Aliens Exist - 2/20/17

there is a super chill song that came to my mind during this week. its called Everything by Limp Bizkit and in the background it says go with your heart.. thats what for some reason has been helping. going with our hearts, mas amor. every night and through out the day i pour my heart out. its not about me. this one afternoon i was sitting in the gym in our complex waiting for my compa to get out of the bathroom and this super tall guy walked in and said "Yo i just got out the county jail and i want to give you this" and then handed me a cross made out of like a shoe lace. He said " I made it in jail and felt that i should give it to you" then i gave him a picture of jesus and he left and disappeared. we later went to Lorenzo's who is a very old member and needed help cutting some branches that were hanging over his house. one thing i love about being a missionary is youre instantly qualified and licensed to do literally anything. putting up drywall, laying tile or asphalt, cutting down trees, moving, literally name it and we'll do it. well we are at Lorenzo's and he is a half blind man and there are branches falling every where and he just wants to be in all the action. we told him hey stay put cause things are falling but continued to wander, not to mention he is very deaf. there were angels in the yard that day protecting him. this one branch nearly took his life. Later we were visiting an hmno who is super less active and he was having a sad day and we gave him a hug. he was super happy to see us and hasnt been to church in 17 years. well guess what. he showed up this sunday!! ahhh!!:) we've really been trying to strengthen the ward. we went by bro lugo who is a guitar wizard. then alicia the woman who just moved from fairbanks alaska, she really wants us to get the devil out of her nieces and nephew. then we went to a sisters house who is also very less active and she gave us like 45 roll of papel de baño, yeah that was fun riding home with on my bike haha and she came to church on sunday !!!! ahhhh!! we really saw and are seeing the lords hand more and more. someone asked me recently if i feel like im being my true self.. i thought for a moment wanting to say yeah, its weird for me to answer that cause for so long i was someone im not anymore. from the things ive learned and learning theres no way i could be the old me. so yes i am myself, but not my old self. on saturday we were preparing for the baptism of Moises and Diana, we tried to get the font ready but the only the hot water worked and the temp kept rising. finally we got everything done and it was around 6pm we started biking to the Cervantes and this lady waved us down saying she needed to talk to us, she pulled over and we started talking to her and came to find out she's been talking to the misisonaries on mormon.org for the last 3 weeks. theres been a lot happening to her and she has a 9 year old son. she wants to be baptized on her birthday so we set the date for march 7th! MOISES AND DIANA stepped into the firey waters of baptism yesterday!! setting the example for their children. the water was super hot cause we didnt figure out how to work the cold until near the end. it was awesome!!! after the baptism we came home and i laid in my bed for a moment cause it was just so awesome, i was feeling alright and as i was laying in bed this came to my head. it was read at the baptism and it said "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of God"D&C18:10
everything has such a greater meaning as the mission goes on. we were imagining the baptism during sacrament and we both felt nervous for some reason. well back to me laying in bed.. after that thought, the spirit overcame my heart and i felt the saviors love more than ever. the beeville ward is full of old people and we just got word that another member will be passing away soon.. the Cervantes family is the new beginning. near the end of the night last night we visited that investigator that waved us down.. well she is a heavy smoker and coffee drinker.. and she said she would want to stop them and we said alright cool well where is everything and then she told us where everything of cigarettes was and coffee was. then we asked her to close her eyes and then we grabbed everything and put it in a trash bag and then gave her a blessing because she is getting injections at the doctors today. and she was all happy and excited to quit everything and make a new start in her life and so we left and threw everything away. well we get home and literally 5 minutes after being home we get a super angry text from her wanting her cigarettes back, and phone calls all last night. everything will workout. express your gratitude to someone today.

a picture of that cat i sent last week, literally the next day.

beautiful texas

Selena

Chole and I

Chloe and I <3

Hunting Truck

never enough cheese

weekly service

at Lorenzo's

R.I.P. weedeater, got hit by a huge branch

orphan dog, we've been trying to catch her but no luck.. she wonders around our apartment complex and gets in all the trash. we call her Lucy

Chapala, we've eaten at almost every place in Beeville.

w/ dominic and Isaac

so goofy

abigail, she's crazy!! haha

The Cervantes Family!!:)

Mix The Chemicals Right - 2/14/17

pretty solid week, we found a family of 8. we've been with them everyday and they came to church and planning on baptism!! they are amazing, found a member that just moved from alaska and was looking for the church and she lives with her family and she's the only member, oh my goodness and she lives right by a bunch of families we are teaching, what a miracle. idk this week was probably the most spirit filled weeks so far and we are just working on having better unity and teaching with more love. theres been a significant change and i know that the lord is merciful and as we give him our heart he will guide us more, more than we know. oh my gosh guys. we also helped a LA of over 50 years that is starting to come back, well we helped clean his yard and then he helped us go out and mow some investigators lawns and he ended up talking to everyone!! andale!!! lets go !!! we went to this members house and were visiting with her and her very baptist mother who in the past has been very rude, well we were talking and we offered her a book of mormon and she said she would love to have one and that we would start to pass by and read it with her and she is excited!! oh my!! milagro i feel like im going to explode!! i'm truly coming to find out why and just everything about listening with your heart. im so grateful for this opportunity to be on a mission. i strongly advise everyone that is able to go, to go on one. my papi elder alex anderson went home.. que triste. things are changing in the mission and elder messinger and i are alllll the way up in beeville and we are never really around a lot of people,we are like cavemen from the mission, there is honestly a reason for everything and we are grateful. we got to go to corpus last week with corpus zone and hangout on the beach, it was alright. man idk what else to say other than im reading lots and doing all i can to really be there for others. Con Amor.

Corpus beach:/

kinda cool

trying to enjoy the beach... lol

the Lexington

still trying to enjoy the water

el diablo

so sick!!

my comp thought itd be cool to eat a loaf of bread a day... yeah it stopped after the 3rd day.. lol

found a cradle so we took a pic

bike day, everyday

so cute

just a little sick..

playing baseball with the Cervantes family. the fam of 8, someone had to get the home runs..

Slippin 2/6/17

monday night we stuffed ourselves at this sick bbq place called sammey's and later went contacting.. as we are walking down the street and it dark we see this guy sitting in his front room watching tv, we walked passed and then we stopped saying what are we doing, thats a child of god that needs to hear the truth. so we walk back to knock on the door mid walk to the door, the blinds are up and we watch him hit a 2 foot tall bong, we literally were speechless and honestly couldnt help but laugh, it was so unexpected to see. we knocked on the door and got rejected super hard haha it was good though.

a great quote i came across this week.

Elder Richard G Scott
Inner peace is restored through facing our problems and repenting "A tranquil conscience invites freedom from anguish, sorrow, guilt, shame, and self condemnation" "It provides a foundation for happiness"

right now i just really want to talk about the importance of a firm foundation in a family. whats the thing a family can have a firm foundation in that brings happiness.. Jesus Christ and his gospel. can simple things involving His gospel make a dramatic change in your family. Yes. one thing is family prayer that can make a great change, and your example to your children. as you lead by example having a great relationship with our heavenly father, your children will follow you cause you will be able to help them understand. we came across this man who had a daughter who had a drug addiction and was in an abusive relationship.. and was a little sad that she was going through it. yes everyone has their agency but we asked him well how do you feel like your example was when she was growing up.. he said that he would do lots of drugs and cheat on his wife and his kids hated him. and then we said well why would you think that your daughter wouldnt do drugs when she sees you doing it and thinks its okay. if you want a great future for your children its going to start from you. almost all of his children got into drinking and doing drugs and he had no idea how or why..it all starts in the home. being the example for your children and just doing whats right cause God asks that of you. ive seen the importance of that these last few transfers. as you have family prayer daily and strengthen your relationship with heavenly father your children will see a greater meaning to this life and just be more happy. ive said it before but im forever grateful for my parents example they set for me, even though maybe i didnt want to go along with it or i dragged my feet to family prayer if it wasnt for their example i wouldnt be here. I love them so much more than they know and i hope all of you that have kids will remember that, if they are old or young they still look at you as an example. do whats right. just do whats right. pray and ask heavenly father for forgiveness and change today.

we had MLC this week and i spent the whole time with my son elder barnett. MLC was good, president didnt have any videos or presentation. he read from his mission journal and had the spirit teach us. I learned a lot. that im not fully giving myself to the lord. so i came home and explained all i could to my compa and prayed..for the first time i felt that i have fully overcome some problems that i came out wiht. In every prayer I just want to give everything to Him. how it was explained to me was. the most common word a child uses is Mama or Papa, well our parents arent here so who do you depend on? not your parents but heavenly father. just do whats right. a lot of times you see pride get in the way of things. I remember people making fun of those squares for standing up for whats right or them being the only ones not wanting to participate cause it wasnt right.. makes me think of this song called zapatistas dont give up by anti flag, now im the square, the nephi trying to do whats right and help those around me. youre probably thinking oh my gosh has he not been doing whats right this whole time..no i have just not as much as i should have. since this change we've been having crazy good visits and almost every referral or door we contact the person is receptive, im so grateful for the blessings heavenly father has been giving us..there are many events and specially people we've met. have a rad week and just do whats right. transfers are today so i'll find out whats up later. im gonna go to corpus now and play beach volleyball.

