Leave The Light On

had a bomb week. The Lara's have been coming to church and Ariel is getting baptized next sunday. Super proud and happy for mijo. Casa Blanca is changing a ton . Laredo in general.
Found this guy named Dustin we were try to pass by this super less active and ended up finding Dustin he was man i really want to get closer to go and even get baptized cause i never have. he was like this isnt a coincidence at all that you guys came today and knocked on my door. YES Lets go!! haha hes awesome! We had a ton of help this week. had a super hard greenie moment this week as well. we were in a trio with E. Ault and we were visitng hmna Mata and her grandaughter and we were talking and everything was going great and then she started to tear up a little and we kept teaching then i asked if she would want jesus christ to be her best friend and then she just burst into tears... i was lost.. and was thinking what did i do. I look at my companions for help cause i had been talking the whole time and everyone just looked back at me.. I look at mijo and all he does is look at me and look back at them and then didnt say anything. ahh it was so strange and weird. we learn so much everyday haha. We also met Javier this week, a super dope guy and we are cutting his lawn, i'll explain next week why its been taking forever. i dont have a lot of time rn to write. So this guy named alexis got baptized last week and we were visiting an hmna in our area and he was there cause he is dating her granddaughter. well alexis is 18 and we talked about the blessings from the baptism and then something random came up about being soldiers as we are dressed up in a white shirt and tie. we then went off on how great the mission is and how we are good soldiers of jesus christ. i think i remember saying that a ton when i was a greenie back in portland. We Are Gods Army. and in that moment that we were talking about the things you learn on the mission i actually realized how usefull all of this for the rest of our lives. and we just pumped him up for a mission and thinks itd be awesome to go. The gospel is here for us. Take advantage of it okay!! dont let it just be that thing in your life. make it your life!!! just do it!! we also got a random call last week that this guy was in the hospital and he asked for the elders to go visit him. so we raced over there and it was a former that acosta and i had. hes not a member but he asked for a blessing like 20% of his heart was working and he was about to have some procedure done. so we give him the blessing.. and wow the spirit is great. after every blessing we give i am like super sweaty and tired. it reminds me of all of those people who have visitations of angels or just get right into the gospel in the book of mormon, the spirit is so great and strong that they go right to sleep. that made me realize why my greenie is always sleepy hahah is cause the change that he made from at home to the mission field. the spirit is so great we should all feel it everyday. I love you all and pleaseeeee read the book of mormon! it'll change your life!!

also write me letters too thatd be rad:D

6402 Mcpherson Road apt#54
Laredo, Tx 78041

I love Laredo!!

lol mijo puttin in work! he's a stud.

JW blitz we came across

 Javiers Lawn

members pitbull

too good to be true. Milagro find just thought id let you guys know

I'll send more pics next week. I love you all. I really do.

Clear the Lane

everything is good in Laredo texas! i have tons to say but no time. had lots of spiritual experiences. i just have one thing truly to say. Read Helamen 5. also i went on an exchange with E.Watchorn and while we were riding out bikes i got hit by a car.. lol. i was praying that my bike wasnt messed up. i just picked it up and we kept riding. the rim is a little bent but i am good. as we rode of the driver rolled down the window and yelled for us to come back. she was so sad and scared..and started crying.. and guess what. she turned into a potential and the missionaries are going to visit her. i have to go now. it got to about 108 on day oh my!! i think i was dead haha but it was fun! we got lots of free water. the mission is the best!! thanks for all of the support i'll have more to write next week okay. hope you guys all had a good fathers day. dont forget Helamen 5

mijo playing musical chairs. he won. ahh so proud. 

 ayy!

