A New Week in a New Land

Well, this week I should actually have some stuff that´s new to talk about. This letter should be interesting this week, but judging by my current lack of writing ideas, it might not be. I guess I´ll just write something and see how it turns out. But for me, it was an interesting week. I went to a new area across the length of the whole mission, got a new companion, got to know a whole new group of members, investigators, and all the other people with whom we talk. I still am sick, but much better. And, well, we´ll see what else I think of as I write.

I am now serving in El Carmen Tula Hidalgo. The ward is called El Carmen and the stake is called Tula. Also the area is El Carmen and the zone Tula. So in the names department so far this area isn´t that difficult. Tula is well described as a "pueblito gigante". El Carmen is on the outskirts of Tula. It is a quiet little group of housing developments, farms, and businesses. On some of the paths we take we pass a bunch of cool plants and stuff, mostly napales. Napales are interesting. They are a cactus that people here eat a lot (they taste fine, but not great). They grow off of eachother, and the old ones dry out and turn into some sort of wood, creating a sort of trunk. The best part is the tuna. It is the fruit that grows on the end. It is similar to the texture of a watermellon, but with a distint flavor. Tuna is so good!

Well, enough about a cactus. My companion is Elder Carmack. He is from Price Utah. He falls well with me, or in other words, we get along (I think literal translations are funny). He´s a super cool dude. He has a bit more than a year on his mission. Right now he´s district leader, and the whole district other than us is sister missionaries. The ward is great. They are really motivated to give us referrals. Everyone who reads this, give your local missionaries a referral. It helps a ton. There aren´t many investigators right now, but we´re planning on finding more. Supposedly there´s more than 500 members in the ward, but an attendance of about 150. That means that there are 350 less active members. We are going to work a lot with them as well.

With my sickness, I am much better every day. I still cough a ton, but I´m finally starting to be able to eat well again. Most of this week I continued without being able to eat almost anything. I guess that made it a good week to have almost all of the members forget that they said they would feed us and send us to a restaurant, because then I don´t make the member feel bad when I don´t eat. Interestingly for the first time this week we had a member look out of the window and see us but not let us in. That has happened before with investigators, but never with a dinner appointment.

Well, this letter jumped around a bit, but I think I got out all of the information I was thinking of. I´m looking forward to serving in this new area. I know that if the Lord sent me here it is because He wants me to be here.

This weekend we had a broadcasted stake conference for all stakes in Mexico City and surrounding areas. It was cool to hear general authorities talking in worse Spanish than mine. One part that I want to share is about the story where Moses put a serpent on a pole (see Num 21:8-9, John 3:14). All who looked on it would be saved. Many were not saved only because it seemed too simple, so they didn´t do it (1 Nephi 17:41, Alma 33:19-21) The comparison was made with daily family scripture study. It is such a simple thing, yet the promise is there. We just need to do it. Daily family scripture study will strengthen our families, strengthen our testimonies, and strengthen our desires to follow Jesus Christ. Through this it could be the difference in the salvation of you and your family members. It is such a simple thing, but many won´t do it because of the hardness of their hearts. I testify that sudying the scriptures daily as a family will get rid of any problems you might have, or at least give you the strength to face them. "O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?" Are you going to study the scriptures daily as a family or not?

Love,
Elder Jayson Fraser

Napales

Calm Little Town