My week was full of spiritual and uplifting experiences and another companion change!

Hey everyone, I hope you are all doing well and that you were able to have a great week this week. My week was full of many things to do but also full of spiritual and uplifting experiences. We were able to have our zone meeting and also able to establish a new focus for the mission during the leadership council. During our leadership council we were discussing the needs of the mission and the things that are lacking in our mission with the missionaries and what could help us to improve our efforts in the work. We were looking all for things that would help the missionaries become more effective servants of the Lord and also work towards building up their abilities as effective teachers. As we were in that meeting we decided that we needed to focus a lot on Discipleship, Establishing the Church, and Teaching the Doctrine of Christ. It felt so inspired as we were looking for what would inspire the missionaries to work hard and give a greater part of themselves in this work. I am so excited to focus on these things with the missionaries in the coming months. Well my companion Elder Ramon ended his mission today. I am kind of sad because he was a super great companion for me and I am going to miss him. It was a good last week together getting to teach the missionaries in the zone meeting about the need to represent the Savior in all that we do and follow Him in every footstep. I learned so much from him and he inspired me to work harder everyday. I will definitely be missing him by my side as my companion but I know he will continue to bless many lives as he returns home. My new companion is Elder Hernandez. He is from Cancun and has 17 months in the mission. I don´t know very much about him except that he has been a zone leader already for quite awhile so I am sure I will be able to learn a lot of things from him. I am excited to see what I can learn with him and what we can accomplish together here. Right now not much is happening in the area. Our investigators didn´t come to church yesterday. Joshua couldn´t go because his mom grounded him. Kind of frustrating. But hopefully we can continue to teach him and help him prepare for baptism. We are still looking for new people to teach. I am excited to work with Elder Hernandez I am sure he will help a lot. I just want you all to know that I know that as we follow Jesus Christ in all that we do we can truly become true disciples of Him and become a light to others. We must strive to do as He did and love the way He loves. I know that as we strive to bless the lives of others our lives will be blessed and we will become closer to our Savior and our Father in Heaven as well as others that surround us. I know that as we strive to obey Him and bring others unto Him we can become truly happy and find true joy in the journey here in this life. I know that there is no greater path than the path of true discipleship and as we seek Him, we will find ourselves. I love all of you and hope you have a great week. Take care. Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

I hope you all enjoyed General Conference as much as I did!

Hello Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful week this week. I really did. I enjoyed the weekend probably more than any other moment or part of the week. I absolutely LOVED General Conference this weekend. It was so full of inspiration and wonderful direction from the Prophet, Apostles and other General Authorities. I was so full of light and the Spirit as I listened and I loved hearing and listening to their inspired counsels. I cannot say that any one talk was my single favorite because they all seemed to have a great impact on me. I saw many themes and I loved what I felt and heard there. On Saturday I felt the theme of missionary work and the work of home teaching and the role we have in strengthening others. I also felt one of the biggest themes in the whole conference was the theme of coming closer to Christ and getting to know Him personally and on an individual basis. We must grow to know Him through fervent prayer and continued service in all that we do. I feel that it was a powerful message to us that as we strive to repent and become more like Him we can be better sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father and we can comprehend better each day the power in the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ. I loved every minute of the conference and especially hearing the messages from our beloved Prophet Thomas S. Monson, both in the Priesthood Session and in the Sunday Morning Session speak of the Plan of Salvation and the Word of Wisdom. This week went well for us and we were able to find a new investigator named Joshua. He is a referral from a young sister in the Primary of the ward. She is ten years old named Alison. He is thirteen, but they are good friends and one day she just decided to invite him to church and he showed up to their house on Sunday morning three weeks ago and attended church with them. He has come two weeks in a row, but we were unable to visit him because of fallen through appoinments until this last week. He has a great desire to learn of Jesus Christ and come unto Him and attend church. I am amazed by Him. He accepted a baptismal date, but because he didn't attend church this week we are going to have to change it, but I am sure he will be baptized soon. He is an awesome kid. I just want to share with you my testimony of a living prophet of God. I know that our Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, is God's Prophet here upon the Earth today and that he speaks God's word. I know that he holds the authority and keys of the Priesthood to guide and direct the Lord's church in this time and to guide us through the darkness of wicked times and perilous moments. If we will listen to a prophet's voice and give heed to his counsel we will not be lost but be guided safely through strife and pain. I know that God loves us and for this He has called prophets and apostles to guide us and direct us in Latter-Days. We must listen to and rely on their guide to be safe and to avoid danger and temptations grasp. I am sure that if we follow them we will be greatly blessed in these difficult times. I love all of you and I hope you have a great week! Take great care and know that I love all of you! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

I've learned that God's Plans for Us are Perfect even when things are hard!

