Merry Christmas! 12/28/2014

Responses to letters this week:

 

That's awesome, yesterday me and my comp went on splits and both of us went with a priest and the goal of yesterday was to just visit the member and obtain referencias. We wanted to visit as many as we could so instead of big long lecciones we shared just a spiritual message. Me and Mario (the priest) took turns choosing what message we wanted to share and focused on the needs of the members and what the spirit directed us to share. It was so cool to see how when we put our fe in the spirit, it really is there and ready to guide us and a veces literally puts words into your mouth.

 

Anyways glad life is good back in the state, keep my updated!

Elder Wixom

 

 

 

Thanks! I can make that, and thanks for the books too, I'm really excited, I might not get them for a couple months though because the mail and also the mission home is realllly slow but that's OK, I've learned patience is absolutely key to being a successful missionary haha. And snow sounds really nice right about now,  it's plenty warm haha. Anyways I don't have time for a big long letter but I really enjoyed talking with you all Christmas and I hope you have a fantastic New Years, I'll see if I can take some cool pictures this week for you guys too, anyways, Hasta Lluego!

Con Amor

Elder Wixom

 

​My current companero, Elder Lopez!

 

​This is the family that let me use their computer for skype, they're super nice. 

 

 

 

 

Almost Christmas 12/22/14

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Ha, Yeah it was crazy, but this week was a lot of fun too. My new companion is a really hard worker and this week we've gotten a bunch of new investigators. Also we have one baptism that looks really promising scheduled for next week that we are really excited about.  It's so fun to teach lessons where the people are actually listening haha. The language is coming, I'm not to stressed out about it, I can say what I need to say in the lessons and the rest will come naturally through diligent study and just by living the day to day here.

For Christmas I'm not exactly sure what the plan is but today there's a devocional here in Ocosingo with the temple president and a bunch of missinaries from our zone are coming and we are going to be doing alot of contacting and inviting today. It's going to be really great, I'm super excited.

Yeah I heard about Jordan, that's rough, I'm sure he'll be fine though. Theres honestly not many days here where you're not dealing with some sort of weird illness but with patience and prayer it always turns out fine. Jordan's a tough kid and he'll be able to deal with that no problem.

Anyways I'm glad you guys are all ready for Christmas! It sounds like you have some pretty exciting stuff planned and I hope it all goes well! Let everyone know how much I love them!  I promise by next week I will be able to send you guys lots of pictures, it's just been really hectic here the last little while. And don't forget what this holiday is all about, with our lessons we've been focusing a lot on what Jesus has done for us and what we can do to for him. If you all haven't seen the video at  navidad.mormon.org yet you need to see it, it is so beautiful. We've been challenging everyone to find one gift they can give the Saviour this holiday season and i want to challenge all of you either as a family or personally to find one thing you can do for Christmas. Anyways, have an awesome Christmas, I love you all!

New Companion- Still no English speaking 12/16/2014

Ayy, sorry for my short email last week, I wasn't feeling well and was um, pressed to find a bathroom haha.  I'm glad the ward is still just as fun loving as ever haha, I freaking love all my leaders, I bet that was great. I'll buy a camera for Christmas haha! That's perfect! and I'll tell you guys about last week.  Monday we went to San Cristobal (so pretty).  I said goodbye to my companion E Acosta :( , In the mission your mission trainer is your dad, or here, your papa, so we bought matching corbatas and we were papa-hijo, it was pretty funny.  I love him to death though, he's awesome. Tuesday I met my new companion E. Lopez. He's super super funny and really good at teaching lessons so I'm really excited for this transfer but in  5 weeks he goes home to his state in Mexico so I'll get a new companion again haha. Because the occ buses were late I had to stay another night in San Crist. Thursday we came back for one day and the very next day my companion got permission for the Mission Pres. to visit some member friends in Tuxtla. While we were there we got to do a session in the temple and it was great. The members are super friendly. We stayed till till Sunday when we returned to Ocosingo and guess what, Sunday night we took another bus back to San Cris for the navidad devocional.  It was combined with 3 zones and it was a ton of fun, I met up with some of my MTC buddies and we had a blast, I loved it haha.  Then me and my MTC buddies went back to Tuxtla to fill out some forms for our green card.  Monday night me, my companion from the CCM(Elder Palmer) and another friend form the CCM Elder Mcdonald stayed at the mission presidents house and got to eat with him.  We had tuna sandwiches and talked for like and hour but it was so much fun.  I love our mission pres, he is so humble. we came back yesterday which is why today I'm emailing you and not lunes. Entonces, life is good, I love it here and I'm happy to be back in my area and I'm ready to teach.  I hope you guys have fun at your dinner and have an awesome week! I think I'll be able to skype you guys oon the 23 and on the 21 I can tell you what time, anyways, hasta lluego!

