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| ELDERS RUBIO AND MARTIN |
Elder Martin is now right in Pachuca with Elder Rubio. They have new assignments as ZONE leaders. Below: a recently painted neighborhood in their city and the Pachuca zone with Elder and Sister Egbert
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| PACHUCA |
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| PACHUCA MEXICO ZONE AUGUST 2015 |
hola hola hola!
It sounds like everything is going busy and well at home! That is so exciting! Tell parker and Jackson to kick butt. And you should read the BOM as a family! Do it fearlessly!
Oh my goodness, this last week has been so stressful, but it is over. On monday, we did a 3 hour zone activity and we had to do it based on Fitness and health. Well, knowing that there would be people who wouldn´t want to participate in our zone, we had to make it really fun (If you look at the blog, you will see a little bit of what we did). We got really creative, but it was worth it because everyone participated and was SO SORE the next few days. It was great! We did divisions with Elders Hernandez and Hazelgren. Next, we had zone conference this week. We had to plan everything that we were going to say and how we were going to train a big group of missionaries. And coordinate with the sisters, make a presentation, etc. That was scary, but it ended up alright.We had to go to the mission offices today because of the potential packages and letters that may come to our zone. It took forever because they just put in a new transportation system here in Pachuca and... there was only one letter. We just got notified that there´s a companionship of elders going home in our zone, which is so sad to hear :( One of them was district leader, which means we are going to be doing double duty as district leaders and zone leaders. One of them will be with us for a few days this week while the arrangements are made to go home. And we have zone training in two weeks! This is probably a little scattered, but the moral of the story is that missionaries are always busy!
Ok, so really soon we will be having a baptism for the Alvarado family! They are the humblest, shortest, best-intentioned people ever. There are 5 of them - Manuel y Alejandra (los papás), Nicolas 14, Amir 13, and Robin 9 (the sons). The only thing is that they are not married! apart from them we actually have two other cases that are totally ready to get baptized, but can´t get divorced or married, so they still can´t which is dumb but it will all work out in the Lord´s time. But anyway, we are helping them to get married this week. On saturday, they are going to the temple open house in Mexico City with the ward, so we are trying to get it to work out so that they can be baptized before! It would be such a great experience to get to see the temple just after being baptized. I am really jealous we can´t go to the temple, and the one in Mexico is super pretty (there´s pics on lds.org it´s a unique one).
I often think about the oft-repeated quote, "What ere thou art, act well thy part". I invite you all to simply think about that this week. As we are given assignments in this life, it is important that we understand our potential and expectations. We tend to overcomplicate things, but all we have to do is our best.
Well, have fun everyone. Get married, make a hole-in-one, conquer the world, and above all Remember the Alamo! That´s actually kind of funny because the Mexicans are bitter about Texas.
Con muchissimo amor,
Elder Martin
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| TEACHING AT ZONE CONFERENCE |
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| ELDER MARTINS NINJA MOVE AT THE ZONE FITNESS ACTIVITY |
¡Hola familia! Aug 17
Pues, ha sido una semana loca pero también era otra oportunidad de progresar y aprender nuevas cosas y por eso estoy agradecido. Now, let´s see if Google can translate that!
Before I get into everything, I have to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY first, to my papá Mike, and later to my favorite grandpas in the world, JR and Dave. What can I say. You´re all getting old! Hahaha but you all still look young, don´t worry. Later, Happy Anniversary to my favorite sister, Erika, and her husband Jordan. That´s still weird to think about, but I am SO happy for you guys! Also, this isn´t actually an anniversary, but 1 year from this day (August 17-don´t forget it and leave me alone in the airport), I will be coming home. I technically have until september 3rd until I have a year in the mission, but because of the way transfers are scheduled, I technically only have 1 year left starting today. AND I DONT LIKE IT! Time just passes by way too fast. But it will be nice to be home as well.
Well, this has been a crazy week. I went on exchanges in Loreto (mom, where Elder Jeppesen started his mission) and it is super crazy there. It´s up on the mountain in the center of Pachuca, and the whole thing is super steep and crazy. Even the roads are super narrow in order to cope with the slope. It was a thigh burner day, but it is super beautiful there. Today, we just had our zone activity that we had to plan which was stressful, but I really enjoyed it and it was really awesome. Sister Egbert gave us a theme that we had to follow this time for some reason, which was physical fitness and health, but we made it super fun and did lots of obstacle courses and stuff. I am sore! And we have a Zone Conference that we have to plan before thursday and it´s stressful and the work simply never ends. But I am really grateful for these opportunities I have to learn.
Well, we are working with the Alvarado family to become baptized. They are a very humble family with three kids. The parents have never gotten married and are afraid to, but we are trying to help them see that things really won´t change after sealing the deal legally. Anyway, they are really great and it has been cool to see their growth throughout this time that I have been here.
It´s raining right now which is nice. It gets hot in the days. But not arid, it´s more like Bear Lake hot because really all it is is the sun burning you because it´s strong. we´re way up in altitude. But you gotta count your blessings, because it´s not humid. Wish me luck this week! I hope you all are keepin´ on in life, and living the dream! I love you all!
"The Lord knows what He wants to accomplish with each one of us." (Rafael E. Pino, April 2015 General conference) May we all trust in His perfect plan and try to become who we are really meant to be through his redeeming and perfect Atonement. It means we have to change some things in our lives, but it also means a better future.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Martin
Hey all!
As you know, this week I had transfers. I was really sad to leave all of the people and Teotihuacan in general. I really enjoyed it there, but change happens and there´s nothing to do but embrace it and move on. Now, I am in Pachuca! It is soo awesome. My area is called Tecnologico 1 and I am with Elder Rubio, who is from Mexico. He´s a champ; he was in my first district there in Apan. He was working in the next city over so I got to know him and yeah long story short we´re already good friends! And.... we are zone leaders. Yao. It was unexpected receiving this assignment, but I am slowly getting adjusted to the additional responsibility. Basically, for almost every stake there is a zone of missionaries. In our zone, there are 3 districts and 21 missionaries, and more than half of them are sister missionaries. That will be interesting, because I have never really worked with them before, but we´ll see how it goes. We are in charge of these missionaries and we help them in quite a lot of ways. Our zone is called Pachuca Mexico by the way. So to wrap that all up, I am excited, surprised, nervous, and stoked to be here!
Oh, and I had to laugh when you guessed "inner city". Actually, Pachuca is really beautiful. It´s not too ghetto and it´s nestled at the foot of some stellar mountains.
Jackie is home! That is so exciting. And Evan, too! Tell them I say hola.
Life is busy and I have got to go! But I love you all very much and hope you have a superb week.
-Elder Martin
Hola!
Pues primero, I dont really have time. I have transfers tomorrow! I am really upset because I love the people and this area SO MUCH. We even have a baptism coming up this weekend for an awesome investigator, but alas. The Lord´s will and not mine. Changes in life kind of stink sometimes, but they are admitedly necessary.
This week we cast out a bad spirit! That was interesting. I also got to see the baptism of Maria de Jesus. She´s a champ, and really excited to be a member.
WEll, more to come next week! I love you all very much and I will keep you updated.
Con mucho amor,
Elder Martin
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| PHOTO BOMB! |
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