Monday, June 20, 2016

My new area is in a pueblo called El Salto near the Airport!

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a really great week this week. My first week here in Industrial went well. It was an interesting week as I don't know anything about the area or the people here so I was just focused on following my companion Elder Cruz and learning as much as possible from him about the area and the people here. Our ward boundaries are huge. Thankfully we don't have to cover the whole area. There is a pair of sister missionaries here with us. Their names are Sister Marquez and Sister Lopez. Actually Sister Marquez got here with me in the mission, and she will be going home in five weeks! Kind of crazy! Our area is in a pueblo called El Salto. It is on the very furthest outskirts of Guadalajara past the airport. It is kind of fun though because the airport is within the ward boundaries I get to watch airplanes come in and take off all day long and I enjoy that! haha! We really don't have any progressing investigators at the moment, so I am sure that will be one of our biggest focuses in the coming week is to find people to teach. I got to meet many members and our only recent convert who is a fourteen year old boy named Leonardo. He is quite the Character. He accompanied us all-day Friday and Sunday so I have gotten to know him pretty well already. My companion Elder Cruz is a pretty nice kid. He is from Tlalnepantla, Estado de Mexico. He is the middle child in his family. He has an older brother and a younger sister. He has only been here in the ward for one transfer before I got here so he doesn't know the area super super well, but he knows it good enough that we haven't gotten lost yet. Yesterday we had our Stake Conference and it was really cool because I was able to see a family that was visiting from the very first ward I was in here in Guadalajara. I was super excited to see them because it has been a year since I had seen anyone from that ward and I got to talk to them for a minute. They were super excited to see and talk to me as well. It was kind of sad to tell them that I only have a little more than five months left in the mission. They were telling me that my spanish is super good and that I am super skinny. It was really cool to see and talk to them! It was a tender mercy of the Lord! I want you all to know that I am absolutely certain that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the key to Eternal happiness. It is the key to our happiness in this life as well as in the next. As we strive day by day to live the commandments of God we can find happiness even in the hardest of times and in the moments of greatest strife and struggle. I know that the Gospel gives true happiness because I am truly happy as I have shared this message with all of those that I come in contact with. I know that as we all live according to the Lord's highest standards we will find that we truly are elevated to a higher plane of living. A place where we can find peace and safety in a world full of unsurety and chaos. I love each and every one of you and hope you have a wonderful week! Take care! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

Friday, June 10, 2016

I was so happy and excited that Isaac got baptized! It was a special event.

Hello Everyone, Hello everyone how are you all doing? I hope that this email finds you all doing well! I am doing well and I am feeling good! Well many things have happened in this past week. It was a week full of many ups and downs but mostly ups when I look back on it or at least the ups are the things that mostly stand out to me in my mind! First of all Isaac got baptized on Saturday! It was super special! I was so excited and happy that he was able to be baptized and that he made the decision to follow Jesus Christ and make that sacred covenant. Honestly it was so special. It was such a miracle for us how everything happened. One day to the next Hna. Teresa (his grandma) received a visit as part of a missionary activity and the following day she came to church. The Tuesday after that she came to the chapel on the ward activity night and brought her grandson, Isaac, who had not been baptized and told us he wanted to be baptized. We taught him the lessons and he attended church every Sunday since that day and was baptized on his first baptismal date. It amazes me how quickly the work moves along when the Lord places someone truly prepared to receive the Gospel in our path. It was a great blessing for us to meet Isaac and to teach him and get to baptize him. He was baptized by Hno. Pedro our recent convert who was baptized in February. It was also a special experience for him! Other than that today I was transferred from Rio Verde to the Ward Industrial in the Stake Tlaquepaque. My new companion is Elder Cruz from the State of Mexico close to Mexico City. He seems like a cool guy and I am excited to get to know him better and to get to know the area. I am still a District Leader here and my district is made of of completely sister missionaries, so that will be kind of interesting to see how that goes. It was kind of hard to leave Rio Verde because it was a really great ward and I really love all of the people I got to know there! I shared my testimony in Sacrament Meeting yesterday and told them that I was being transferred and everyone started to say a lot of really nice things about me about how great of a missionary I had been and how much they love me and that they wished the best of success for me wherever I go. It made me feel really good and made it really hard to leave. I really grew to love all of the people there and I am so thankful for the opportunity that I had to serve in such a great place. I am going to miss it for sure. I had so much success and many great experiences there inspite of the many challenges! I just want all of you to know that the Lord is a loving and merciful Savior. He only wants the best for us. He cares for our individual challenges and burdens and he sends us individualized help and support. I am certain that He hears and answers our prayers and that He is constantly working to help us to overcome and continue in the crazy path we call life. He loves all of us! I love each of you and I hope that you all have a wonderful week! Take care! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie