In The Year 2525

well first off, im being transferred out of Mercedes.. que triste.. leaving mijo behind but it'll be good. so this week was great!
so about a week ago. we were at the library doing 12 week and i noticed this kid kept looking at us.. and watching what we were doing.. we then went to sit at a table and shortly he then came over and sat at the table wiht us.. we were planning while we were there and i noticed the kid was reading a magazine.. i ask him, hey do you like to read.. he says yes.. then i tell him. i have a book for you to read, its free and it will change your life, its the best ever and then i gave him the book of mormon. we gave him our number and thats it.. we then leave.. come to this week now. we see him again I was like yoooo did you read the book, he said yes all the way to chapter 6 in 1nephi, sick!! we invited him to read more that night and pray about it and then call us.. he doesnt have a phone but said he would find a way. 90% of the people we give our number to never call us when they say they will.... but later taht night we got a call from an unknown # it was him!! he read to chapter 15 and felt something in his heart, we told him that, that was the spirit and then we invited him to be baptized and he said yes! we saw him the next day and he read all the way into 2nephi!! ORALE!! how sick?!?!? it was awesome!! also we've been working with a menos activo for a while since i got here and he has never come to church once,, well we had a good talk with him and he told us he couldnt come to church cause he needs a new front tire on his car.. we are like..pos we'll find one.. dont worry about it.. later that day we called some members and someone had 2 just the right size for his car. brought them over the next day and the member was honestly shocked..buy grateful.. he came to church this week! it was great!! well time is moving on and things are great!!

dog with dreads.. haha

walked in on mijo trying to polish the chair..

brother hulet

Once Upon A Pollo

had a good week, we had a pday activity with mission zone and our mission president. we picked up branches for this one sister and i swear these branches reminded me of the thorny bushes from sleeping beauty we all got poked. i got wayyy sick this week i literlly thought i was going to die i had a way bad head cold.. one morning i woke up just coughing and coughing..and i was on my way to play basketball with the zls and i just coughed and coughed and wouldnt stop man it hurt so bad.. i was on the verge of throwing up i seriously thougth in my mind that i would feel better if i just puked all the yuck out.. well we started to play basketball and i played while dieing and then my cough went away... wow miracle.. idk it was crazy haha i dont know how to type anymore sorry for the typos... every week there seems to be a theme for lessons or people we talk to. sometimes it could be prayer and we teach lots of people how to pray or one time it was aliens, i swear everywhere we went there was something to do with aliens or demonic things. well this week it was marriage. we are trying to set up a wedding for some of our investigators. and other people we visited kept telling us about their marriage and we'd share things to help strengthen them. its so weird but awesome. my time spent with barnett ive learned lots of humility and just being charitable.. i remember one time i was in laredo and it took me a good 2 minutes for me to tell my zone that i loved them.. well one day i come out of the bathroom and we find out something is broken that barnett took out.. and i was like brooooooo thats all we got and idk i just blew up a little bit, he didnt think much of it. and after i was like wow.. i was so rude..like something inside me hurt..i was like alright i gotta tell him that im sorry.. so we sat down and i was like mijo i gotta tell you something, he said whats up...
and we sat there for 5 minutes..i kept trying to say that i was sorry and i honestly dont know why but i couldnt..like whats wrong with me i cant apologize for me being rude..why cant i just say im sorry..the words literally could not come out of my mouth...and then finally i just stopped trying to say the words.. i looked at him and then finally.. i could say .. dude im sorry for being so mean..i'll probably never forget that moment..transfers is next week and this has honestly been the best. you can never have enough charity. idk the mission is great and you really gotta take advantage out here of all we have. andale!! out in the vineyard bustin a sweat and i love it. we walked up to this big house real close to where we live.. knocked the door and this lady opened and we were all like hey:) and then immedietly she said.. oh noo.. no i cant.. and shut the door.. it was great. haha. i think thats all just keep enduring guys. i miss you all a lot. be happy:)

mijo with his shrek tie we found

picking up branches

old chapel near our house.

