Transfers (email dated 03/30/2010)

So this week is transfer week and the news is that I'm staying here in Vega Baja and my companion Elder Moran is also! Yup, looks like the Lord is blessing us both with opportunity to continue working with the investigators that we have up until now. The past week went really well with finding a couple of new investigators that have some potential to progress here in these next couple of weeks. One is named Barbara who is actually living with some members right now. It was a pretty cool experience when we taught her the first lesson because when we taught it we were actually visiting the members to help them learn how to use Preach my Gospel in their study's. But as we found out who she was and that she's living there we took advantage of the situation and basically focused on teaching her the first lesson and inviting her to church on Sunday.So as we taught brother Adorno from preach my gospel we went over the first lesson the way preach my gospel has it all laid out for Barbara, and as we explained it all Barbara could tell that what we were sharing was true and at the end was touched by the spirit and said she'd come to church for sure. She even accepted a conditional baptism invitation but its still not to strong yet. She's only 18 and is going to have a baby here in like 6 months and needs to marry the son of the Adorno family which makes for a lot of challenges still... but one step at a time we'll take it and see what we can do this next transfer that's coming up. 18 year old teenagers still aren't the most mature of people and reliable when living with worldly friends, but with the help of the Lord all things are possible, and i have hope for Barbara. Also we came across Jeniffer who is another new investigator with some potential to go some where but wasn't able to make it to church because something happened with the family Sunday morning that she had to take care of. But we rescheduled and will be seeing her tonight at 6 if all goes according to plans. She's a really nice lady and liked the way she felt when we taught her the Restoration and invited us to come back so we can teach her more. She has 2 kids, one of 14 years and the other is like 4 years old. She lives in a cool area that's back in the woods sort of with a bunch of Iguanas running all over the place. My companion is always amazed when he see's them because he's never seen Iguanas before in his life. But here in Puerto Rico there all over the place and always dead on the road. But any how that's the description of Jennifer for now.

Thanks for always keeping me in your prayers and thoughts back home and i hope all are excited for general conference coming up this week! I know i am! I love being able to listen to our Prophet, Thomas S Monson, speak to us and counsel us in these hard times that we live in. I hope everyone is able to listen to these great men and woman speak Saturday and Sunday and apply their council your life. I know by doing so will bring much happiness and peace in your life! So until next time Much Love!
YOurs always,
Elder Lopez

Shout out from Puerto Rico (email dated 03/23/2010)

Hola,
So this past week was a week was a success i would have to say compared to the one before it. First off because i received an awesome little package with letters from all my brothers and sisters and nephews and nieces!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow, reading those letters made me way excited! I even teared up a little, not going to lie. It really got me going for the week and the rest just sort of fell into place. We found a new investigator who is pretty cool i{d have to say but only time will tell with people. He is about 25 years old and interested in religion and felt impressed to listen to us which all are good signs. The only down part is that he slept in for church, but next week well make sure to give him enough reminders so that he doesn't forget. He was born catholic like almost the whole world is, but right now goes to a evangelical church that he likes. But he really thought our message was really cool so he said he would like to know more which we are definitely willing to teach him. So will have to wait and see what this week has in store for him.

Freddy one of our investigators is still strengthening his testimony in the church but as for right now is not doing to much to get married our move out which is necessary for his baptism. The problems are the usual Puerto Rican problems of he doesn't want to get married with her because he feels like they argue to much and also if they get married they{ll take away her pension she gets from the government and also he cant move out because he doesn't have any income at this moment it time. So basicaly he needs to take a step into the dark and have faith that the Lord is going to help him out with rest. The one cool experience we did have with him was that he called us one night at like 10:45. I answered the phone half asleep and by the time i came too i realized what he was trying to tell me. He was asking about where could he find the Joseph smith history so that he could read it. So then i told him where it was located and he let me go to sleep again. The next day at our appointment he had read basically the whole thing and had strengthened his testimony a whole bunch on the restoration of the church through Joseph Smith. I now just praying that this helps him to have the courage to take an action but only time will tell.

As for Veronica she sort of had a lame week. She has felt really weak and has hardly been able to move and has not been really able to progress to much. On Sunday she went to the hospital instead of coming to church which really disapointed me but what can you do.. just wait till the next week i guess. So where praying that she get feeling better soon.

So that about wraps up the mission field news for now. Thanks again to the Whole Family for showing your love in your letters. they all really did touch my heart. I{m truelly grateful that the Lord has blessed us with a family so strongly nit together and that we are there for each other in every moment. Lets always keep that up and know that i love you all and your in my prayers!Much love,
Elder Lopez

Bright sun shiny day (email dated 03/15/2010)

So this week we had a good time working in the sun and talking with everyone! Yeah all the storms finaly cleared up and we were left to work in the hot sun of the Caribbean. But for some reason the people just werent in to listening to much this week. So we focused in on all the inactives that we have in this ward. Really with the amount of inactives that we have over here we should be having a lesson every 15min just to be able to cover them all but thats a little unrelistic... why? Well because they all live up in the mountains and half of their address are bad and theres no way to find them... but we were lucky enough to find help from some members in the ward who know a lot more about the members and where they live. I think that could be the focus of this transfer. reactivating the inactive members and looking for our investigators through them. So far its worked pretty well with one family which ive spoken of already which would be Armando and Veronica. Veronica had an up and down week because she started out good to come to church but then at the last minute didnt show up... So right after church we went over there with the relief society president and her husband to visit and see what happened. So as we started to talk we found out that Armando was going through some depression and didnt feel good and Veronica didnt want to come by her self. This past week they have been in some really bad finacial problems and have no income at the moment and really doent know where their going to get their next plate of food... My companion and i even pitched in on thursday to go and buy them some bread and some other things to eat for a couple of nights. So for that reason we brought over the Relief society president and she jumped right on that problem and wrote down a list of things that they need and went and bought them food to last a while today and we are going to deliver it tonight. How grateful i am to know that in the church of Jesus Christ we really do have people that help those that are in need! It also really helped Armando feel better and Veronica in strengthening her testimony and helping her feel better about her decision to be baptized. We had to move her Fecha back to April 10th but thats alright because she is on track, just has to make it to church.

As for Freddy we ran into a problem which is he decieded he doesnt want to marry Jenny so the last option would be for him to move out. Its realy an interesting situation that were going to have to find out more about this week... so once we know whats happening with that well be sure to let you know. So yeah thats about all i have for this week of work.

Enjoy March Madness these up coming weeks. Man its been a long time away from the sports world but its worth it being on the Lords work.

Love always

Elder Lopez

Rain Rain Go Away (email dated 03/08/2010)

Buenas from Puerto Rico,

So this week was full of water like i haven't seen in very long time. There was nothing but constant rain this past week here in Vega Baja. It really sort of trough me off because down there in the islands of Curacao and Aruba i probably saw rain a total of 5 times but through out this week alone we topped that! Yeah, so you can just imagine us missionaries soking our little tails off with not to much to show for it because every one else is inside hiding from the rain. But we weathered the storm any way and made the best of what we could! This week we visited a total of 15 in active members which is by far the most i've ever done in my mission in one week! We went on a split with two members on saturday and just had them show us where all the members live to help us out with getting to know this area better also. We had some success to because a couple of the inactives came to church on sunday that we visited. \

Freddy like usual was in church because our stud of a mission leader went out of his way, like he does ever sunday, to go pick him up from Morovis. Were still trying to find another way for him to get to church but there really arent to many reliable members to go pick him up which is creating the problem. But i'm sure the Lord will prepare away to help Hno. Laureano and us find a new ride for Freddy to aleave his gas expenses from picking Freddy up every sunday. So we've really taught Freddy basicaly everything just are falting his marriage... so thats our focus this week and we're praying everything is still going alright with that because we talked to Freddy on sunday about it and they still haven't done anything to get it done. But we'll see what this week has to offer.

We found a new cool investigator this week though that said she's going to come to church this next week and already has read alot in the BOM! Yeah, it looks good so far but we'll find our for sure this week if she's for real. Her name is Esperanza which means Hope, so thats what we're hoping she brings to the table is "Hope".

Also Veronica we've sort of had to put on hold because she's always in the hospital with Armando which is making teaching hard. But we went and visited them twice there this past week and she said she's reading the chaptures that we've left her in the BOM which is good. Once he gets out of the hospital i think that they'll be good to go to church. So here in Vega Baja were keepin on keepin on and i hope its going great for you all back home also!


Much love ,

Elder Lopez

Another week in the life (email dated 03/01/2010)

So this week we could call a good week with Freddy making it to church again! Also some pretty good news is his response to getting married. We were over there this past monday visiting him and going over the Law of Chastity which prohibtes his life style at this moment in time. So we went in with a prayer that he'd be willing to change and get married or move out... and to our happy suprise he choose the first and decided to ask Jenny to marry him. But to ask her to marry him he decided not to wait until we left but did it right there and then... I was a little thrown off to be honest because i told him he could wait and do it on his own time but he decided that his own time was right then and there. So he went into the next room where Jenny was, (because she doesnt want to listen the the lessons as of yet) and asked her the question and when he came out he told us the answer was YES!!! So now during these next couple of weeks we'll be working on getting this couple married so that Freddy can hit the water.

So with Veronica, the wife of Armando, we had a little set back, but its nothing to really worry about to much. This week we missed on of our visits with her because i guess she fell and hurt her arm and had to go to the doctore to get it checked up on which prohibeted us from being able to pass by. Also on sunday they weren't able to come to church because Armando hurt his leg and couldn't walk... So basicaly they were all on the Disabled list this week and are preping for this upcoming week! Let hope and pray they dont go out and actualy brake something this week..


Also we came across a new investigator with some good potential named Luis Rodriguez. He seems to have a lot of knowledge with the bible and likes to listen to us and understands pretty well also. We took a member over there last time we visited him on saturday and it went very well but he didnt make it to church. We're not sure why yet but hopefuly it was for a good reason. He's still on the stage of reading the BOM and praying but if he does so i think he's a good canidate for baptism. So we'll keep our prayers up there.

As for Elder Moran and I, we're getting a long great! I'm helping him learn english with this new program that the mission came out with to help the Latinos learn english. Its pretty funny and i just go back to the good old MTC days when i was learing the basics of Spanish. Good times they were! Elder Moran also speaks another language which is called Poqomchi which they only speak where he's from. It really sounds like he's speaking chineese when he speaks it so thats what i tell him. He even looks sort of Chineese... Anyhow when ever he speaks his language i just respond to him in Papiamentu so he cant understand either... its a pretty fun conversation when you hear the two of us just going off in these weird dialects that make sense to us some how.


So yeah that about wraps up this weeks experiences. until next time keep on keepin on!

Elder Lopez