Wake Up

pretty rad week!
Kerry had his interview and everything went well. we had a great lesson with hmno robledo. he was just going off about how he felt like he got baptized too early, then we share alma 13:27-30 and it all made sense to him. it made me so happy that he finally understood. power of the spirit is real. Frankie had his first day of being sober!! wooo!! this guy we are teaching. he really wants to change and be better for his daughter and things are improving. E. Scott is learning and growing each day.
this one day we went by hmna Lara and asked her to come with us and invite her neighbors to church and the first door we go to she introduces us as Jehovas Witnesses.. in my mind i was like WHAT THE FREAK!! AH!! lol and after i told her haha. "hmna we arent jws" and she was like ahhhh did i say that?!?! i was just so nervous hahah we laughed about it. also E.Scott crashed on his bike again lol.. i took a corner and then all i heard was his body hitting the pavement lol haha i look back and he is picking up his bike haha. its been pretty dang hot and humid this last week!. we met this 2 guys from imperial valley ministries, they are recovered drug addicts that raise money to help other drug addicts and help get them off of the streets. they stood out in the sun for like 6 hours. i dont know how they are still alive. later we visited the mackenzie family and that was super interesting..they referred us to their neighbor so we head on over and as we pull up i start talking to my comp about the last visit and then all of a sudden the front door opened. right away i asked hEYYY can we sing you a song? she says yes and then i asked do you believe in god? and then she went on about how she is pretty sad right now cause the guy she is taking care of is in the hospital and will probably die soon. so we sand Venid A Cristo. and when we were done we continued to talk. the look in her eyes continued to change and then she started to cry as she told us all of her beliefs and as we told her of the restoration and the book of mormon. there was just a happiness inside her. I know that she could feel the spirit, we gave her a book of mormon and she was very happy to start reading it. Something similar to this happened the other day just up the road. while w were testifying and explaining the gospel the look in their eyes is just something else. I feel like their spirit inside is just rejoicing and screaming in happiness. its so AWESOME!!! later that night we had dinner at hmna grimsley's and she was telling us about this friend she used to have but hasnt gone to church in a while. so we go over with her to visit this menos activo and we show up and they are having a quinceanera or however you spell it and we find the hmna and start talking and then hmna grimsley comes over to talk. in the past they had beef thats why she wasnt really friends with her anymore....and a little old women fight almost broke out so we quickly left.. but dang.. we dont have time like that to be bent out of shape. theres more important things to worry about than someone not returning your phone calls. Please have charity and in all situations wwjd. and if you have a hard time being nice.. pray to be more charitable. theres a better life out there. WAKE UP WAKE UP!! go and get it!! what are you waiting for!! just go do it!! but other than that all is well. happy early fathers day to my dad! he's the best! i miss you papi! we'll start Monk over and go for bike rides when i get back. thanks for always loving me even when i never came home and cut my hair. have a rad week guys. i know i will.

sleepy kitty

scotty boy with hmna grimsley

My Own Prison

mmmmm what to say.
well a while ago we had been teaching this lady named Elisa and her son Omar. well yesterday during studies idk why but a few peoples names randomly popped into my head when i was reading about nephi building a boat. and one of the names was Elisa. i was thinking like wow thats weird.. maybe we should pass by them. So later we went to pass by. I banged on the door and quickly she opens and was like ahhh how are you. and we just talked for a little while and apparently we came just in time cause a lot of weird things have been going on in their house. one of her kids fell back into old ways and also just weird pentagram stuff going on and weird voices. We were like woahhhh well are you glad we are here then. so we picked them back up and will be visiting them often. also yesterday we were riding our bikes.. and i was just hauling it down this road. i always ride fast.. cause.. why ride slow.. so i was hauling it down this road and hit this little hill in the side walk, you can hit it like a jump. well i went off of it and kept riding and then i was like... i should probably look back and see if mijo is close are far behind me.. and i look back.. and he is on the ground.. hahahahahah! ahh what a trooper haha. apparently he tried to do the same thing as well but just ate it and tore his suit pants.. not his pros pants.. his suit pants.. ahh man his first sunday in Laredo haha it was hilarious. we laughed about it and kept going. que mas que mas.. we went digging this morning and i found out my son doesnt like to dig. so yeahhh but the rest of the apartment does. i'll have more to write about next week for sure. the mission is great and just following the spirit really helps. yesterday after our church and inbetween our next branch we were going to go to we decided to go wake up this guy that lives by the church and invite him to church. well he wasnt there but on the way back to the church this member saw us walking and picked us up and we went to go pick up his friends and bring them to church. none of them came but i was a start. our investigator frankie is progressing and same with Kerry, we had a miracle of 2 random people coming to church so that was super awesome. my son is growing so much its awesome and we also found 2 members that havent been to church in forever and that dont have their records over here in Laredo. blessings!! i think thats all for now have a rad week and be safe out there. i love you all. oh also dont be scared to share your testimony. we contacted this door and the lady was very bitter and just went off on how sad she was that we were missionaries for the lds church and that we need to find truth. it was a perfect opportunity to share my testimony. and thats all we did and left. ahh one more thing that ive learned a lot of.. is... just be chill.. justttttt be chill..and enjoy life and learn from it.. dont hold yourself back from learning and growing no one is perfect. todo esta bien..thanks for the support guys!

we walked up to a door and there was like 10 cats outside haha.

my papi, me and my son

scott with his ripped pants and the little hill in the sidewalk behind him. lol hahaha

digging this morning.

mijo enjoying the dig

Jesus Take The Wheel

started off the week with a really good P-Day we went out with hmna capetillo and had a couple great lessons with Kevin and Cassandra. then at night we found out that we need to be in mcallen on tuesday early in the morning. our mission president wanted to give every missionary a blessing before he dies (returns home) he treats us like his own kids and he would do that for his kids. so tuesday morning the laredo north zone took the 3 hour journery to mcallen to get a blessing. it was honeslty the craziest coolest experience ever. it honestly makes me sad that he is going to be leaving. hes such a stud and so inspired. we were also focusing on blessings this week. like giving people blessings.. we went to visit hmno Robledo we get there his twin boys are just super crazy and crying and we were trying to talk to him and it bummed me out a little bit cause he went on to say that he isnt even sure if he believes in god anymore cause his life is just sucky and he never gets to see his wife cause she is always working and going to school. we asked him if we could come back in like 40 minutes cause we had a set appointment right then and he said yeah that we could go back. so we go to the lesson with hmna grimsley and it was bomb and then we took her with us to hmno robledos and they just went on to talk about life and it was perfect. before we left we gave him a blessing and his mood completely changed and he was happy and just everything was just changed. it was so cool! the gospel is so real!! ah its the best!! the next day we finally go to visit hmna Iglesias. we have been trying all transfer to visit her but she never lets us but finally when our main plan fell through, i was like birrell im gonna call hmna iglesias and she told us to go over it was so awesome. she was so happy and talkative. and we even met her blind husband who i had never met and we gave him a blessing. it was awesome. then the next day near the end of the night we saw our former investigator jorge walking his dog. we walk over and start talking ot him and told him straight up that he could get baptized tomorrow and he was so down.. but he wouldnt wait to be interviewed :/ on sunday we went to a carne that this lady invited us to cause it was her aunts birthday. it was pretty cool cause we had just met her and she told us to come by next week and we did and the food was awesome. this monday birrell and i took a member out to dig for his first time. it was pretty fun. then we had transfer calls. they announced everyone and everyone who was told to go to mcallen at 9:30 was either getting a leadership position or training. birrell is gonna be a DL and they told me that i was staying in laredo and birrell is leaving. then like 20 minutes after we are all writing in journals and my zl was like ohh wait up... Gonzalez you have to be at the meeting in mcallen at 9:30. i was like whaaaaaaaat............ so yeah im training now haha. my sons name is Elder Scott he is from San Diego and his spanish is bomb for a greenie and he also plays the piano. what a milagro the 5th branch was in need of a piano player. haha the lord always provides haha. but yeah thats all the news. no one has died. lol so this morning i told my greenie hey can you say a prayer before we leave. he was like sure. then i told him. dont forget about safety though cause everyone drives crazy in laredo. he said the prayer and we were on our way to meet up with some more missionaries at the church. as we were biking i was crossing a street it was a green for us and i was riding infront of E.Scott and then this white car just goes for the turn super quick lol hahahah and almost hits me as im crosssing hahahah i look back at elder scott and just burst out laughing hhaha it was so funny haha i was like welcome to Laredo lol haha goofin so hard over it. i still think its funny but yeah the lord really blesses us missionaries. la expiacion is real and dont forget to use it. we have so many tools while we are here on earth. i love you guys. have a rad week.

