Thanksgiving Feast with Mexican Coke

The new shirt Douglas bought for his upcoming birthday.

Alright well this week is going to be a little lame as far as the email goes! 

Monday was changes day and so I went to the MTC to pick up some things that I needed from there!  That was just a day spent hanging out with the News and training them all day!  So basically on a transfer week I do about the same things the whole time!  I Train them on some things and then I just translate the whole time while they are listening because we have realized if we don't translate the americans don't really understand anything!  So that is about how monday is spent every transfer!

Tuesday was changes day!  We wake up the news and get them ready for the day that they are going to have! Usually at this point we go to the neza stake center so that way we can get everything ready by the time that the missionaries get there.  This change we had to go and get a missionary that was sick because he was going home and so we started to go get his stuff and pack up for him and take that to presidents house so that way the kid could go home.

Wednesday we had spent the night at presidents house and when we woke up they were already gone and left us the note that was in the pictures of be ready at 10. 

It is always a good time at presidents house!  You never know what will happen when you are there! (At some point Douglas must have gone to the airport this day because Sister Stutznegger put these pics up on Facebook and said "This is what happens when I leave the camera with a few Elders at the airport.)

I just love this picture.  No wonder Douglas always looks like he is having fun!

So we went to the offices after that and then just got a little bit of work done and got ready to head back to Presidents house to spend the night for our thanksgiving party that we were going to have.  Went to the store and just got some stuff done and ready for the morning!  

Thursday we woke up and started cooking so that everything would be ready.  Finished with our assignments you could say and then we started to play some football.  Got some football played and then we went and ate a lot!  Which was nice a nice little thanksgiving feast with Mexican coke I can't think of really anything much better than that combo

Friday it was back to normal missionary work and we had a good productive day!  We had good lessons and met with our ward mission leader and just got some stuff done and figured out!

Saturday we went and picked up houses again so we hung out with Pres and Mom all day!  It was a blast but took forever!  So that was the whole day!  We got some good pictures in though!!!  We found some sweet aprons!  

Funny story of the week comes from this day, we had some beds on the roof of the van and so we pull up to the offices and we open up the garage and we pull the car in and we hear something slam against the machine that closes the garage and we look up and it was the beds that we had up there! So we tried to back out and we couldn't so we decided that I needed to get on the roof of the car and push the thing mattress and bedframe out of the bottom!  

So we are working and working and we finally get it off and I am about to get down when I realize that my butt has dented the car! So Olson is just dying of laughter I am like sad because of my big butt and pres just out of nowhere yells and hits the car and gets the dent out it all ended really cool that is for sure!!  

Have a great week!  I love you guys!

Love,

Elder Orchard

I love my new suit!  Thanks again!!  I put up a picture but you can't see it that well it is just a grey and it is good! Also stretch material!!

(Douglas didn't mentioned this but he did send pictures of putting up the tree.  I am guessing this is the office tree.  He didn't have one last year so I am glad his Christmas will be a little more festive:))

Three Little Old Ladies Came to Our Activity

Alright well this week was really nothing all that great!!  On Tuesday we went to have a normal day of work and we had some success and that was really nice! WE went and saw the bishop and he went with us to see the Family Alva and so that was awesome!! He did sooo good and we were so glad that he had come!! It was awesome!!

Wednesday was our meeting in Tecamachalco and so that was cool too! It was super super nice!! They had an Ipad just to go change the projector and change the Air conditioner! They had an air conditioner it was soooo cool I was excited to be there for a little bit! After that it was just come get some office stuff done because it took forever to get going and get everything done!!

Thursday I went on divisions with my district leader in his area and so I knew like nobody but then apart from that we just had a decent day getting work done!  Really this week was just kind of boring!

Friday Everyone was home and we worked hard! Julio opened his panaderia and so things are good there he is so happy and he gives us tons of pan and he is just killing it there with what he does!!  He made over a thousand pesos when we were there and his pan is soo good so we are very stoked about that!

