Sunday, April 19, 2015

Hello Elder Potter!!

April 18, 2015

Hello family! This week was a great week. We picked up the new missionaries and got them all sent off to their new areas, went on divisions with the zone leaders in Morelia for a couple days, and found quite a few people to teach! AND on top of all that, we have a baptism tonight. Not a bad week!

So I always love going to pick up the new missionaries when they get here. Its always pretty exciting and its kind of cool to be the first impression that they have of the mission. This time I felt like a rock star. There was one Elder in particular who looked like he had just won the lottery when he walked through the airport doors. His name is Elder Potter. He walked right past President Camarillo and with a big ol smile on his face handed me an envelope and a wadded up t-shirt and said "wow, you look just like your brother" hahahaha. There were a few other missionaries that arrived that also told me that I looked just like my brother. Elder Potter was in the missionary training center with Ethan and Ethie sent me a little note in spanish with a sweet t-shirt from the MTC with Elder Potter. I forgot to take a picture of it but I´ll try to remember this week. Elder Potter got a great trainer. My last companion, Elder Balbuena, will be training Elder Potter for the last three months of his mission.

Our baptism tonight is for Luiz Cortez. He has been investigating the church for about the last 20 years. His wife served a mission and their son is currently serving a mission and finally last week Brother Cortez decided to be baptized. We are thinking there are going to be a lot of people in the baptismal service because nobody is going to believe it unless they see it. We are really excited for the Cortez family. Their son gets home from his mission in a year and they are planning on getting sealed as a family a year from now.

My mom would be so proud of me today. We went shopping in the market today and I got some sweet prices with my bargaining skills I have developed. I bought 6 pounds of oatmeal, 6 pounds of bananas, 4 pounds of papaya, a cantaloupe, a pineapple, a half pound of raisins, a pound of cereal, a pound of strawberries, 2 liters of milk, and a pound of cucumbers all for less than twenty dollars. My arms just about fell off carrying it back to the house but I am very content with my purchases :)

Have a great week, everybody!

Elder Del Toro



Locked out Abroad

April 11, 2015

Yoohoo! Hello family :)

Another week in the books. This week was a pretty crazy week, we were all over the mission, but it was a lot of fun. We worked with three diferent companionships of zone leaders this week. I worked with Elder Mar, Elder Berret, and Elder Hogge. We were here in Guadalajara, Morelia, and Zamora.

When we go on divisions with other Elders one of us usually stays in the area with one missionary and the other goes and works in the area of the other. I was in Morelia on thursday and we met up on friday morning in a city between Morelia and Guadalajara to meet up with another companionship to work with and so I came back to Guadalajara and when we got into the city I realized that my companion had the keys to our house!! So we just decided to tough it out without soare clothes or anything. We ate china food and had a sweet day of work and then went and stayed with some other missionaries at night but they were also in divisions and didnt have a phone so we kind of got lost. We eventually found it though. This week was full of a lot of days waking up at 3:30am. We were able to find some sweet investigators this week though so everything was all worth it. We are back now and ready for the new transfer that starts on monday. My new companion will be Elder Raya (who was my last companion in Lazaro Cardenas). He will get here tomorrow and tomorrow and monday will send off the missionaries who are ending their missions and pick up the new missionaries at the airport. I`m loving the mission!

Love,

Elder Del Toro





Monday, April 6, 2015

Cinnamon Roll Sunday

April 6, 2015

Hello family!!

This week was a good one. I don't know how it could be a bad one after hearing 10 hours of general conference! I loved the talks that were given. I don't think I could say that I had a favorite talk but I loved that so many talks were about the family. In a world where the standards and ideals of the family are being lost, it is so important for the world to hear how our Heavenly Father wants the family to be like. Something that I also loved was when one of the speakers said that the Church of Jesus Christ has never been so strong. Man, that runs shivers down my back!! I'm so glad to be apart of bringing the gospel to all nations.

This week we stayed pretty busy. We had a leadership council meeting in Morelia this week so that was fun to see the city where I started my mission. We even drove through my old area and passed by the church. I was amazed how well I still knew the streets! I think after walking them every day for 6 months Ill never be able to forget them. I hope its like that for my whole mission.

On the way back from Morelia the bus stopped and we bought some corn. We were three very happy Americans. It reminded me of when Nacho says, "Get that corn outta my face!!". The corn was to die for.
On Sunday after the first session we went to eat with a family and the mom had made cinnamon rolls!! It made my day. But like Ethie, it made me miss my mommy!! The picture is of the Fonseca family. She is from Washington and he is from Africa. Their kids speak English, Spanish, and Portugues. It is so fun to visit them!

I hope all is well back in the states!

Love,

Elder Del Toro