Birrell with hmna Grimsley lol if she had black hair she would look like Edna Mode lol

Seth bear cooking some tofu and curry in the morning.. what a beautiful thing to smell as you step out of the shower in the morning hahah. not.

the carne we were at on sunday.. mmm so good.

lol saw acosta at the meeting. i miss that meat wad so much haha oh and thats elder Scott

Lemmings

mmmmmmmmmm started this week off with an exchange with Elder Watchorn this dude form minnesota. he skated a lot just like me and loves MXPX so we became instant homies when we met haha. This last week we deep cleaned every apartment. it was pretty gross haha in some elders apartment we found a birds nest haha. on wednesday night we did this bike ride around laredo for Bike awareness. we rode all the way to the bridge that goes across the rio to mexico and met all the people from nuevo laredo. it was super cool. the next day Elder Davis was with us, so we had a car. gracias a dios. we started out at the jimenez family as always and had a super great lesson and at the end she said that she was going to have a friend come over later tonight and she really wanted us to meet her and her husband. Later that night her friend was there and it was super rad. Hmna Jimenez testified super hard and they both accepted to be baptized. We also ate at the Solis's house, ( our branch president) their house literally looks like a museum in the ghetto hah its great. earlier that day we got a referral to pass by this member. Hmna Chacon, she has cancer and she seemed to be doing well. We read 3nefi17:7 and she just burst into tears, it was idk it really hit here and was so spiritual. The lord helps us out so much. then we I stand all amazed and ahh it was the best. the next day near the end of the night i played skate with this kid and lost.. ha:/ shocker.. i cant remember his name but his friends are in a punk band and they were practicing when we got there.. thats just a random cool thing that happened haha. on saturday we had a blitz in San Isidros area, ( the hermanas area) it was super fun but soo hot and humid. we were contacting a door and the first thing the lady said was wow you guys are very sweaty. Yes yes we are mam its hot outside haha. We kept talking and i was explaing to her the book of mormon and she stopped and was like can i get you guys some water.? yes yes of course please haha. and at the end of the contact she asked if she could give me a towel i said yes. it was the most plush white towel ive ever had. Later that night on our way home we rode passed this very old members house who is 90. her door was open and there was a man walking out. we both said ah lets go back. so we go back and the man was her neighbor. She was struggling with her home phone cause she wanted to call her son. So i check her phone and end up fixing it she was so happy! she said that she had been praying to god to send her angels to fix her phone and there we were. then she called her son. Its so awesome. it makes me happy that we are blessing so many people. on sunday Kerry came to church! this super dope guy we met last sunday. we also took hmna Grimsley to meet a less active Hmna Mata and i think we just created the greatest friendship ever with them haha they are best buds! a lot of cool stuff went down this week, we met a ton of people and people are progressing. The obra is the best.

Pros ball with our investigator's and member's kids. my comp has no chill with basketball.

a beautiful cloud i saw one hot day

bike crew

the missionaries getting ready for the ride

on the bridge meeting everyone from mexico

all of the bikes locked up at subway, about 2 zones of bikes haha

his name is Blue, a members pitbulls.

i love animals

best buds

The greatest friendship ever (hmna grimsley y Hmna Mata)

May 16

first off today is May 16 if you havent already. listen to May 16 by Lagwagon for me.

