Seeing as I`m in a new area, I`ll give you a run-down of a few of the investigators.

Daniel is a 17-year-old investigator. He`s closing in on being ready for baptism. He already knows that the church is true and is excited for his baptism. I`ll have more to tell about him later.

Gabi is an investigator with a wierd situation. She has already recieved an answer that the Book of Mormon is true. Usually that is evidence enough that Joseph Smith was a prophet, but not for Gabi. She`s looking for a specific answer about that. She could also be prepared for baptism quickly.

Andrea is a new investigator this week. She is 15 years old. She lives in the house below Daniel, so we ran into her one day. She said that she had been praying and wanted to get closer to God. She went to church, we taught about the restoration, and we went back to teach the word of wisdom. In that visit she told us that other friends had been inviting her to other churches. She prayed asking God to put her in the right church. Less than ten minutes later we knocked on her door. That was quite the answer for her. She is really happy so far in the church.

For now, that`s all that I`m going to have time to write. But as Easter season comes up, I would like to remind you to keep in mind your resurrected Savior. He lives, and because He lives, we will live too. His death was importand, but even more important is that He lives. I testify that He lives. I know that it is true.

Love,
Elder Jayson Fraser

A new week in a new place

Well, this week was quite different, but as always, it was great. I`m now serving in the Pensamiento ward in the Prados stake. As far as I can tell the municipality here is called Tultitlan (is municipality a word in English? I feel like it`s a bit off...). Other than forgetting English,  my week has been pretty interesting. It is super different tan Hidalgo. Here it`s all city, mostly big appartment buildings. Our área is small enough that we can cross it walking in 15 minutes (to put that in perspective, in El Carmen you might cover 1/4 of the area in 15 minutes). The members are nice. The ward is really small, but there are enough members that it could be 2 or 3 wards, meaning we`ll have to work a lot with less-active members. I feel like this is going to be a great area.

My companion is Elder Tamez. He`s from Coahuila, a state in the north of Mexico. Huh, I just realized that I went from a companion in the farthest south mexican state to almost the fathest north. ¿Qué interesante! But anyways, He`s a great guy. He has been in the misión 20 months. We seem to be getting along, and I feel that we will get a lot of work done.

As for me, I`m feeling good. I`ve got a new apartment, a new ward to get to know, a new companion, new responsibilities and a new map to memorize. Everything`s new. But change is good. I know that with new challenges will come new lessons, and thus a new perspective that will help me as I carry on in my life.

I don`t really know what else to say, so I guess I`ll just leave it at that. I will add my testimony, however, that although life will have its ups and downs, it`s all part of God`s eternal plan. He knows what`s best for you. He knows what will make you happy in this life and the next. Put your trust in him. He will carry you through your afflictions if you just let him.

Love,
Elder Jayson Fraser

A couple of great weeks

From left to right: Hermano Ricardo (the ward mission leader), Elder Lopez, Antonio, Hermano Miguel (the member who gave us the referral), Elder Fraser, and Hermano Joksan (one of the bishop´s councilors).

Well, Sorry for not writing last week about what I was up to. The time just got away from me. But I guess now I can write about 2 weeks...

The first thing to write about would have to be Antonio´s baptism. When I first met Antonio he was a super lonely guy who barely made it by on the money that he earned repairing washing machines. He still lives alone, and he still fixes washing machines, but he has changed so much. He has said that he no longer feels lonely. His friends have told him that he seems different. You can just tell that he´s a really happy dude. Seeing this change in him has brought about a change in me too.

It´s been raining here all week. The rainy season ended just about when I got to El Carmen, but they say it´s going to start up again soon. Other interesting events of the weeks include learning how to use a slingshot, playing futbol today with the young men, and going to San Marcos on Sunday to participate in the baptism of an awesome 8-year-old named Bruno.

Well, now for a bit of news. Tomorrow are cambios, andI´m leaving El Carmen. I´m going to be in the area Pensamiento in the Prados zone (in the state of Mexico). My new companion is named Elder Tamez. I still don´t know him, so next week I´ll be able to tell you what he´s like. It´s going to be quite a change, leaving sleepy old Hidalgo and heading back into the city, but I think I can handle it. I´ll be sad to leave the area and all of the people I´ve known here, but I know that the Lord knows best. He has a plan that is in such detail that he knows that I have to be there at this time.

Trust in the Lord, and He will guide you to true happiness.

Love,
Elder Jayson Fraser

A short summary of a great week.

Wow, it´s already March!

This week was another good one. And again, I´m out of time to write...

But to name a few things,

Antonio is going to be baptized this week! He´s super ready. I´ve seen a great change in him, mainly in his happiness. And I´m sure that will continue.

This week I went to Tepeji for the day with Elder Jones from Sandy Utah on intercambios. It was super cool. One person that I met is a member in the Tepeji ward. To name a few of her hardships -- she´s blind, her husband left her the day before I was there, she recently found that she has cancer and will soon die -- just to name a few. But she continues faithful. She knows that the Lord loves her, and I could feel it too.