Hey Everyone, Well this week was a pretty good week. We were able to teach some good lessons and have a few opportunities to learn and find ways to improve. We are still in need of new investigators and this week we talked to a lot of people in the street and we knocked on a lot of doors and we learned as many others about the hardships of missionary work as many others before us have as we didn´t find any new people to teach just yet. Hopefully of the contacts we made we will be able to find some people in the coming days to teach. We were able to learn an important lesson about not letting sad circumstances get us down and let them make us sad or give up. On Tuesday we walked all over the area and all of our plans fell through within the first hour and a half of working in our area. The family that had agreed to feed us that day weren´t home and we didn't have anything to eat, and had little money to buy food with us. We bought a torta and thankfully we felt full. But later on in the day as the hours passed and our plans kept on falling through it became harder to stay excited and positive. I was trying to remain positive and optimistic as we looked for people to visit and things to do or meaningful activities, but it was difficult. Together Elder Ramon and I became discouraged and we sat down to think about what we needed to do. I thought we need to say a prayer. And so I did. I thought of many names and so we went and looked for those people. None of them received us. The thought came to my mind, what then should we do, and why did those names come to my mind? The lesson I think to be learned from all of this and from all of our daily difficulties and trials and all of the trials of our lifes--from all unanswered questions and all unsureties of life-- is diligence and patience. I think the Lord in this moment was trying us to see if we would continue trying, continue pressing forward with faith looking for those He had waiting for us. It required a constant effort and patience in the downturns and the disappointment. It required a firm belief that if we continued trying something good was waiting for us around the next turn or down the next street or behind the next door, and if not that the next time would be different. Life always has its downfalls and its challenges, but we have to look for its uplifting moments and blessings. Eventually something good came of the efforts and we ended up having two uplifting and worthwhile lessons. One of which made us lose another appointment which we wanted to attend. A day later we realized it was a blessing that we did not arrive as there was a family problem that took place during the time in which we would have been present in that home. As I have been here on my mission I have learned many lessons and one of the greatest to me, and one He has continued and continues to teach me is that His plans are perfect. I love this scripture from Mosiah, ``Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.`` (Mosiah 4:9) I know that His plan is perfect. I know that if we trust in Him and His perfect timing all will go the way He has planned for us. If we follow Him and His commandments we can have a firm hope and belief that all will be well and all will be for our best good. Of that I am sure and of that I know. I am a witness of His great love and His merciful direction in my own life. I know at times we may feel like things aren`t going right or that everything is wrong, but according to Him and His plan all is going just fine. Trust in Him and His timing and all will be well. Of that I am sure. I hope we can all work to trust more in God and His plans that are perfect for each of us. I know we can and that as we strive to do so we will be guided and directed by Him and His Spirit. I love all of you and I hope you have a great week! Take care! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

I have learned a lot as a Zone Leader and I have a great companion who helps me!

Hello Everyone, I hope you all have had a good week this week. I was able to have a pretty good week this week. Although it is somewhat of a challenge getting everything done that we have to get done done I feel like finally we have been able to focus a bit more on our area. Finally we don't have so many meetings to worry about and we can focus just a bit more on the people we are teaching, at least for one more week. I think that is one of the challenges of being a leader is trying to learn to balance and juggle everything that we have to do. It can be quite difficult at times. This week we were able to teach a few investigators, but one of our biggest challenges that we now have is that there really aren't many investigators to teach in our area that are progressing. We need to find more still. We have been knocking a few doors here and there and trying to contact people in the street and work with members to find more, but we are still struggling to find. I think it is one of the greatest challenges I have faced in my whole mission. The only two investigators that we have that are kind of progressing didn't go to church and one of them we haven't been able to see so we are not sure what exactly happened with her, Dayana. Hopefully it was just something small and we can still help her to progress towards being baptized. Our other investigator that seems to be able to progress is named Ramona. She has been investigating the church for four years and has finally made the decision that she wants to be baptized, but is facing many challenges and trials which is costing her a lot of work to keep up her excitement and efforts to continue progressing in the Gospel. I think we had a good lesson with her yesterday teaching her that the opposition in all things only makes us stronger and helps us to learn and grow. Hopefully she will be able to see that these trials are to help her and only a test of her faith. We were also able to have exchanges with the elders in Industrial. I went to Industrial with Elder Tzub and it was a good opportunity for me to see some of the people that I came to love there. We were able to visit Hna. Araceli our investigator from Juanacatlan and her family and we invited them to be baptized and all of the kids asked me if I would baptize them. Haha. I told them that maybe I could if their Mom would give them permission and if they prepared themselves well. I hope that they can really prepare well for their baptism. I was excited to get to see them again and they seemed pretty excited to see me. That was a fun and happy experience this week. Overall I have learned a lot as a Zone Leader. I love having a companion to support me in the responsibilities we have. It is so much easier to face all of the challenges we have to face as we do so together. As a District Leader I felt many times very alone without the help I so much desired or needed. With a companion to help distribute the load it makes the weight of leadership much easier to take and to support. I am so thankful for a loving and supporting companion like Elder Ramon that understands his role and responsibility as a Zone Leader and as a missionary of the Lord and has taught me my responsibilities and roles as a leader and has given me a good example to follow. Really it makes my job much easier as we have someone good to lead and to follow. I have a testimony of the power of two and the power of working together. As a missionary I have learned that life is never meant to be lived alone. We have companions for a reason. They are here to love and support and teach and help and guide us. I am thankful for the lesson. I have learned through many experiences the importance of companionship. The Lord didn't send us here to suffer, but he especially didn't send us here to suffer alone. He has given us a great system of support, even as missionaries. We just have to learn to support ourselves in them. As we look for the help and support of others we can find great relief and succor. I know that the Lord loves us. I truly do, I believe it and I know it with my whole heart, I have felt His love and I have received His love in so many ways through so many others. He many times sends us special people to touch our lives and lift us up when we are down. I have a testimony that the Lord has touched my life through others and I only hope that I have been able to help the Lord to touch the life of others through me. I love all of you and I hope you all have a wonderful week! Take care. I love you all! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

We had a super busy week full of meetings full of many inspired messages.

Hey everyone, This week was a super crazy busy week for us. We had a lot of meetings. On Wednesday we had Leadership Council, then on Thursday we got together with the District Leaders to plan our Zone Meeting, then on Friday we had our Zone Meeting in the morning with another meeting in the afternoon with all of the Zone Leaders and Sister Training Leaders from the Guadalajara Zones in our mission to plan our Zone Conference (that will be combined between the three Guadalajara zones) for Tuesday. It was quite the occupied and busy week but full of many inspired messages and moments and I was very satisfied with the instructions we were able to give to the missionaries! We only have one investigator who is progressing right now who is named, Dayana. She is a referral from a less active member. She attended church for the first time yesterday and a baptism for the sister missionaries in our ward on Saturday. She is seventeen years old and is the girlfriend of the member who gave us the referral. She is quite interested in our message and accepted a baptismal date on the 16th of October. Hopefully she will be able to continue to learn of the Gospel and come to have a testimony of the truthfulness of our message as she listens to our messages and strives to live the commitments we leave for her. The only thing that seems like may become a challenge is that her parents do not seem to be very happy with the idea of her listening to our message and going to church, so we are going to look for a way to speak with them and help them to understand that it is something that will allow her to come closer to God and be a better person. Truly I have a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ not just because I have prayed and asked God of its truthfulness, although I have done so and He has answered my prayers, but also moreso because of the changes the Gospel has wrought in me and my life. As we live the Gospel in its fullness and strive to heed the counsels of our Father in Heaven given to us through the Prophets we can change our lives and the lives of many others. The Gospel has made me a better person and made me the person I am today. I know I am not perfect but I also know that without the knowledge that I have of our Savior Jesus Christ I would be a lot further from the happiness I have experienced in my life thanks to my obedience to the commandments of the Lord. I know that as we strive to follow Him we can change our lives and become better and we should all try to do so day by day. I love each of you! Take care and have a great week! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

We had an awesome week and we had a baptism!

