We found three new investigators!

Hey Everyone, I hope that you all had an enjoyable week this week! Our week went better than the week before and we had a good time teaching and finding. We found three new investigators, which was a huge blessing for us because we have been searching for a long time now. Other than that we had exchanges one day and the rest of the time we had a normal week. On Tuesday following our District Meeting in Ajijic we came back to our area and our District Leader, Elder Carey, and his companion, Elder Ruiz, had exchanges with us. We were together from Tuesday afternoon until Thursday morning. It was kind of interesting because we split up in two companionships to go teaching, but most of the people we tried to visit weren't home. It was good being able to go do that though because it reminded me of how thankful I am for a good companion. Our investigators seem to be doing pretty well. We got to visit with Aaron twice this last week. We taught him about the Plan of Salvation. It was probably one of the best lessons we have had this month. He understood everything really well. We had the lesson in a sister's house closeby and at the end of the lesson she shared a great testimony that brought the Spirit very strongly. He told us that he believes that what we teach is true and that he feels good when he prays. Hopefully we can help him now to attend church. He asked for permission at work, but he had to cover another employee's shift so he couldn't come yesterday. He does want to come though. Our other three new investigators seem to be interested in the message and willing to learn. One is the daughter-in-law of Carmen Ramirez and we taught her when we went to visit the Ramirez family. We read in the Book of Mormon with them and she had a lot of really good comments and told us she is interested in learning more. We didn't get to visit her after that lesson though because when we went to visit them they weren't home. The other two new investigators are a lady named Maria Ortiz and her son Daniel. She is a contact we made back in September, but we could never have a lesson with her because of silly things. She went to the U.S. for a couple of months (where she had her baby) and then she just got back. We finally had a lesson with her and she had many wonderful comments and questions that totally go with the Gospel and the lessons we teach. Her husband wanted to be there to listen, but he didn't make it to our appointment because of work. I think it is a family with wonderful potential to learn and grow. They didn't come to church yesterday, but I think that was for a lack of time to really invite them and tell them about it. Hopefully we can go visit them and invite them better this week! Really the work is moving forward. Sometimes I think I just want it to move faster because I am impatient. I am having to learn how to rely on the Lord and wait for Him to send us those who He has been preparing. I know that this work is His work. I know that the family is at the center of His perfect plan for us. I know that if we live His commandments with all of our might we will be blessed with happiness and joy that is enduring. I know that it is the only true way to find peace and happiness here in this crazy ever-changing world. If we but trust in Him we will be guided and directed to the things that He knows are best for us. Trusting in Him is hard sometimes, but I have learned that it is essential for our well-being and personal happiness. I know He lives. I know He loves us. I know that He is our guide. I know His plan is perfect. I love each and every single one of you and I hope you all know how thankful I am for you! I hope you have a great week! Take care! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie1

It was a nice calm week without as much traveling.

Hey Everyone, I hope that this last week went well for all of you! Our week went pretty well. It was quite a calm week in comparison to some of our weeks lately. On Tuesday it was nice because we had our District Meeting here in Tizapan for the first time, so that meant we didn't have to travel which was nice! On Friday we had interviews with President Egginton in Ajijic. That went well and he had some great things to say to me and my companion which made me happy! Other than that we had a few lessons and we walked a lot which is about the same as any other week! We have kind of been struggling with investigators. This last week we decided to drop Enrique because he wasn't progressing and we are also trying to figure out how to tell Jorge that we are dropping him as well because he refuses to read the Book of Mormon. He has been coming to church every week, thankfully this week he wasn't drunk when he got there, but then he just tried to argue with us the whole time we were teaching Gospel Principles. Hopefully we can leave him behind without a huge crazy ordeal. We have been working with two young men as investigators. One is named Aaron, and he seems to be interested in learning more of the gospel. He accepted a baptismal invitation but he has challenges with attending church because of his job. His schedule changes every week so we don't know what will happen with that. The other is named Jose and is the nephew of an older man who is a member of the branch. He gave us the referral and we delivered him a Book of Mormon. So far we haven't been able to visit with him again because he works on a farm and is pretty busy. Hopefully we can help those two become progressing investigators. Other than that we are still searching for more people to teach. It is kind of challenging here because the town is super catholic, but we are still searching. I know that even though sometimes we are faced with challenges in this work that it is okay because the Lord leads and guides. I am amazed at the amount of help we have received from the Lord in our time here. I know that the Spirit guides us to share with those who are prepared and then gives to us the very words we should speak. I know that the Spirit is the greatest tool we have and I am so thankful for his guidance and direction day by day. I know that God loves each one of His children and He is preparing the way that they may all come to a knowledge of this Gospel. I love each and every one of you and I hope that you all have a great week this week! Take care! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

I hope you all has a wonderful New Years celebration!

Hey Everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful New Year! We had a good one, haha, we were asleep! To me that was the best thing we could have done! I love sleeping as a missionary because I am always tired! I guess that is a good indicator of how hard we are working all of the time! I hope that you all had a great time these last few weeks with Christmas and New Year's and that you were able to enjoy it with friends and family! To me I feel as if I have been so blessed these last few weeks with feelings of joy and happiness, love and friendship! Really being a missionary is a great blessing! This last week was quite busy, but it was a fun week and we enjoyed it! We went to Guadalajara two times, once on Monday and the other on Wednesday, Ajijic, and Sahuayo. We traveled four out of seven days, so it was kind of crazy! I was able to visit with the neurologist on Wednesday and he has me taking a higher dose of medicine. I hope we can see a decrease in pain and intensity with them! Well our work is going slowly here, like it always seems to be, but we are working to find more investigators and decide what to do with the ones we have been visiting in the last few months. Really no one of them is progressing and we have decided to drop a few of them. Jorge who is the only one who has been coming to church told us last week that he won't read the Book of Mormon, so we are not going to teach him anymore. The challenge with him though is that the last two weeks he has come to church drunk and we don't know what to do with him! Hopefully when we tell him that we are no longer going to teach him he decides not to come to church (at least not drunk!). We have been trying to find where Guadalupe went and we finally found out that she is living with her mother. We found the house the other day, but when we went looking for her only her brother was home and he told us that her and her mom went to Guadalajara because her baby (she is pregnant) had the chords wrapped around it's neck. We have been praying for her well being and that all goes well with her! I hope that we can resume teaching her as soon as she is home and ready to receive visits once again! Other than them we are trying to focus on trying to find new investigators! It is super hard to find people here because many don't ever give us their address when we talk with them! Yesterday though a nonmember and her son came to church with a less active sister and we have never seen them before, so hopefully we can work with them! Everything here other than all of that seems to be going normal and well. My companion Elder Muñoa is doing well and learning quickly as ever! I am grateful to have him because I learn something new from him everyday! I am super thankful that I have been given this opportunity to work with him and teach him what I know! Really it has been a blessing to work with him! I just want you to all know that I am thankful to be here serving the Lord on my mission! I am grateful that I have the opportunity to spend the greater part of this year in His continued service! I know that He is the Master and that I am just the instrument in His hands. He leads and guides this magnificent work! I know that He is at the head of His church and that through revelation He guides us by a living prophet who is Thomas S. Monson. I am thankful that He restored His church here on the earth through Joseph Smith and that by him we were provided with the Book of Mormon. I know that it is true! I am thankful to have this Gospel in my life; it has truly changed me and I am forever grateful to Him. I love Him and I want to serve Him with all of my heart, might, mind, and strength. I am grateful for all of you and I hope that all is well with each one of you! I hope you have a wonderful week and a Happy New Year! Take care! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie

My Christmas was wonderful and I hope you were able to enjoy time with family and friends!

Hey Everyone, I hope that all of you had a wonderful week last week. I hope you were all able to enjoy Christmas and to enjoy time with family and friends and to enjoy a fun holiday break! I hope all of you were able to feel of the Christmas Spirit and to also take a minute to remember our Savior Jesus Christ on that special day! My Christmas was wonderful and I am so thankful that I was able to feel of the Spirit that day and share the happiness and joy that I felt with others! Truly Christmas is my favorite holiday because it is just so much more special than the rest. I feel everyone has a desire to do good and to express more freely their love to others! We had the opportunity to make cookies on Christmas Day and go and give them to investigators as well as members! It was a special opportunity to show our love and appreciation for all of them! I love the feeling I have when I give freely and lovingly to others! Honestly for me it is so much better than receiving! I feel it is just a small way to give back to My Savior Jesus Christ all that He has given to me! I had a wonderful time getting to Skype with my family. Can I just say that I have been so blessed with a wonderful loving and supportive family! I know that we have all been blessed in so many ways and when I truly think about all of my blessings I am awed by the love and kindness that God and His Son Jesus Christ have for me and for all of us! I know that it is thanks to them that we have all that we do! I hope that in this new year that we may all take a little more time showing our gratitude to them both in prayer and in action by serving those that surround us. Yesterday we spoke in Church and my companion spoke about the many ways we can serve our fellow men and in turn serve God and Jesus Christ by the same actions. 17 And behold, I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God. (Mosiah 2:17) I shared about how we may become more Christlike as we work to develop His divine attributes. I know that serving as a missionary has helped me to become more like Him and I hope to continually improve and become like him day by day! I hope you will all join me in becoming more charitable, loving, serving, humble, patient, diligent, faithful, hopeful, meek, kind, obedient, and smart through your daily efforts! I know that it will become a great blessing in our lives and improve our year! I hope that as we all resolve to do a little better that we can diligently work everyday of the new year to achieve the goals we set that we might reach and fulfill them! I am doing well and we are having fun and working to help those we are teaching. At the moment we do not have any progressing investigators. We are at the stage where we are trying to do one last battle to help them progress before leaving them behind. We are also looking for more investigators and trying to continually fortify the branch and the members here! I am truly enjoying the mission and cannot wait to see what comes in the new year. Please continue praying for our success and that we may find those who are searching for the Gospel in their lives! I am so thankful to be a missionary in this time when the world so needs the message of peace and joy that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is. I am thankful to be His representative and servant working to become more like Him and helping others become closer to Him. I know without a doubt that this is the best thing I can be doing at this time. I know that Christ is directing this work and that He helps us to change the lives of those around us! I am so thankful for the opportunity to spend the greater part of this new year to serving Him and His children. I love each and every one of you! I wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year! Love, Elder Mitchell J Condie