keep himself busy and we are going to keep helping him out. He told us that that morning, his wife told him he needed to change or he would have to leave. He said that he left the house looking for someone to help him change his life and when he saw us, he thought we were glowing. He asked us who sent us and the only answer we had was that God had sent us. I know that the Lord put us in the path of that man to help him change. Last night when all that happened was one of the best experiences I have had on the mission. I love this work :) FOR ISRAEL!!

Love,
Elder Del Toro


Heating up

February 10, 2014

Hello Everyone :)

The heat is starting to hit us here in Morelia!! I`m starting to have some nice yellow pit stains!! I really like having the sun though. I don`t remember a day when I have wished for the weather to be different. It`s never too hot and it`s never too cold. Morelia is the best. This week Elder Ormeño and I had some tough times to pass through. Last week we were already looking forward to our March Madness plans and this week it seemed like more of a March Sadness. Not really, because we are always happy as missionaries, but this week we lost 5 investigators with baptism dates. They dropped us like we`re hot!! We also lost our area book, the book with all the people who have ever been taught ever in our area... it`s like the book of life!! so it`s a pretty big deal if you lose it. And we lost it on Friday and this weekend we were soo worried!! but we had a zone activity in the stake center today and there it was!! So we are very relieved to have it back. I was so happy when we found it I almost cried. This week was rough, but I think it`s like riding a bike on a hill, when you ride down a hill and then there is an uphill, you just fly right up it. This week felt like rock bottom so now we are going to head straight for the top :)

We had zone conference this week and we watched a talk by the Apostle Jeffrey R. Holland and he talked about his mission and how it was absolutely the best two years of his life. He said that every good thing that has happened to him in his life is from a result of his mission!! Holy smokes!! That guy loved his mission. But I think I`m right there with him. I love this work. It`s the toughest thing I`ve ever done, but it`s the best thing I have ever done in my whole life. And I know I will look back on these days for the rest of my life.
The best part about this week was that Angel came to church with us!! He`s like seventy somethin years old but this guy is reading his Book of Mormon, saying his prayers, and coming to church. We are super excited for Angel.
This week the whole mission is going to meet in Guadalajara to have a conference with the other mission in Guadalajara. I think we are going to get to go see the temple too!! I am super excited for this week!!!
Thanks for all the support :)
Love,
Elderrrrr Del Torrrro (I`m working on my "rr")






Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Right back with Dad

February 3, 2014

Hello Everyone!!

First of all, GO HAWKS!! haha. We were walking last night and someone had their door open with the game on... so we decided to talk to them. It was a 21 year old kid who is way cool and I know his grandma because she is a member who lives in my last area. We got to see the score of the 3rd quarter AND we have a new investigator!

I think I could write a script and copy and paste it every week. It would say "Wow, this week flew by" and "I love my mission!!!". That`s what I think every week while I am writing. But this week was pretty special because I got to see my dad, Ed Del Toro!! Ok not really, but this guy Jose Avalos look EXACTLY like my dad. He is one of our investigators and this week I showed his family a picture of the Del Toro family and they couldn`t believe how much my dad looks like Jose!! His 5 year old son was so confused of why his dad was in the picture with my family. Jose and I stand next to eachother and show people the picture of my family to everyone. I feel like I`m right back with my Dad :)

The work is going so great here. We are having more success than I have had in my whole mission. This transfer has been the planting transfer. We have been working so hard and the Lord has put so many people in our path to meet and teach. We are hoping we will both be here the next transfer for the harvest :) We are already planning March Maddness, right now we have 8 people with baptism dates for the month of march. We are working super hard to help them all prepare to make this covenant with their Heavenly Father . Elder Ormeño and I have been seeing so many miracles here in Morelia. The Lord is truly working with us to serve His children. I love the mission :)

Love,

Elder Del Toro