Saturday we had a ward activity that was pretty crappy honestly hahaha We got there and we didn't have keys to the church because apparently they changed all the locks.  So we are looking for like two hours for keys and finally we get some!  Lucky we had gotten there early enough that we could still get things set up!  Then it turns out youtube won't work to stream the video (Meet The Mormons) so it was frustrating but whatever we had downloaded it onto a usb because we knew that might not work! So we plug the USB in and it won't read on the laptop we are using!  That is fine we finally get it working and guess what happens,  There is no sound.  Like zero.  So we get all that figured out and by the time it was all said and done we had three little old ladies there at our activity that started late and never even stayed to see the whole thing they left after five minutes!  And so what else did we do?  We went and started to clean the font for a baptism that was going to happen the next day and we ended up getting there a little late but apart from that it was a good decent day!  

This week was kind of crazy and the news are here and so it is bad sorry next week will be better!! Have a good week! I love you!

Elder Orchard            

Picking up new missionaries at the CCM today.

We Really Got Pushed This Week and Had a Lot of Trials

Alright so this week we had a pretty alright week!  We worked really hard with our investigators and it was really kind of frustrating!  We went and saw the Family Alva three times and Julio three times and they didn't go to church!  It was really hard on us because we felt like we had done all sorts of things and had amazing lessons and they still didn't understand and go to church! So right now we are at a hard point where we really don't know what to do!  We are just going to go forward and pray and hope we can help them understand the importance of things!  We did tons of divisions and took tons of members with us and so we are just going to hope for the best!  

So yeah we really got pushed this week and had a lot of trials but I know that we are going to be able to make our way out of them and just get stuff done this week!!  We were able to find a few new promising news!  We were working hard with less actives and we were able to find a less active family that everyone said would never let us in and so I guess that maybe now might be the time for them to come back to church!  We at least hope so! 

On Tuesday we went on divisions in the night and had some good lessons with people that we went with!  That is one thing we have really tried to get better at is our teaching!  We have been studying Preach My Gospel chapter ten everyday as a companionship and we are doing a lot a lot better with that!  We have really been better!  We also went and saw an eternal investigator that we hope to baptize here soon!  We are going to work really hard and see how it goes! 

Funny stories well nothing really that funny happened this week! We went and taught a lesson to a old mission president and we were just like crap and we were super nervous and he said we did good so that is always good! 

Spiritual story we went to the temple on Thursday and that was awesome!  It was so pretty and it was so nice to be in a session again! It took almost three hours to finish though because we had like 20 missionaries from the mtc doing the session and them getting through the session took a little while!  Haha 

Julio is doing good!  He is opening his own pan (bread) store and they decided to get married on the 5th of December so I am going to try and get them all baptized on my birthday!  I am excited. Hopefully I can baptize him! That would be awesome! 

This week we are going to watch Meet the Mormons with our ward!  Pres was going to come but his secretary over booked him! Freaking Olson (Elder Orchard's companion)!  But we are excited hopefully we can get some cool people to come to the activity!  I am sorry this letter was kind of crappy just not all that exciting of a week! This next week there will be more to report because we are going to the church office buildings!  Have a good week! I love you!!  

The Jesus Card We Left Had a Big Impact

Alright well this week was honestly just full of awesome stories and experiences!  Most of them Spiritual and really cool!!  So we were in a trio until Thursday but the missionary has back problems so we kind of were really limited on what we could do! 

Tuesday we went to Polanco in the morning because we had to take this Elder to get his green card renewed so then we went to the area.

Killing time at a museum in Palanco.  Douglas mentioned in a previous email that when they go to Polanco they have to drop visas off and then return to pick them up a few hours later.  It's a 90 minute metro ride each way so they stay in town rather than travel back and forth.  This is not the first time he has sent home pictures of posing with the art!

We went to the food and couldn't really do much after that because he was in a lot of pain.  So we said okay we are just going to pass by with two people then we will go home.  So we went to see Julio and he wasn't there so we just left a little note on his door on the back of a Jesus card.  Then we went with family Alva for a little bit and that was a good productive day.  

