We has a great week of fun teaching and new experiences with my new companion Elder Munoa! 11-23-15

Hey Everyone, I hope that you all had a good week. We had a great week full of fun teaching and new experiences with my new companion Elder Muñoa. We had some pretty great lessons and some fun times, along with a challenge or two here or there (what is to be expected?). I am kind of sad because this last Friday we were supposed to have our Zone Conference and Elder Benjamin D. Hoyos (the Mexico Area President) and his wife were going to be there as they were going to come tour our mission with President and Sister Egginton, but they didn't end up coming because Sister Egginton got really sick. At this point we do not know if they will end up coming or not. I still hope so, but I guess we will see. Well this week was a pretty relaxed week in comparison to the past few weeks we have had! It was nice to finally just focus on teaching and working and training my companion. Elder Muñoa is doing really well. It amazes me how quickly he is learning and how much he has to contribute to all of our lessons. This week we focused our study as a companionship on learning and practicing lesson one which is about the Restoration of the Gospel through Joseph Smith. We practiced a lot in our studies and he learned a lot about how he can become a better teacher. I am excited to see how well he learns the other lessons. Our investigators are doing pretty well. Francisco we didn't get a chance to visit with this last week because he was working a lot and his brother broke his leg and he had to take him to the hospital in Guadalajara. He didn't come to church either which was a bummer, but we are going to continue to work with him on that! Guadalupe is doing good. She is a young mother and has a two year old named Juan. When we are teaching he gets pretty restless which makes it a trial sometimes, but she still has learned a lot. We usually teach her along with her friend who is inactive so we are trying to strengthen and help them both at the same time! Enrique our other investigator is doing pretty good. We found him along with his family, but his family hasn't listened since the first time, just him and his mom (who has alzheimer's according to him, but she seems pretty with it to me!) He is pretty full of odd ideas and hard to convince. It has made me have to listen well and discern more what we need to say. I have been pretty direct with him while teaching, but I think it has been a good way to help him learn. We taught a lot on baptism and I hope that he will decide to be baptized. He doesn't say 'no' but he just wants to be sure. He still hasn't come to church and I know it will help him to know! Other than that we have been trying to teach a lot of less active members and help them. We had a cool experience. One family that I have only seen in the church one time came yesterday to church after a great lesson with them. We taught about keeping the sabbath day holy and we had a pretty in-depth discussion. They don't come because of a problem between the dad and his ex-wife who lives here still. She is hostile towards him and makes it very uncomfortable for them. Well we were talking to them about how maybe even if it is uncomfortable that they should come because of the blessings and that God blesses us when we make sacrifices. Even though the dad himself didn't come, his wife and two daughters did come to Sacrament Meeting. I could tell she was uncomfortable but I tried to tell her how happy I was to see her there! It really was a miracle that she came because the situation really is very hard. Also on Saturday morning I had a huge surprise. As Elder Muñoa and I were walking from a visit to go to lunch and we were just talking when all of the sudden a man crossed the street in front of us. It was one of my old investigators from my last area in Guadalajara! Here in Tizapan. It was Damian Vazquez, I don't know if you remember about him or not but I told you a lot about him and his family. He is a taxi driver and was here to take someone to Guadalajara. It was great to see and talk to him and his son Jonathan. It is kind of crazy how small the world really is! We took pictures and talked for a minute, it was great! Then also that same day in the afternoon we went to go teach Guadalupe and her friend (Maria) who is the less active sister. When we got there to teach Maria brought out a jar to show us. Inside she had two scorpions! She had told us another time that she has a lot in her house and finds them all of the time and we told her we wanted one if she found one so that we could dry it and keep it as a souvenir. She gave them to me. One is dead and the other one is still alive. It hasn't been eating anything we give it though so I am sure it will die in the next couple of days. It was kind of fun! Anyway overall everything is going pretty well. We are enjoying our time together and doing everything we can to further the work! I want to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving even though I will not be there to share it with you! I just want to tell you all what I am thankful for! First of all I am so thankful for a Loving Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ our Savior and Redeemer! They are so kind and loving to me and I cannot express my fulness of gratitude to them! I am also incredibly thankful for my family, especially my parents and siblings. They are my biggest love and support. I know that they are such a huge blessing from God. I am thankful for my knowledge of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for the opportunity I have to share it as a missionary! I am thankful for Joseph Smith and that he was called as a Prophet of God to restore His true church here on the earth! I am thankful for a living Prophet, Thomas S. Monson, and for living, modern-day apostles! I am so thankful for my country and the freedoms I enjoy as an american and also that I have this wonderful opportunity to live and serve here in Mexico for two years and to know and learn the culture, language, and get to know the people! I have been so blessed and I owe it all to a Loving Father in Heaven and Savior Jesus Christ. I know they live and that they provide for us, love us, and are there for us in what ever may be our needs! I love all of you and am thankful for you! Take care! Happy Thanksgiving! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie