6 months in 5 days (email dated 1/26/2009)

Yup its true in 5 days from now i'll have been out for a 1/4 of my entire mission. Yeah i know i can hardley believe it my self. Things here in Utuado are pressing forward like always and we're working hard. It seems like every one here in Utuado knows Elder Hernandez and I because we cant go anywhere with out running into some we've meet or talked witht before. thats always a good sign to have, and the next step is baptizing all of them. But doing this takes a little extra time. speaking of time, it just keep's on flying by. Next week is transfers which will be my 3 complete transfer here on the island of Puerto Rico... Crazy right!

We're still working with our 2 investigators Lidia and Xiomara Rosa that have baptisimal dates for this up coming 7th of february. I'm excited for that day but still there is a lot of work to be down in between then and now. They attended the Area Conference with us in Arecibo which was great. Elder Bednar and Elder Eyring both spoke for it which was awesome! I love listening to the Apostles of the Lord speak because the spirit about them is so strong! The conference was for the whole entire Caribbean area and was broad casted from Jamica to every island in the the Caribbean in 6 different languages. Elder Bednar touched a topic that was perfect for Xiomara and Lidia about a testimony and how to develope it. He reminded us that a testimony doesnt just all come at once but comes "line upon line, precept upon precept" just like it says in the scriptures. But he also made it clear that we can only develope this testimony if we're doing all those things that we know we should be doing; such as reading the scriptures, saying sincere prayers to our Father in Heaven and acting upon those things that we know to be true. President Eyring spoke on being Faithful, Diligent in keeping the commandments, and prayerful always. As we strive to do all of these things we're blessed with the companioship of the comforter the the Holy Ghost. This gift has the power to lead us where we need to go and to help us stand firm even during difficult times and during temptations. The whole conference was a spiritual experience and i pray that Lidia and Xiomara were able to recieve a testimony that we have living prophets and apostles today. We have a cita with them tonight so we'll see how they felt about the whole thing.

Anyway, thank you for all of your love and support and know your all in my prayers.
With much Love,
Elder Lopez

Writing from Utuado, Puerto Rico (email dated 1/20/2009)

Well the past week was a week full of experiences. I'm not sure if i was able to tell you last week but if i did its alright because you can hear it again. We just got 2 baptisim dates last week with 2 of our investigators which for the 7th of february. They're attending church and really starting to make some changes in there life. Its the best feeling ever to see such an important change start to happin in a family. Yesterday we taught the word of wisdom which is always a scary lesson with the people here in Puerto Rico because almost all of them smoke drink and love their coffee. So we went in with a prayer that the Lord would help us speak in a way that the Holy Ghost could touch their hearts. Unfortunately right when we showed up at their house one of their friends (who's always drunk and a little different) was sitting on their couch visiting with them. Elder Hernandez and i looked at eachother and were just like oh man, we're not going to be able to give this lesson with the distractions that he's going to bring. So we decided to just check up on their reading of the Book of Mormon and how it went and explain the chapter a little and then we were going to leave. So when we got in there we sat down and started talking with them and we noticed the "borracho"(drunk guy) was bleeding from his chin. we asked him what happened and i he told us that he cut himself shaving. Then he went on to tell us that he wasnt all there because he was on drugs because he was passing some kiddney stones... When he said that i started to feel a little bad for the guy. But anyway about 5 min. after we sat down and were talking "Borracho" decided he better head home and get some rest and then we all said, Yeah that would probably be a good idea. As sad as the situation was we were pretty happy cuz now the lesson was back on. We started of with a song and prayer and then we got right down to it. We were happy to hear that they didnt have any problems with any drugs or alcohol but what was holding them up was the coffee. They have coffee every day and they kept on saying that they couldn't give it up because it would be to hard. But after hearing this we showed them what they just told us and let them see how addicting coffee really is and that it was taking away their agency which is a sacred gift the Lord has blessed us with. We ended up talking with them for a good hour and a half about coffee and the affects and that they could give it up if they really wanted. We focused on how with Christ and His love for us we can over come any temptation satan puts in our way and how we'll never be tempted above that which we can withstand. Towards the end of the lesson they really started to see that they could do it and at the end they excepted the commitment to obey the word of wisdom. It was an absolute amazing lesson and the Holy Ghost was definately there with us through out the whole thing and did all the teaching. As i sit here and think about the whole situation with this family i'm filled with joy and a love for my father in heaven. I'm so filled with this joy because right now i'm seeing a huge change in a family's life, their giving up worldly things and starting to follow the path that Christ has givin us through his prophets that we have in these days. Up to this point in my life there literaly is no better feeling then being able to see this change in a family. This work is honestly amazing!

Well i'm starting to run out of time because we still have to go shopping and do all that p-day stuff, oh and by some chocolate to help the Lidia and Xiomara Rosa stop drinking coffee...
so i hope you enjoy the the letter and remember i love you all and you are always in my prayers!
Love always,
Elder Lopez

Overload of Mission Pictures

Hey all! I just got my hands on a lot of Bret's mission pictures. I just randomly picked some of them to post. These pictures are in no particular order, and unfortunately I don't have captions for any of them. So just enjoy them as they are :)
-Lachelle

Elder Lopez is back (email dated 1/13/2009)

Well the library is back open and all the holiday's are behind us, well at least i think, Puerto Rico likes to through in random holidays every now and again. I guess yesterday was a holiday so our P-day was moved to tuesday. No worries all is well and Mom you dont need to call Pres. Martineau.

Sounds like the snow bake home has been going crazy, so i hope everyone is safe out there on the roads. As for the snow out here... oh wait there's no such thing in the Caribbean. The weather has been great out here and the work is going back to normal with the holiday's winding down.

This past week at church we were able to have Lidia, one of our new Investigators to church. It was really good for her to see what church is like. Last night we went over to her house and had a lesson with her with some members. It went great and we gave Lidia and her daughter a baptisimal date to work forward for this up coming February 7th. We have some work to do to prepare them to meet this date but i'm looking forward to the work. Lidia is a really good investigator but the one thing she say's she scared of is water... i guess she has a phobia of water but we're working with her to overcome it because we're talking about salvation here. Anyway as for the family of Luis who we've been teaching for a while; we're planning to give them a baptisimal date for our next lesson with them this Wednesday, so i pray it all works out with them.

The work is still going out here and i'm very very gratefull for all your support back home. Remember that my prayers are always with you.
Love always,
Elder Lopez