Wednesday we had to go back to Polanco at the end of the day and so we didn't do any visits until 7 when we went with Julio.  Well turns out the Jesus card we left had a big impact.  He told us that he was getting home and had decided that he wanted to kill himself and so he was kind of planning it all out since he was just having tons of problems with his work, he lost his job again, his wife, almost got divorced and just everything.  Well he gets home and sees the Jesus card and he said he just started crying and he felt the love Christ has for him and also how much we care for him.  It was really really cool and he is progressing like a champ right now!  He decided to open his own panaderia (bread place) and so he is excited so he can be closed on Sunday and all that stuff!  All in all it went well!

Thursday we sent off Parkinson (the Elder with back problems) so everything was supposed to be normal right?!  Wrong haha we went to Migracion again with lots of missionaries and then got pizza in the offices and we watched another sick missionary for a little while and then we did weekly planning to hurry and finish in a good way so that was our Thursday!

Friday This was probably our coolest day!  We went to the food and everything went pretty normal for the most part we had fun and we worked pretty hard!  We went with a new less active that we are working on activating!  It is going really well!  Well he is awesome!  He just got into a job that was really hard on him and he wasn't able to keep going to church!  He decided that he wanted to come back and since then he has been awesome!!  He got back from his mission like three years ago! He was a zone leader for over a year and so we decided to take him out with us!  It was an awesome idea!  He killed it and was able to kill it with Julio!  Then after all of that he took us out for ribs!  Now here comes the funny story of the week...he is a federal police man so he kind of just does what he wants.  Well we were talking about air soft guns and how I want one to shoot the cats that get in our house, well he goes I have one you can have it! Well I was super excited so I am like sweeeeet!  He is like yeah I will go grab it right now!  So he goes to his house and gets it then comes in to ribs and he puts it on the table and everyone was looking like oh crap what is happening!  I will never forget the look on those drunk girls faces.  It was so funny. 

Saturday we had a good day too.  We went and started contacting less actives to be able to find some more news through that and so we only found one family but he said yeah that is fine come on Wednesday!  So we are going to go next week but at church we told the bishop about the family that we found and he is like wow he said you guys could go in?  That is crazy!!  They like hate the church so good for you guys!  We are excited to see what we can get out of it and find lots of more people doing this new method we learned!!  

That is about it for this week!! I love you! Have a great week!!

Elder Orchard

Zone Conference with Elder Nielson

Alright well honestly this week was just a normal week here in the mission!  I feel like there really wasn't all that cool of stuff that I was like wow!  I guess first off we are working with someone else so they can get married we are getting close and I am really excited because it is another just free baptism for anyone who can get them married!  So we are hoping that can happen here really soon!  

Tuesday we worked really hard and we were able to get some good lessons in!  Elder Nielson (Executive Director of the Missionary Department) came in this day to the offices and that was really awesome too!  He is an amazing man!!  I learned so much from him on Wednesday when he was teaching us!  I guess that would be the spiritual experience!  We were in a meeting with him from 8 until 5 and it was awesome!  He taught us so much and helped us realize all sorts of things and I was so grateful to be in the meeting! One thing he said that really stood out was that lots of times us as missionaries aren't assigned to a mission, we are actually assigned to a mission president!  So he was saying we all need to think with that mentality of what can I learn from President and his wife!  It was awesome!

zone conference

photo bomb

Sister Stutznegger wrote this on her blog:

Elder Nielson and his sweet wife Marcia stayed with us for 5+ days.  He spent 2 days just visiting our missionaries and giving them instruction.  They all were on spiritual highs as he answered any question asked, and gave great guidance on how to make this mission even better.  A few of his hints that will be started ASAP:

• Less active members are a goldmine.  We are using 18% of our time with them, and they are providing 48% of our baptisms.  We need to use time more wisely.
• Leaders (Zone and Assistants) need to be the hardest working missionaries in the mission.  We never take them out of their area.  Missionaries come to “their laboratory” to see how it is done.  Divisions will be changed – we do it just opposite of this as do most missions.
•  Alma 23:13: “lay down the weapons of your rebellion.”  He taught us that we all have these weapons – the little things that keep us away from completely enjoying the blessings of the gospel.  After this teaching, several missionaries handed over electronic devices that were against mission rules.

The missionaries absorbed his sweet spirit, mild manner, and 4 hours of help.  He visited apartments to see how they are here.  He interviewed some Elders and Sisters.  He encouraged, he loved, he shook every hand, and he motivated.  It was the best Zone Conference ever!

That was basically all for this week about stuff like that!  We just worked hard! Julio didn't get married we actually have ran into some small little problems!  Instead of getting married they might be getting divorced but we will know tomorrow what the verdict is!  The family Alva we will probably drop them tomorrow as well just because they aren't really progressing! It is really sad but we will have to go here in a few months and try again!  Like in January!   It is sad!

This is short we are going to a mall right now but then I will write more after I talk with Olson about what we did and I will send a little more once we get back okay?  I love you have a good week!

Elder Orchard

(Instead of writing more when he got back he sent us Elder Olson's letter home.  Thanks for the great details, Elder Olson!)

Tuesday: Elder Nielson came to the offices today with his wife! It was super cool. We got everything all cleaned up :) They came and just kind of saw the whole house and then talked to us for a minute about our jobs and stuff! They're super great. Then Orch and I went to the temple to drop off medicine to a missionary. We got lost on the freeway in the taxi :/ It sucked hahaha. Then we ate and had our ward mission meeting! Then we did splits. Orchard went with Hno Gus to a family night and I went with Roger to a cita with Alba. It actually went really well. The only two really progressing right now are Salvador and Chino so we're going to start to focus on them. We were super clear with them and so it was good.

Wednesday: Today was sooo so good! We had our meeting with Elder Nielson. We left here like at 7:30 to get there by 8:15. He honestly killed it. (Elder Olson shared many things he learned but I will let that be personal to him and his family:))

Thursday: Today we had a service project in the afternoon, wasn't too fun :/ Haha. We did get KFC though :)

Friday: We went to eat today with a less active family. They're so cool!!! We had a great time and had a good chat with the son, Angel. He's 15. He's a good kid but super struggling right now with his testimony so we were able to talk to him about that the whole time we ate and it was really good. Then we had another meeting with Roger, the ward mission leader. It was good. We had a good chat about all our investigators, and the girls investigators. Then Sis. Gutierrez had a little breakdown so we spent about 30 minutes trying to help her feel better. Then we went to see Alba and they weren't home :/ So we went and had Pan de Muerto with Sis. Adaiia. It was yum :) We had a great lesson about patience after we ate!

Saturday: Today we did special changes. We left at 7:30 and went all over the mission hauling people around and changing them and stuff. Then we ate, and brought Elder Parkinson back with us to be in a trio for a few days. He's a super super great kid. He's going home on Thursday to have surgery on a bulged disc. Poor kid. He's a phenomenal missionary and we're super super sad he has to go home. But he's with us until Thursday, so wee!! We're excited about that :) He lives in Honeyville, Utah heh. Not really sure where it is, but he probs will be giving a homecoming talk this Sunday if you guys want to go! I'll try and find out times and stuff. Anyway in the night we took him back to his area for a baptism he had. It was super cool. I was asked to talk about baptism, and ended up talking more about the atonement but it went well! It was super super sad though. He was really struggling :( Poor kid. It really gets me sometimes, when I'm feeling like I don't want to be here, or when I'm really looking forward to getting home in 9 months (!!!!) To see someone like that really makes me remember why I'm here. Awesome kid. He'll be in bed for the next 6-8 months. 

Sunday: We had church and then ate, and came back because Parkinson was really struggling with his back and couldn't really walk. We came back and the poor kid layed down on the floor for like 4 hours and just couldn't get up. Honestly breaks my heart

Well that was pretty much our week! Today we went to the mall and I bought a sweater haha. We have no pics :/ I"ll try and do better this week, but no promises. I'll be in Migration tomorrow, wednesday, thursday. :/ We probs won't work until Thursday night because we don't want Parkinson to get too wrecked but we'll see what he says. I love you guys all tons!!! Have an amazing week :) 

Love,

Elder Olson