German restaurant playing german pop music

for my boy Doc, i miss you man. much love

rain or shine, we make things happen.

Canal

found this gem in a members house.

oh yeah!!

The Prayer Position 1/30/17

had a pretty good eventful week.
tuesday was a packed day and then near the end of the day everything fell through, we hadnt found anyone allll day, it was like 7:30 and dark and we said wow we need to find someone, well as we were riding this random kid pulled up and was riding his bike next to us, we started talking and pulled over and found out his best friend died the day before and its been pretty hard for him. well we taught a short lesson and set up another time to visit. que loco, like wow..just amazing, theres really nothing more to say about it. we've been going ham with proverbs 26:11 "dog vomit" it reminds me of a poster i have at home that says wallace and vomit and its a picture of wallace and gromit but gromit is puking everywhere lol. we met this woman named Cecilia a mexicana who only speaks spanish, what a milagro!! someone who speaks spanish. it honestly makes me so happy to hear someone speak, its rare up here in beeville. this one day we did some genealogy then some more studies and then we were out into the streets, on our way to our first cita, i slow down at this stop sign cause there are cars passing and messinger doesnt realize it and slams on his brakes pretty late and this lady in a suburban stops and lets us cross. so we cross and i cross the next street and my compa cuts through a car wash and that suburban is right behind and honks @ him, im thinking this lady is going to kill my comp, so i cross the next street and my comp follows and then that lady is right behind him, finally my comp stops and the lady starts talking to him, i then pull up come to find out she was on her way to the liquor store and felt prompted to talk to us, she has been trying to stop drinking and is looking for help and she had been praying to stop drinking and is looking for help and she had been praying in the morning asking god to send someone and help her and thats when she saw us. we told her to take a b.o.m. and we'd be at her house in an hour with a member and and the sisters. we all went over and had a bomb lesson it was awesome!! we've had the opportunity to take lots of alcohol and cigarettes away from people and it feels great that they are willing to make those changes in their life to be more in line with Gods commandments. we were at this guys house and he had a pack of cigarettes in his front pocket, and i asked hey do you smoke? "yes i do" me:why? "well to calm my nerves" us: well theres other things you can use, let us have those and we'll throw them away. " i just bought them, i'll stop after i smoke this pack" us: why not just quit now. we were going back and forth for a bit and finally we were like alright man we gotta go and then he quickly said "alright hurry take them, get rid of them" Andale hermano!! then he said a prayer and made a promise with god to never smoke again, so sweet!! and came to church!! ahh! sooo another milagro, on wednesday were told this sister in our ward was in the hospital, she is pretty elderly but so friendly, everyone knows her. well we are told that she is in the hospital cause she had a heart attack the night before and was found in the morning with foam at the mouth. they take her to the hospital and she is in a coma and so her kids all get together and decide to pull the plug cause she just wasnt going to make it, hours later she is slowly responding and the next day she is awake and talking, her kids thought she was gone and the doctors said the same but she came back!! and yesterday she was able to take the sacrament..it was unreal but the whole ward helped out with prayers and a blessing. on saturday i went to the temple and the Muhammads were sealed!! i saw my papi elder Anderson he goes home in a week and a half.. also it happened to be the same day the branches in Laredo were going to the temple so i got to see a lot of old faces... seeing the muhammads be sealed honestly was amazing. i cant even describe pretty much anything this week, it was just so sick! also had to sneak by in n out on the way home and brought some for my compa, he almost cried.

the ward is really starting to get going, reactivation!! since it was the 5th sunday we were all together in the last hour and all of a sudden i felt super fired up and lit to read proverbs 26:11, theres nothing that bothers me more than talk of great changes and action but when the next day comes, people go back into their old ways and do NOTHING!!!!!!, "Hell is paved with good intentions" - Samuel Johnson. so i stood up and read it and idk i felt like my body was going to explode ive never been so pushed in my life. well i read it and it shot everyone back into their rocker, they all literally spackled their pants, then my compa stands up and shares some things and lights them all on fire. immediately a plan was put into action. correcting with love is something ive learned a lot about this week. its going to be awesome!!:D idk why but i was looking at some pictures from my first transfer.... i was such a scrub, im truly sorry and want to apologize to who ever was around me before the mission. so yeahhh things are good, dont be afraid to send a letter once and a while or any deep doctrine books, on p-days i just read books and enjoy nature. now p day starts at 8am and we only keep track of 5 key indicators, baptisms and confirmations, people at church, baptismal dates and new investigators. have a sick week!! John 13:17 "happy are ye"

lol these dogs drove to the post office

amish mafia

the cabellos from Laredo

San Antonio

my man Gordon Muhammad

yeah buddy i didnt have 2 of these.

el distrito! as we were standing out on this road it was getting dark and you could hear the foxes howl.. pretty spooky

woop woop

big shout out to Brother Love from mi barrio in centerville!!