Mercedes heights

Mercedes Heights

courtyard of Mercedes Heights

saw my old compa this week!!

mijo fell again

a possum got to our extra tacos we had:/

ay write me a letter por fa. gracias :)

200 W La Vista Ave
McAllen TX 78501-2131
United States

I Don't Want To Live On The Moon

first things first.. youre unique in your own way. dont worry.
idk why but this has been just a little quote thats been in my head.
we were having troubles with marisol and her actually having desires she says she has.. ahhh she is so close to everything.. her son Rod really wants to get baptized as well ahh.. man they are both so close.. we've been going around offering to bless peoples house, as a way to get into them. and the thing behind that is we contact somone and offer to bless their house.. we go inside bring the spirit super strong and then leave... well it amazes me at how many people that dont want their house blessed..we are teaching quite a few people that are so close to church, ahh everything is there. we were visiting Rene the guyt that had a strong a while ago that cant read or write we brought up baptisms for the dead and he started to cry cause he said that his father was a really bad guy and wants him to be saved.. he wants to know if these things are true. we invited him to pray .... we came back later in the week y nada... he didnt pray. made me a little triste cause thats holding him back.. is just a prayer. later on.. we were out and found a new investigator named Fatima, well she referred us to her neighbor who is part of her family.. and we go next door and the neighbor is outside so we start talking to him in spanish.. i explain to him that we are representatives of jesus christ and that we have a message of restored truth and then the guy shot back.. literally i swear.."Are you really with christ? i said Si. "are you sure?" and this is all in spanish and i said yes i am very sure. :"do you really walk with Him?" i said yes we do and we know that he lives. the whole time this is going on im thiking what on earth is this guy doing..? well this guy just wanted to battle so we just testified and left.. but it made me realize that someone, somewhere will take a jab at you like this guy did and question and shake what you know is true. dont be fooled. stand strong and dont let the winds of the adversary blow you over. it was a good week, i buzzed mijos head. i gave my fist baptismal interview to this guy Juan, he's a stud!! yesterday i celebrated my birthday with elder shipley! it was dope. i ate a lot. the work is great and i love everything! today is a celestial p day so we'll see how that goes. thanks guys for everything.

La Estancia

us with Ethan.

Mercedes baby!!

Pollito is the best!

found this lazy boy and its now in our apartment.

trap house

Heh Heh

trunk or treat!

food coma

i just couldnt take anymore food..

Sister Frankie ( 2Canes)
shes the one that sang Silver And Gold

bday bash

Turn Around

its been a great week, Randy came to church and he loved it. He's a metal head and ahh things are great but he came and really wants to get the rest of his family there! we had interviews with presidente torres they went super good. i got an MRI of my brain it was honestly the first and best nap ive ever had so far. ive been learning the importance of teacher elders with the scriptures more. like more in depth.. you can relate it to swimming on the surface of water, then there is snorkling.. and then there is scuba diving.. and to be honest scuba diving with the scriptures is the best way. went on an exchange with one of my zls, it was the best and helped a lot. man counseling just helps so much. i had feelings of anxiety at the beginning of the week and idk how to explain it but things just work out the way they are supposed to. my district had been helping out the sisters in our branch in a play of the parable of the 10 virgins, i never thought that i would ever be a town crier. it was by far the weirdest experience.
we were visiting with our investigator Tony for the 2nd time we were visiting and shareing a lesson and then he stopped us.. and said.."do you know why jesus sent you here? he sent you to baptize me and save me. i want to be baptized" we were both like woahhhh. he's come a long way and ahh just has that desire that we should all have. im sorry guys but i think thats all, every week is crazy! i miss you all. have a great week.

one of my good friends Elder Prieto got transfered mid transfer, we were all super sad so we had a little service for him..

 juice made from parsley, it smelled like grass but tasted like awesome.

south texas scenery (nada)