this week were in a trio with E.Anderson cause elder herrin went to mcallen for a few days for a meeting. on tuesday it was about 105 and i wanted to die haha it was soooo hot oh my gosh! i was sweating so much it was like someone left the faucet on over my head. we got anderson to do a handstand pushup in a members house just on the spot it was awesome. Elder anderson is very shy so we always try and help him get out of his comfort zone. we passed by a couple people this week that it was pretty sad. this one lady we were talking to everything was going great she was in a rush so we made sure that next time we go she wouldnt bail. Birrell said lots of people go to church out of tradition cause thats where their parents went and thats not what god wants..and then the lady went on to say that she just goes to church out of tradition. Then we asked her if god had something else planned for her would she follow it. She said nope and thats she is fine where she is at. super unprepared but crazy and triste. she has kids and ahh its just always a bummer. so after we played HORSE with the kids in the street haha. something about being with the kids always touches my heart whenever they ask us when we are gong to come back.. its like dang man id hangout all day if i could.. the last day that we were in a trio with anderson was pretty good. started the day off by visiting the Jimenez family they are super dope and we got the primary vision and just lots of good info. then we were riding to visit hmna Aseves. she lives in the nursing home. on the way we passed a candy and soda shop. I was like wow that place seems awesome. we should go there. then farther down the street birrell was like we should go to it right now. in my mind i was like nah lets just visit the member but then randomly i was like eh whhy not i guess. So we turned around and went to it and we checked out everything inside. it was super awesome and one of the workers was helping us out and we were there for a little while come to find out the worker was a member and hadnt been to church in over a year. Its crazy how things workout. so we go visit hmna Aseves and we always go and sing to her well while we were talking to her at the end there was this other old lady from across the hall that was calling us. She was laying in her bed and looked very old and in spanish said please come over and help me, i feel very sick, please come. So after we walked over there and it honestly looked like she was about to die. so we sang Mas Cerca Dios De Ti and during it she fell asleep. for some reason it was a little funny and birrell and i werent able to finish the song so anderson finished by himself. it was a cloudy day gracias a dios so it wasnt so hot. later we visited blanca and oh my gosh we just want to help people its hard when they dont listen!! ahh!! haha but we still love them. later we were contacting a referral and i heard a familiar sound while we were contacting it. It was a skateboard hitting the concrete. so quickly after we set up a return appointment we went and found this 13 yr old kid skating. Im like dude lets play a game of SKATE it was super rad. and we just taught the gospel as we skated. " have you ever skated with the missionaries before?" at the end of the night this less active we have really been working with told us a parabol.." theres a monkey at a lake and he sees a fish and has compassion for it cause he sees it is struggling to breath and feels bad so he takes it out of the water and then the fish starts flopping around and dies, the monkey didnt understand the world that the fish was in.
on Friday the 13 a stray black cat ran passed us ahh! haha that day we met Alma, she has one leg and is super awesome and nice. on saturday we had a blitz in el centro's area. i was with anderson and it was pretty fun. it was puro espanol and in the blitz i realized how much i dont know haha it was kinda crazy but a good learning experience. id much rather talk in spanish. we met up with one of our investigators. Omar, he is going to rehab in a couple weeks. its crazy. he is a good kid just stuck in a rut. bums me out but i try and help them as much as i can. Lately we've talked to a ton of addicts or alcoholics its weird but i hope i am helping them in some way. I remember my senior year in highschool during spring break after a couple crazy days with my friends i decided to leave them and take a bus and train to meet my brother at his work to go to a family get together in Heber. On the way to my brothers work i was on the train and this service missionary got on all by himself and in my ming was like oh my gosh you better not sit by me.. ha and sure enough he came and sat by me "frick" i said in my mind.. he started talking to me about the gospel as if i wasnt a member and i dont really remember all of it but it was kinda cool now that i think about it. I was like mean to him and kept trying to push him away. If only the guy could know im on a mission right now. Him talking to me did help me in a time where i wasnt so sure. The lord helped me remember who i am and what i know is true in a time i really need to remember. i share this experience cause its what i think of everytime I talk to someone that isnt ready. Dont be discouraged. Youre such a blessing and you might not ever know . So say hi to someone and compliment them. Met this guy named kerry last night. super cool dude totally laid out his problems infront of us and that he wants help. we were like yes! we can help you. he had a crazy life his siblings are in cartels and hes the only good one. We always found Diana and Jose last night, they are a super dope couple and have 2 kids that are also super cool. we first met their kids when we played basketball with them. Pumped to see them progress! I think that is all. our lava lamp is still doing good. We went digging for ties this morning.

my dad would be proud im gardening now!

trio with anderson

last night with anderson

a members pit bulls they are so fun

we had to hop through these trains to get to the bodegas this morning.