That´s not all that happened this week, but I guess I´ll have you tell you some other time.

Suffice it to say that all is well.

Love,
Elder Jayson Fraser

The naranja truck and the cock-fighting accessories store.

A couple of things that let you know that you´re in Mexico.

Cooking up a banana in the apartment

Just thought you might like to see how creative I am.

Now is the time...

For time´s sake, I´m going to skip the introduction.

Antonio is doing great. He´s already ready for his baptism. But with the rule for church attendance in Mexico, we have to wait a bit more. But he is truly becoming converted. The members are providing support and encouragement.

We had a great meeting with the bishopric this week. We met to talk about the ward mission plan. We really are starting to figure out how to help this ward progress. As President Thomas S. Monson said,

Now is the time formembers and missionaries to come together, to worktogether, to labor in the Lord’s vineyard to bring soulsunto Him. He has prepared the means for us to sharethe gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist usin our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work.

I testify of the words of this prophet of the Lord. Now is the time.

This week Arat,a recent convert who is 15 years old, moved into our ward. He was baptized 2 months ago in San Marcos (I met him the day before his baptism). He´s super cool. But now he´s stuck between two wards. This Sunday he gave a talk in San Marcos, so he didn´t come to our ward. It´s tough because he loves his old ward but now he lives here. But we´ve initroduced him to some of the youth here, and I´m sure he´ll love this ward too.

Other things happened this week, but now there´s no time.

Love,
Elder Jayson fraser

A week where a lot of stuff happened.

This week has been a very abnormal one. We had cambios, followed by a gira misional, a buch of activities, sickness, happiness, and progress in many aspects. It was a week of change, but it seems like the changes will be for good.


On Tuesday I met my new companion Elder López. He´s super cool. He´s from Chiapas. He has 15 months in the mission. He´s a great missionary who is excited to get to work and has many great ideas to help in El Carmen. I feel like we´re going to get along well and get a lot of work done.


On Wednesday we went to Atotonilco for a meeting with Elder Valenzuela of the Mexico area presedency. He presented the Plan de Área Mexico 2015, which focuses on strengthening the faith and self-sufficiency temporally and spiritually for each member and the church in Mexico as a whole. We learned a ton of stuff that will help us to help the Lord hasten His work in Mexico.


We had the second part of a YM/YW missionary activity this Saturday, y era bien padre. Last week they had a missionary training and this week they all brought friends to the chapel. We split up in groups including 1 active youth, his/her friend, 1 less-active youth, and 1 missionary. The 2 youth taught the friend that isn´t a member the message of the restoration with us (the missionaries) playing the role of a member in a normal lesson. Every non-member that came loved it and wants to listen to more missionary lessons. All of the youth loved it too. They all expressed in their testimonies at the end that they had felt the spirit strongly and that they want to serve a mission. It was one of the coolest activities ever.


Now for the part about sickness. I got sick first, a bad sore throat. But it got worse, including vomiting all night one night. But now I´m better. Elder Lopez is sick now. We think it´s the same thing. He has a fever that comes and goes too. He´s been sick longer than I was. But he seems to be improving.


Lots of investigators continue to progress. Antonio has great desires to continue on this path, and has already seen great blessings in his life. Isabel is starting to progress again too. She loves going to church. Uriel, her son, loves going to seminary. I feel that they will soon start to progress more rapidly again.


Through it all, I continue having a great time. I know that I´m in the Lord´s work, and it´s evident in my level of happiness.


Love,
Elder Jayson Fraser

This is where the subject goes.

26 Enero 2015

Well, my mom suggested that I put the dates on these letters. It´s a good idea, but I figure I´ll do it in Spanish just to confuse everybody.

I´m already out of time. the computers have been difficult today. Apparently they´re re-doing the whole system of internet in the whole country or something like that. But it´s all good.

Well, it was a great week. We had some good lessons, I went to Tepeji del Rio for a day on intercambios, and most of all we have investigators that are progressing.

Antonio is doing great. We taught the word of wisdom and he gave up coffee on the spot. He showed up to church on his own (a HUGE miracle).

We also got 3 new investigators, Marlin, Maria Guadalupe, and Josué. Marlin is Maria´s husband and Josué´s dad. He had a horrible car accident and just finished a long stay in the hospital. Now he´s staying at his parents´ house (members in our ward) and still can´t get out of bed. But it all made him think. He wants to change. He had listened to missionaries before and wanted nothing to do with it. But now he wants to do everything that he has to so that he can be baptized. The Lord truly does work in mysterious ways. That´s not to say that He caused the accident, but that His infinite wisdom is manifested in His allowing the accident to happen, knowing it would be for Marlin and his family´s benefit in the end (2 Nephi 26:24).

Well, I´m out of time. Suffice it to say that I am happy and the Lord´s work goes on.

Love,
Elder Jayson Fraser