Its Not About You

pretty good week im not even sure how to explain this week. it all started with me reading a letter, it really made me question who i was and what i was doing.. i felt almost the same way i did my first week in the mission. as i was riding my bike trying to get through the day..
this song came into my head that says "its not about you", it was crazy and in the moment i realized i just need to relax..sit back for a moment cause its not about me at all, theres people out there going through much worse and they dont know where to find peace.. i need to chill.. what happened to me. im happy to still be here, we are teaching a few families that are progressing. we had a mission tour with elder Kopisckha .. i cant remember how to spell his name.. anyways we had it with 3 other zones so it was really good to see old friends and be inspired together. its been a very spiritually uplifting week. thankful to still be here.

we were out doing VLO and were passing HEB and this guy waved us down and asked for some money to get a gatorade. his name is ricky. we gave him out water we had and he told us he had walked from santa rosa over to mercedes to see his son that he hasnt seen in 5 months. santa rosa is a good 10 miles or more from where we were. this guy was tired but really wanted to see his son. he started to tell us about how he was in a coma for almost a year during his girlfriends pregnancy and his son was born while he was in a coma. he really regretted a lot in his life and all he wanted was to be there for his son.. we told him that god loves him and will forgive him and fill the hole in his heart so he could have peach in his heart and be happy.. he burst into tears and gave me a huge hug..we then walked to the dollar general and bought a powerade.. this guy went on his way after we got his info to send the missionaries. I learned a lot about unconditional love, i read an old talk from the 70's and really pondered on how i need to improve.. i dont know why its hard for me.. it sucks but there was a passage that i read that i liked.. it said.."have to learn somehow that they are more important than their mistakes; that they are worthwhile, valuable, useful; that they are loved unconditionally" that really hit me.. people have their agency and of course no one is perfect. it may be hard to see someone you really care for make a mistake that hurts them or anything.. but you still have to love them, let them know they are loved. just be there.. i guess this is something ive really lacked in. i m real sorry for all the close people in my life that i was never there for even though i knew they needed help. the atonement is there and we can make those changes. that experience with ricky really helped a lot. ive realized that i really have to act different with my district.. they are unique and i really need to show my love for them, i dont know its been very interesting. the best place to learn something is the mission.

my papi (Anderson), Me, Barnett, Scott and his mijo (Shipley)

we enjoy candles

When The River Meets the Sea

This week has been pretty good so far. Elder Scott is training and he's in weslaco! so i saw him and my grandson. it was so great to see elder scott again, i missed him a ton. There are 34 missionaries in the zone now. on monday we had a cita with an investigator and member a couple miles from home. so i look at a map to find the best route and end up finding one that doesnt make us get on the freeway. so we head out and make our way to this street that should lead us to where we need to go. we get to the road and all is well and then we get to the levey and ride up and can see that someone has drove their car on the trail so we know its good. so we start riding down in hopes that it will lead to our destination. we get about halfway and come to a stop cause someone had destroyed the bridge that crossed a small creek. the creek not being that big we decide to see if we could walk across. i step down into the mud to make sure its good that we cross. the mud is soft but firm so i turn around to grab my bike and when i did that i then instantly sank to my knees in the mud and i began to sink more and i turned to get out on my own but i had decided to wear slip ons this day and could fel them coming off. it was way to hard for me to get out on my own. I yelled to barnett to help me out and he grabbed my hand and started to help me out. it was super hard to get out. after a short while i was able to get out and my feet were wrecked. i had mud all over. I dont know why but in that moment it made me think of how the savior helps us. in our life we are going our way through sketchy paths and end up finding ourselves knee deep in sin, addictions whatever it may be. i tried to get out on my own but it was clear that i wouldnt be able to without help. we made our way across the creek onto the lesson we finally arrive at the members house and there we met their friend/neighbor who is interested to learn about the gospel and the lesson was amazing. we gave her a book of mormon and that night she read all of 1nephi. all of these days have been a blur. i have a hard time remembering what i did the last 3 hours without looking at my planner. there are these highrise apartments in mercedes. they are about 7 stories high. its the tallest building in the valley and one day we decided to go to the top to check out the view. we get in the elevator and make our way up and as soon as the doors open and we walk out we got hit with vertigo..we could barely make our way to the railing..it was super strange.
miracle moment, we have this time every morning where we go out to find the menos activos and we were out on our bikes going to see if this hermana still lived at this address. we get there and knock on the door a few times and nothing. then as we are about to leave, this man walks up to the door and we ask him if this hmna lives there and he says no and invites us in for some water. he ends up telling us that his church doesnt accept him anymore cause he got divorced a few years ago and to be honest i could see his pain in his eyes.. he was hurting a lot. he told us he would try to come to church and see how it is. he misses having god in his life. this transfer is super good so far. we are focusing on inspiration right now. when i was younger i would watch skateboard videos all the time and everytime i would watch them i would want to go right outside and skateboard!! those videos inspired me to go out there and do it!!. we can apply that same principle to acting in the gospel. inspire people to have more faith in christ or hold onto the iron rod tighter. we can inspire others through the scriptures or even through personal experiences. the gospel is perfect! things have been great. heavenly father is truly watching over us. I dont really know what to say as the days go on i learn so much. i love the mission so much. ive almost been here for a year and ive been in the lords hands since day 1. enduring through so many things to shape me into what He wants and needs. submit yourself to Him and cousel with Him and you'll see miracles and have the greatest joy in your heart. the refiners fire is real. there was a question that was asked at stake conference and it was "how can i remain happy while im in the refiners fire?" I feel if you truly study and pray and ponder eternal blessings and remember them as you endure the fire. the spirit will testify to you in your heart and bring you comfort. im very grateful for all the lord has given me and loving parents to guide and support me in this life, for the atonement knowing I can be forgiven of my sins. its not easy but its all possible through christ. Dont give up..

