Where does the time go? (email dated 05/26/2009)

Well i just realized about this time last year i would of been celebrating a championship still and getting to graduate from High School... It feels like that was just yesterday. Now i just look at how much has happend this past year and im just amazed. Here i am on an island speaking in spanish to others about the Gospel and how it can change there lifes.

This past week our investigator Andres was released from that hospital and even came to church on sunday. It was really good to see him there. Then to make it all even better, he opened up during our gospel doctorins class and practicly bore his testimony. The lesson was on faith which is always a great subject for anyone to hear. Faith is key in the church and thats why its the 1st principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We started talking about how faith is belief with out sight but with a firm conviction of a reality. We talked about how the Spirit can comfort us and confirm our Faith in the Lord and His work. Then Andres shared his thoughts about how the Spirit has touched him the past little bit as us missionary´s have been teaching him and walking with him every moring( Yes we get up every morning at like 540 to go walking with him at 6). He told everyone that as we go walking with him in the moring he feels as if he´s surrounded by a light which makes him feel bigger and better. He then went on to say how we have helped him to strengthen his faith. It was really a humbling experience to hear that come from some one else. It reminded me of how important of a job it is to be a representive of the Lord at all times in all place´s so that all can feel that same feeling Andres felt from the spirit. The lesson ended very well and i was so happy to hear Andres speak in the class and not just sit in the corner all quite. As of right now he´s progressing but still we have to help him get over this drinking problem that he has. To see if we can help a little bit more were trying to find someone in the ward that might be able to talk with him about how they quite drinking and to give him some support with quiting. Andres really is a great guy, and its tough to see how an addiction can hurt someones life so bad but still be hard for them to give up.

Anyway were working hard with him and praying for the best results.
Thank you all for your prayers and support! Keep on keepin on!
With Love,
Elder Lopez

Short and Sweet (email dated 5/11/2009)

Well i hope every mother out there had a wonderful Mothers day because you all really deserve it! I sure was greatful to be able to talk with my mom yesterday and hear her voice, it sure was a boost to have while out here serving to Lord. There´s something about Mothers that is so awesome because they just simple have to talk with you one the phone and they can make you feel their loving presence. Thank you mom for everything.

As for the past week we had some good success with a man named Andreas, Who´s actualy a family member of some members. As far as i know right now he´s staying with his family to get himself in better situation. I guess he´s had some problems with drinking in the past and is trying to get away from all of his bad infuences. But also he is very Catholic and he has some other family members that pull him to the Catholic church; so we´re going to have to see what we can do with this. He really loves to read the BOM though which is perfect because as he keeps on reading it there´s no denying its truthfulness! Other than Andreas we have a couple of other people that might have some potential this week; we´ll just see what happens.

anyway that about sums up the week, keep those prayers up and the Lord will keep on blessg! With much Love,
Elder Lopez

Start feeling better! (email dated 05/04/2009)

We´re actualy taking over an apartment sister missionaries used to have, which means Elder Bown and i have ourselves a "white wash"... Neither of us have been in this area of Toa Baja before and we´re left to find out for ourselves where everything is. Yup its been a pretty adventures week to say the least... Elder Bown my new companion is a good guy from Brigham City, Utah. He was about 5 months on the mission which means he´s just starting his 3 Transfer, and lets just say he´s still pretty green... That means that now i am officialy senor comp in our companionship. i´m not going to lie, at transfers i was sort of blown away that President didn´t put me with a Latino because i thought for sure i´d be having a Latino companion this transfer, but he decided to throw me a curve ball... To add to the weight on my shoulders he threw us into a white wash area... More then ever i´ve been asking the Lord to help me out so that i have the strength enough to be a good instrument in His hands, and like always he has been coming through. The 1st day i kept on asking myself if i really was ready to become the one doing a big load of the work especialy being the one that speaks more spanish in the companionship. But now that almost a week has past i´m starting to see that i can do it and we´ll be just fine. While we were at transfers i thought i might have been a little young in the mission to take on such a big responsibility, but now i know we´ll make it through just fine. Elder Bown is a really cool guy also which makes it even better. We´re going to learn a lot together and i think we´re going to get along just fine. We sort of have the same personality it seems like so far which makes us get a long perfectly so far. We´re both ready to take on this challenge together and i think that we´re going to great. The past few days of work in Toa Baja ( actualy we live and work pretty much in Toa Alta but our area is called Toa Baja) have gone really good i felt and i think we came across a lot of good potentials that we´ll be able to make into investigators with a little bit of time. Also the members here in this ward are great and at fast and testimony meeting yesterday there were a lot of heart felt testimony´s born. I´m very excited to be working in such a great ward here in the city. Yup i said city.. This area is a lot more city then anything i´m used to after having been in Utuado for so long. We still touch a little compo every now and again but mostly its city life. Its been a big change in areas thats for sure but i´m definately looking forward to the adventure !

Sounds like the Lopez home is just full right at the moment also. Tell everyone hi for me and wish them all the best. I hope everyone starts to feel better also. Thanks for all the prayers and support!
With Love,
Elder Lopez