Con Amor

Elder Wixom

Soon to change companions 12/8/2014

     Buenas Tardes! No. No tango un nuevo companero ahorra pero a la 5 estamos visitando San Cristobal  donde I will find my new companion. He is an old companion of my current companion Elder Acosta and he's supposed to be really energetic and really good at teaching lessons so I'm really excited. He also doesn't speak ANY English tambien so it'll be really good practice.  I'm sad to see E Acosta go I love him to death but a new companion is exciting to so I have mixed feelings. I'm also staying in Ocosingo and will most likely spend another 4 or 5 months here. And yeah, I can get packages they just need to be sent to the mission office in Tuxtla and need to have catholic stickers on them. And yeah I got the card, it was great!(The card was from his ward's Relief Society).  It was the only letter the whole zone received for the month so everyone freaked out and made it a big deal haha.

Our district and our zone leaders (zone leaders bottom and to the left)

All is Well 12/1/2014

Yeah all the members and everyone else here are practically dying of the cold but its feels absolutely perfect to me and that's a blessing.  I'm glad you guys had fun, as you probably know they don't really celebrate Thanksgiving here but we had a little devotional about gratitude last week which was really cool.  Last night we watched 17 Miracles at the church in English but with Spanish subtitles.  It was a big eye opener.  I don't know why.   I've seen it before but it never really hit me how much faith they must have had.  It's amazing the kinds of things our ancestors did for us, we owe it to them to work equally as hard as they did today in our efforts in the church.  For packages they're actually really safe, missionaries get them all the time so if anyone wanted to send away.  And my talk is later this month so I have a little time to prepare.  I'm thinking about writing about either gratitude or about Jesus Cristo and charity but I'm not sure yet.  Our branch president is awesome!  Super friendly and really helpful when it comes to the missionaries, always trying to find new referrals. And no one told me the chicken story but I want to hear it, Justin should type it!  With the food here it's still just a lot of tortillas y pollo. There's a family here who have a lot of sugarcane plants and the kids literally just chew on the reeds to get the sugar out, it's actually really good and it's a good change from the candy here, I miss American sweets haha. but we always have food and plenty of it so me and my companion are happy.  This is his last week before he goes home which is really sad but we're going to do our best to make this week count and work our hardest. The goals we set for the week are the highest we've had them but with work I know we can complete them and more.  I'm really excited. anyways.  I'm glad to hear life is fun and that you all had an awesome Thanksgiving.  Everyday remember all the many blessings you have before you think about what you don't and I know that will make anyone a happier person, and good job mom! you're blessing and thank you for helping me throughout all my life and  I'm sure you are continuing to be a great help to the work!  I love you all!

Con Amor,

Elder Wixom

 

 

Next week I get my new comp! and sadly somethings fell through and we don't have any baptisms scheduled right now.  We spend alot of time helping the members and less actives right now.   It's a lot of work.  I'm glad your talk went well! Want to email it to me? Also you don't happen to have Truman G Madsens the Prophet Joseph Smith on CD or USB do you?  I'm almost done with Jesus the Christ and Our Heritage and I've heard awesome things about that talk and I'm trying to get a hold of it through jumpdrive or some means.  I don't really know how yet, and a trip would be so much fun, Mexico is so beautiful. I love it. Anyways I don't have a lot of time, adios!

Con Amor,
Elder Wixom

Mexico Life 11/24/14

That's awesome!  Way to go Justin!  The first few times are always scary but giving talks are actually really fun when you feel confident about what you re saying.  Next week I've been asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting in Spanish for the first time and I'm really excited, just another motivation to study harder.  Tell Katie I said hi and I miss her and all of you.  And Madi that's awesome! It's cool having a friend who knows nothing about the church because then you can be the one to try and answer all of their questions and watch their understanding and desire to learn more grow.  It's a privilege to share the gospel.  I'm glad Sol is having a good time, I hope singles ward continues to be awesome! The weather is the same, always hot haha but I'm getting used to it, the nights are always perfect too, that's a plus. There's a lot of ants and the entrance to our church is always filled with cockroaches but besides that its not too bad.  Our apartment is clean for the most part.  There's lizards in the chairs in our church classrooms that we have to shew away but they're harmless, and Pollo. Pollo is everywhere, every single meal, I'm not sick of it yet but I try to have other things whenever I can. and yeah they're tons of strays dogs, more then I can describe but I've never seen one that's barked or been aggressive to anyone at all.  They kinda just roam around looking for food.  The families are good, like I said Ocosngo is the town of the drunks and there are a lot and the attitude hear is kinda I can drink today and repent tomorrow and that's been our biggest challenge, explaining the significance of commandments.  I don't have a new companion yet and for that I'm glad, I couldn't have asked for a better trainer,  I love him to death.  He is a patient man haha the language barrier is hard but I'm getting better.  My companion has a bunch of, I don't know what you call them, texts? some writings but mostly pictures from the walls of a bunch of temples and ruins he has visited and a bunch of mormon interpretations of them.  They are the coolest things I've ever seen and the symbolism and accuracy of all of them,   We are in the promised lands.  It truly is amazing.  As soon as I feel more confident with my Spanish and I'm done reading the Jesus the Christ I'm going to buy some of the texts they have here just about the history of Chiapas, it's all so interesting.  So I'm glad to hear you're all doing good, remember to keep me updated!  I'll try to find time within the next couple weeks to send a letter home more about how life is hear and what me and my companion are doing.