the view from our street

 rio de diablo

the crossing

 queen city

1lb burger

mijo 

for my boy Doc

Something More

It was near the end of the night and we were a little lost, there was many places we wanted to go. i told barnett to follow the spirit and show me the way. we rode down a couple streets and then we stopped to say a prayer for guidance and then we rode down one street and stopped in front of the house and barnett looks at me and says he doesn't know. i tell him.. just listen to the spirit.. we sit there for a second and i feel that we should go into this house we were in front of. i waited for barnett and then he decides we should go into the house we were in front of. we knock the door and this lady opens and says "what can i help you with?" we tell her we have an important message from the lord for her and her family. she invited us in and we start getting to know her and she tells us she is losing faith in god and christ cause she feels they are being forgotten in this world. I tell her she is not forgotten and that he loves her greatly. we then ask if she has ever prayed and she said no. we teach her how to pray and asked her to pray right then and there and ask God for his love and help. she started praying for her husband and children and as she is praying she just breaks out into tears...and couldnt finish.. i know without a doubt she felt gods love. we could feel it as she was praying. He loves us greatly and is eager to hear our voice and how we are doing. dont be that stubborn teenager that doesnt talk to their parents. take some time, kneel by your bed and just talk to him. He loves you. I know we were guided to that hermanas house for a reason. be humble and embrace the fact you cant do everything on your own. this last transfer was pretty interesting i feel like i have transformed into some sort of Pharisee. im being completely honest. ive slowly forgotten about one of the greatest things of all and its charity. this one day i felt completely off everything was just dragging.. i found myself praying to the lord for help. we went out to work and man...it just wasnt good. we headed back to our apartment and gave eachother blessings adn we went back out. the day goes on and we visit an investigator and we visit with him and its all good then at the end he tells us that he wants to write a letter to our superiors to tell them that we are doing a good job and that he truly appreciates us serving..he was almost in tears.. the lord answers prayers in many ways. the things that Renee said really changed everything for us.
stuff that happened this week.
mijo fell off of his bike again, this time over the handle bars.
theres killer clowns out here and everyone keeps telling us to watch out or they'll get us. they discovered that there was a hobo living in the attic of the weslaco chapel for about a year and they just barely found him.. ha que loco
conference was good, ive never been so pumped for conference in my life. hope you all had a chance to see it or hear it. thats pretty much it.

an oldie