Well I Guess This Is Growing Up

so we had a ton of chicken that we tried to cook.. failed horribly so we decided to knock doors in our apartments to find someone to cook it for us and we did! this lady upstairs cooked our chicken and it was the best..so my compa and i are trying to eat healthier.. and so we tried this crazy thing where you dont eat bread and noodles and stuff like that.. and wow .. yea i lost 10lbs in a week.. scary right..so now im just pounding on meats, fruits and vegetables 24/7 im eating all the time its so fun! we were contacting last night about 5 so the sun was going down.. and we decided to hit up this trailer park near by. so we are riding through and there are cats and dogs in cages everywhere.. well as we were riding we see these 2 pitbulls, just start booking it towards us..and i notice a little too late that there are no leashes on them.. wow.. que awesome so we start biking as fast as we can but they catch up.. then theres another one and they are surrounding me cause im in front.. i start kicking them as hard as i can, they are just going crazy for my legs and bike.. i kept hitting them in the face with my loafers and the side of the head and nothing. it is doing nothing to them im like wow this might be the day i get bit and kill a dog. i just kept going as fast as i can but its not fast enough and kept kicking ahh just freaking out and then finally they stop and go back... i keep going and look back and my compa is gone.. im like wow.. great.. he's getting eaten alive probably.. haha jk i see him at the other end of the trial far from the dogs, i yell for him to come over and he said no.. but then i yelled again to go as fast as he can.. and so he goes as fast as he can haha it was hilarious. haha

we scuba dived with our mission president into some deep doctrine. Our service to God is everything. I came out of there with a whole new everything in mind. Abraham 3:25 is just wow.. so good. you know once you know whats right, its important to always do it. its like a kid knowing that his parents dont want him outside with shoes.. well the first time he did they got after him and said hey dude.. you gotta have shoes... he does it again.. and they are like yoooo dude.. you gotta have shoes or no desert after dinner. im not gonna tell you again.. and so know the kid knows that there is a reward for wearing his shoes outside and will obey.. but say he's a good kid and obedient and always wears his shoes.. and always gets desert after dinner..and then comes a time he decides to just be lazy , rebellious, ignorant and just not give a crap..and doesnt wear his shows.. his parents say alright man.. you know the consequence.. no desert after dinner.. and he says alright.. so dinner comes and no desert. the next day.. he does it again.. he knows whats right and what to do.. but doesnt.. so again the parents say alright man again no desert.. dinner comes around and all his siblings get a super delicious cinnamon roll.. and he just sits there and cries cause he isnt allowed to have it. and the parents say well you know the rules and the consequences and rewards. the next day. same thing he doesnt wear his shoes.. he's just giving up on even trying at all and everyday after dinner he cries.. and cries.. those around him get it but for some reason he is choosing to not obey.. we may not always know our reward.. but we know whats right. we all have our agency. a few nights ago i got to crush a meth pipe. I met a man named Jimmy that had a stroke and is now in a wheel chair said he was a pretty wicked man before the stroke and was into a lot of bad stuff. we are going to start teaching him. theres another thing that was said to me that really made me put things into perspective.. soo say you have a missionary.. alright so we get a descent amount of money on our cards each month. well say the missionary has been using his card all month and its near the end and he usually doesnt have a lot near the end but he decides to go to a nice restaurant. says to himself that he'll just get something small and in his budget. well he is sitting there looking at the menu and sees all these great things.. oh man.. a steak, corn bread, mmm some jalapeno poppers, and the waiter comes by and he tells them that he wants the 24 oz steak with mashed potatoes and corn bread, a side of gumbo and a huge pitcher of Big Red, also every desert they have and a shake.. and man does this missionary enjoy the food. he has the best time. well while he is enjoying everything... the waiter comes back.. with the bill... the missionary sees it and.. honestly.. has no money for it.. that missionary had his agency to get what he wanted. some times i feel like a pitbull explaining things. but one of these days you could be receiving your bill. see all things as a learning opportunity and really just make things right with the Lord. the mission is a blast!!

Skin head trying to mow at night..

an Oldie with the loafers

Christmas mop

Las Abejas Del Norte

Rainy days

Ate at this place called Shorties

Sunday morning surprise!