Con Amor

Elder Wixom

 

 

When I return I would LOVE to come back as a tourist and just visit all these ruins.  We should do it. Chiapas is a lot safer then you'd think and everyone is so friendly.  Also everything is super cheap so that's a plus.  I'm getting better with the language but I'm till trying to figure out how to get the most out of the little time I have to study.  If I just had another 8 hours a day to read out of the gospel doctrines and to study Spanish that would be so amazing.  There is not enough time for everything here which makes it really important not to shirk off.   I'd love to send more photos but right now my camera is kinda, idk, dead?  It's broken beyond repair and idk why so idk if I'll be able to take any more photos at the moment but we;re returning to the ruins next Monday so I'll be able to send a few from my companion.

And it's kinda difficult because I came to the area the same week a tragedy took place in the ward and the branch president passed away.  It's been very difficult on everyone and its really shaken people up.  There have been a lot of problems with the leadership in our branch but with that said they are still awesome with efforts and they've been putting in and even though it is far from perfect they've been a blessing.

So some notes you can share with the ward, our branch here is absolutely awesome at providing food. Everyday at 2 someone feeds us lunch and not only is it helpful, it is needed for a lot of the missionaries.   With our limited funds, there's not a lot of money for food and it is absolutely the members responsibility to help out as much as they can.  Every members a missionary and feeding the missionaries is only one of many things they SHOULD be doing to support the spread of missionary work.  Another is freeing up time in  their busy schedule to offer a home or to be willing to travel to accompany the missionaries when there're teaching lessons. The added testimony of members is invaluable and also helps to show that Mormons are people to and we don't all wear name tags and corbatas twenty four seven.  Really everyone can spare an hour or two each week to sit in and contribute to the lessons.  Another thing is referrals, don't be shy to give out referrals.  Refer everybody you know, whether it be your best friend or a a coworker you hardly know.  The gospel is for everybody not only those who you feel comfortable recommending.  It is not the members job to determine who is ready to receive the gospel.  The knowledge of Jesus Christ is for everybody and they need to understand the significance of the work missionaries and members alike have been called to do.  The last thing which is important is to be friendly, en tonces don't be cliquey.  If you are talking to the same 10 people at church and during activities you are doing it very wrong. Although you might not be able to talk to everybody every Sunday you need to expand your love and interest. take your friend group and obliterate it.  Everyone is your friend. everyone deserves to feel your light and your warmth.  Don't deprive them of that because you are nervous or you've never met them before.  At one point every one of your best friends were strangers to you.  Extend your hand, extend your home for visits, and sacrifice your time and your energy to just be there for others.  It's really not hard.
Anyways those are the things I have time to write about now.  Feel free to alter or summarize or make any adjustments you see fit. Without the fellowship of the members all of the missionary work were doing  now would be in vain.  We need their help and CANNOT do it without them.

Anyways glad your doing good, keep me up to date on everything!

Con Amor,

Elder Wixom

P Day Fun at the ruins 11/17/14

We asked Aaron what he does all day:

We get up, we eat and study until 12 and then teach lessons till 2, lunch, then lessons for the rest of the day.  I say lessons but we usually end up teaching about 2 or 3 a day and spend the rest of the time looking for houses, it gets way confusing here.  I'm going to have to learn it quick though because my companion goes back to Columbia in 3 weeks.  I'm not sure if that means I'll get transferred out or a different companion will get transferred in but either way it'll be different.  My mission president seems cool, I haven't had a chance to talk with him and he didn't have time to interview most of us so I don't really know. Yeah today we went and visited a bunch of ruins for P day!  It's super hot here.  I got sunburned but it was way cool, there's underground walkways and sacrificial stuff, I think its called Tonina?   At least that's how they pronounce it.  We have a couple new investigators we're visiting this week, my Spanish is still less then functional and it makes it really hard to remember names but there's a middle-aged man and a woman and her kids we will be visiting.  Miguel hasn't been home and wasn't there when we tried to pick him up for church but we'll keep trying to get ahold of him. The Asuncions were kind of at a stagnate, the only reason we go back is for the kids now, one daughter in particular, who are pretty interested in our message. We'll keep trying though, if we can just get them to come to church I am positive they'll be able to recognize the blessings that come with the church.  Anyways keep letting me know how things are back home, I miss you guys!