Hey Everyone, This week was a super awesome week for us. Wow there were so many things that happened that I can't even describe! Wow it was so cool. We had a baptism that was quite a trial. His name is Ricardo and he has been listening to the missionaries for quite some time. His baptism was scheduled for Saturday and he didn't pass his regular interview on Saturday because he in the past had had problems related with drugs and other things, but he had a special interview with one of President Egginton's Counselors on Friday and passed it so that night we went to have his father sign the baptism record so he could be baptized and he didn't want to. We were scared that he wasn't going to give his permission and we planned to visit him on Saturday morning to talk to his dad about it. On Saturday we talked to his dad and he said that if that is what he really wanted to do he was going to support him and then he turned to Ricardo and asked him if he didn't want to wait. In that moment Ricardo turned to us and told us he wanted to wait. It was kind of sad but we told him that was alright and we headed to visit some other people. We hadn't walked more than four blocks when he ran after us and told us that he had changed his mind and wanted to be baptized that day. The service was amazing and super spiritual and I felt incredibly blessed to have been a part of it even though I have only known him for a short time! I could see that the Lord truly does work in miraculous ways in peoples' lives. Really I know that the Lord has a plan for all of us and that He still works Miracles for us in our lives! I hope you all know that I know that He lives and that His Gospel is perfect. I know that as we choose to follow Him and not wait we can be incredibly blessed in all we do in every way! I love Him and I am thankful for His Gospel and Church on the Earth! I love all of you and I hope you have a great week take care! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

I got transferred to the same Zone and became a Zone Leader!

Hey Everyone, How are you all doing? I hope you are all doing well. Well I am doing well. This last week was a pretty good week. This weekend was pretty crazy and today has been a stressful day with Transfers but I am in my new area safe and sound. I was transferred super far away from my last area SO FAR AWAY that I am in the same zone, haha. I am now a Zone Leader, and I will end my mission here I am almost one hundred percent certain because my companion ends this transfer and I end the transfer following him. Honestly I am excited about the transfer and I am happy about it. I know it will be a great learning experience and it was probably the easiest transfer of my mission just knowing that I am close to all of those I grew to love in Industrial, including my companion Elder Felix. My new companion is Elder Ramon. He is also from Villahermosa (vi-ya-err-mo-sa), Tabasco, like Elder Felix. He is a super cool kid. I have known him for quite a long time throughout the mission and I am excited to have him as my companion to teach me and help me to be a Zone Leader. He has only one transfer as a Zone Leader so I am sure we both feel new at this and will learn a lot together but I know that it will be a great experience for the both of us. He will be a great teacher for me I am sure! I honestly feel prepared to be a Zone Leader and I am excited to fill the position that President Egginton and more importantly the Lord has entrusted me with. I know that I will have to love the missionaries and get to know the missionaries even more and be a greater example to and for them in everything I do. I am excited and anxiously wait to learn all that He has prepared for me in this assignment. Other than that all of the people that we have been teaching and preparing in Industrial continue to learn and progress towards their commitments in the Gospel. I am very excited that I am close to be able to hopefully see their progress still and hear how they are doing. It made it easier to say not goodbye, but, I will see you soon to those I love so much there. Really I learned a lot in such a short time there in that ward. On Saturday I had an awesome opportunity with other Stake, Ward, and Missionary Leaders to attend a special leadership training in Guadalajara with Elder Chavez of the Fourth Quorum of the Seventy in a Training on Missionary Work focused on working with Members and Missionaries together. That has been a great focus in our mission and is a great need here in Guadalajara. It was an inspired meeting inviting and impulsing all Members and also us Missionaries to work in greater unity together to achieve the Lords greater purposes. It scared me because I raised my hand to make a comment towards the end and the Seventy invited me to the pulpit to share my testimony of working in unity and I want to share with all of you that same testimony but a little shorter here. I know that if we work in Unity members and missionaries to acheive the Lords great and eternal purposes all is possible with His help. We as missionaries are here to help all members to bring to pass missionary work in your wards and stakes and we cannot, members nor missionaries, do it alone. We all require the help of others, and we all, both missionaries and members, need the eternal and infinate help of the Savior and of our Heavenly Father in preaching to others and inviting others to come to a knowledge of the truthfulness of the everlasting Gospel. This is the truth and there is no other truth upon this Earth. Many are prepared, but if we do not search for them, who will? We must do it. Please do it. I know you can. I know we can do it together. And I know if we strive to do it together the Lord will strengthen us and double our efforts. Of this I testify. In His Holy Name, The Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. I love each and every one of you and I hope you all search the opportunities each day to share! I hope you take care of yourselves and your brothers and sisters! I hope your week is fruitful and wonderful! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie