Hey, Thanks for the update on the life over in good old Utah! Well I'm not going to lie it made my year to be able to talk with all of you on Christmas! It made me think a lot of how blessed i am to have such a strong family in the church. You all strength me so much out here!
Well as for this past week of work we came acrossed a couple of new investigators but for the most part it was actualy pretty slow. some times weeks like this happen though. I hope it was just because of all the holidays and crazyness of people partying it up that got in the way. We did how ever come across one family that was pretty interesting to talk with and teach. THe Father named Juan was from New York and was actualy baptized into the church when he was over there but he really didnt understand much i dont think when he was baptized because now he's going to a Penticostl church. We asked him what was up and why he left the church and he said he was sick of hearing about joseph smith and only about him. He said that when he would go to church all they would talk about was Joseph Smith and nothing about Christ... Ha i sort of found that hard to believe, but anyway he was kind enough to listen to us and let us clarify everything. I'm pretty sure we laid to rest his worries about worshiping Joseph Smith and made it clear that the head of the Church is Jesus Christ and only Him because he is our savior. We taught him the Joseph Smith was merly an instument in the hands of the lord that brought about the restoration of the fulness of the Gospel of Christ. It was a good lesson i felt and he has 6 kids and a wife that all listened so i'm excited to see what we can do with this family. This next transfer we have some potential and now its just time to work and make all this potential come to life. I'm looking forward to the work and i appriciate all of your prayers because they really do help.
Well i cant believe this year is coming to an end. It seems like yesterday i was getting ready for early morning work outs over in the small gym of Timpanogos. Its been a years time since then and now i'm here in Puerto Rico searching for ways to help bless the lives of all that i can in a way that will last for eternity. How time can change in a year! Well i hope you all have a great New Year and make sure to set some goals! My goals are what seem to keep me going every day!
Well i love all of you, and wish the family happy New Year for me!!
Much Love,
Elder Lopez
Monday, December 29, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Feliz Navidad
Mom and Dad,
Well i'm glad to hear that he Holidays back home went great and everyone
one was able to be there at the home. As for my Christmas call goes i'm not
sure exactly what time it will be on Christmas but i heard that we'll get to
tell you on christmas eve by email or a short call or something. Well have to
wait and see. I'm going to try and use that phone card that you gave me to
use because i'm pretty sure that there are still a lot of minutes on it to use up. But if not i'll give you a call and a number you can call me back on.
Anyway this past week went great. We had out baptisim of Erick on saturday and his confirmation yesterday! It was a perfect Christmas present to see a
baptisim. We had "Nene"(Emanuel) a member whose preparing for his
mission right now perform the baptisim and the confirmation and it was a great experience for him as he's preparing to leave for his mission. Elder
Hernandez and i were the wittnesses and he actually had to do it twice but the
second time was definately good! It was a great experience and we even sang
special number to "oh Mi Padre" to the tune of "come thy fount" and it was great! The spirit was definatley there and it was a great experience. After the baptisim we had our Christmas party and ate pig and rice and some other good stuff that i didnt know the name of. Whatever it was it sure was good though! This holiday season we seem to get feed where ever we go. During the baptisim we watched a movie about the restoration that was a great because we had some non-members that were Ericks friends come to! The whole day just went great! The next day in church i got to help in his confirmation and the spirit touched me during the blessing and right then i new that Erick was recieveing the gift of the Holy Ghost and is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints! What day it was! That night Elder Hernandez and i were just like to little kids!
But right now i'm getting kicked off the computer so i got to go! i'll talk with you christmas! I love your all!
Well i'm glad to hear that he Holidays back home went great and everyone
one was able to be there at the home. As for my Christmas call goes i'm not
sure exactly what time it will be on Christmas but i heard that we'll get to
tell you on christmas eve by email or a short call or something. Well have to
wait and see. I'm going to try and use that phone card that you gave me to
use because i'm pretty sure that there are still a lot of minutes on it to use up. But if not i'll give you a call and a number you can call me back on.
Anyway this past week went great. We had out baptisim of Erick on saturday and his confirmation yesterday! It was a perfect Christmas present to see a
baptisim. We had "Nene"(Emanuel) a member whose preparing for his
mission right now perform the baptisim and the confirmation and it was a great experience for him as he's preparing to leave for his mission. Elder
Hernandez and i were the wittnesses and he actually had to do it twice but the
second time was definately good! It was a great experience and we even sang
special number to "oh Mi Padre" to the tune of "come thy fount" and it was great! The spirit was definatley there and it was a great experience. After the baptisim we had our Christmas party and ate pig and rice and some other good stuff that i didnt know the name of. Whatever it was it sure was good though! This holiday season we seem to get feed where ever we go. During the baptisim we watched a movie about the restoration that was a great because we had some non-members that were Ericks friends come to! The whole day just went great! The next day in church i got to help in his confirmation and the spirit touched me during the blessing and right then i new that Erick was recieveing the gift of the Holy Ghost and is now a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day saints! What day it was! That night Elder Hernandez and i were just like to little kids!
But right now i'm getting kicked off the computer so i got to go! i'll talk with you christmas! I love your all!
Monday, December 15, 2008
Christmas time (email dated 12/15/2008)
Hey, I'm glade to hear all is going well back home and every one is having a good Christmas season! Where are you going for Christmas day? It sounded like everyone is leaving?
But anyway as for things here in the land of Puerto Rico all is well! THis past week we had our interviews with President Martineau because the transfer is starting to come to an end. We only have a week and a half until transfers! Actually transfers will be on Christmas Eve and were all going to the Mission home to have Christmas eve there which should be really fun. I gave a talk in Church yesterday which was pretty neat! i was a little hesitent at first because
I still dont feel all that confident with the spanish but i got threw it pretty good i thought! I took about 10 min. and once i was done and sat down i thought to myself, "Wow, that was all in spanish"...it wasn't the best spanish but it was spanish non the less. Yesterday we gave the 2nd lesson to Luis and his son Jon and it went really well! This family is really awesome and i hope they keep on progressing like they have been. Jon asked during the lesson, "so where do we go after death?" and it just lead perfectly right into our lesson! All this family is missing right now i think is a strong spiritual experience. Hopefully we can get them to come to our baptizim this week for Eric! Yup thats right we have our first baptisim coming up this next saturday and Eric is looking like he's going to be good to go! We have a Cita with him tonight and we're going to
get him ready for the baptisimal interview and everything! I'm really looking forward to saturday!
This past thursday we had a Christmas devotional that we went to in Arecibo. It
was really nice and really got me into the Christmas mood! Wow its already
Christmas time, i cant believe it! Thank you so much for all of you're support back home! It's great to read your letters and they keep me going, so thanks!
I love you all!
Oh yeah and I'll talk with you in 10 days...
Love always,
Elder Lopez
But anyway as for things here in the land of Puerto Rico all is well! THis past week we had our interviews with President Martineau because the transfer is starting to come to an end. We only have a week and a half until transfers! Actually transfers will be on Christmas Eve and were all going to the Mission home to have Christmas eve there which should be really fun. I gave a talk in Church yesterday which was pretty neat! i was a little hesitent at first because
I still dont feel all that confident with the spanish but i got threw it pretty good i thought! I took about 10 min. and once i was done and sat down i thought to myself, "Wow, that was all in spanish"...it wasn't the best spanish but it was spanish non the less. Yesterday we gave the 2nd lesson to Luis and his son Jon and it went really well! This family is really awesome and i hope they keep on progressing like they have been. Jon asked during the lesson, "so where do we go after death?" and it just lead perfectly right into our lesson! All this family is missing right now i think is a strong spiritual experience. Hopefully we can get them to come to our baptizim this week for Eric! Yup thats right we have our first baptisim coming up this next saturday and Eric is looking like he's going to be good to go! We have a Cita with him tonight and we're going to
get him ready for the baptisimal interview and everything! I'm really looking forward to saturday!
This past thursday we had a Christmas devotional that we went to in Arecibo. It
was really nice and really got me into the Christmas mood! Wow its already
Christmas time, i cant believe it! Thank you so much for all of you're support back home! It's great to read your letters and they keep me going, so thanks!
I love you all!
Oh yeah and I'll talk with you in 10 days...
Love always,
Elder Lopez
Monday, December 8, 2008
What a week! (email dated 12/08/2008)
Wow, it sounds like the the christmas season back home is going great. I bet its been awesome to have so much family around and get to spend time together and visit a play games! It really does make me smile to think of you all enjoyingthe blessing that our Loving Father in Heaven has blessed us with. Just look at all the blessings we have in our life. This gospel really does work miracles and is such a blessing.
This week out here in the field was a absolutely great week. Elder Hernandez and I were able to find some good New investigators with some really good potential! During the week we cam accross and older man who is partialy blindand has been living with a lady for 28 years i believe it was. Anyway we contacted them and they let us into the their home and we went ahead and gave them the first lesson. At was really interesting as we gave the lesson becausethey really were interested in everything that we had to say. I asked them the simple question of how they felt and they gave us the best reply i've ever heard so far on my mission. They said that they really could feel that thethings that we were teaching them were true and they loved to just have us in their home. This answer really just blew me away and i couldn't believe my ears. They really have some good potential but the down side is they have somethings that their going to have to change in their life to be baptized into the church. They're really going to have to show some faith in the lord to overcome there one big probablem that a lot of people have out here. Their living together and aren't married because Gloria is recieving money from the government and if they get married she'll stop recieving it. I'm pretty sure this might be their only source of income to because Tito is going blind and cant really move. They have some walls to go through but if they can jus tfind the faith to trust in the Lord i'm sure all will work out. Anyway to make a long story a little shorter, I'm really looking forward to working with them.
This fast sunday we had a special fast for our branch here in Utuado that the less actives would find the desire to come back to church and that the branchwould begin to grow. I feel as though the Lord already has blessed us in our fasting in prayers because we had a less active named Carmen that we visited this passed week show up at church on sunday and we found 4 more new invetigators that night that have some good potential.
This week really has turned out to be a week of Testimony building and strengthening in so many different ways. Its a wonderful feeling to see the hand to the Lord in this work and I'm praying for His guidance every day. Especially during my time here in the mountains of Utuado. Remember to take time and thank the Lord for the blessing that he has so graciously givin to us especially during this Christmas season! We have so much to be grateful for!
Much love,
your son,
Elder Lopez
This week out here in the field was a absolutely great week. Elder Hernandez and I were able to find some good New investigators with some really good potential! During the week we cam accross and older man who is partialy blindand has been living with a lady for 28 years i believe it was. Anyway we contacted them and they let us into the their home and we went ahead and gave them the first lesson. At was really interesting as we gave the lesson becausethey really were interested in everything that we had to say. I asked them the simple question of how they felt and they gave us the best reply i've ever heard so far on my mission. They said that they really could feel that thethings that we were teaching them were true and they loved to just have us in their home. This answer really just blew me away and i couldn't believe my ears. They really have some good potential but the down side is they have somethings that their going to have to change in their life to be baptized into the church. They're really going to have to show some faith in the lord to overcome there one big probablem that a lot of people have out here. Their living together and aren't married because Gloria is recieving money from the government and if they get married she'll stop recieving it. I'm pretty sure this might be their only source of income to because Tito is going blind and cant really move. They have some walls to go through but if they can jus tfind the faith to trust in the Lord i'm sure all will work out. Anyway to make a long story a little shorter, I'm really looking forward to working with them.
This fast sunday we had a special fast for our branch here in Utuado that the less actives would find the desire to come back to church and that the branchwould begin to grow. I feel as though the Lord already has blessed us in our fasting in prayers because we had a less active named Carmen that we visited this passed week show up at church on sunday and we found 4 more new invetigators that night that have some good potential.
This week really has turned out to be a week of Testimony building and strengthening in so many different ways. Its a wonderful feeling to see the hand to the Lord in this work and I'm praying for His guidance every day. Especially during my time here in the mountains of Utuado. Remember to take time and thank the Lord for the blessing that he has so graciously givin to us especially during this Christmas season! We have so much to be grateful for!
Much love,
your son,
Elder Lopez
Here Comes Christmas (email dated 12/08/2008)
Wow its Christmas season and what a time to be greatful! This past sunday night we had the opportunity to go and watch the Christmas Devotional and listen to our beloved Prophet and his councilers speak! It was a great experience and I felt close to home as i watched good Old Motab Choir sing the hymns of Zion! Wow, what a great meeting it was. It really hit home the true meaning of Christmas.
Right now i'd just like to thank you all for the wonderful fiends and family you've all been to me. My testimony of Christ has grown so much out here and i know he lives and loves us all! What a great time of year it is to follow his example and stretch out our hands to help another and show our love for them.
with love,
Elder Lopez
Right now i'd just like to thank you all for the wonderful fiends and family you've all been to me. My testimony of Christ has grown so much out here and i know he lives and loves us all! What a great time of year it is to follow his example and stretch out our hands to help another and show our love for them.
with love,
Elder Lopez
Monday, December 1, 2008
Thanksgiving on the Mission (email dated 12-01-2008)
Hey, its Elder Lopez again. Another week has gone by and now i'm another week smarter and experienced on the mission. This past week we really started to try and get the members that we have in our little branch up in going in the missionary work. Utuado is a big place so we really a lot on our members to help us out in getting from place to place. Its really true that every member is a missionary. As members of this church we have the opportunity to be a flag on the hill standing as an example for all the people in the world to look to. Its a great priviledge and i have to thank all of you back home for being great examples for me to look up to. As members of this church we really do stick out because of the high standards that we have and are striving to up hold. it might seem hard at times with all the things that are going on the world but as we stand united we will not fall. Its just like Elder Uchtdorf talked about in the last conference during the priesthood session to lift were you stand. It doesnt matter where you are, Utah or Puerto Rico, we all have the sacred opportunity to be a beacon of light for the world to see. This work is truely for everyone and it truely is amazing to see in motion. I take comfort in the fact that this gospel, and this church will stand until that great day when the Lord comes back to the earth to reign in His glory. Wow this Gospel is amazing!
Well before i end this i hope all is well back home and that you all had a great Thanksgiving. Remeber "Thanksgiving comes but once a year but times to give thanks are always here"...( is that saying still up in my car with the little dollar bill with the missionary shirt?) Well love you all,
Elder Lopez
Well before i end this i hope all is well back home and that you all had a great Thanksgiving. Remeber "Thanksgiving comes but once a year but times to give thanks are always here"...( is that saying still up in my car with the little dollar bill with the missionary shirt?) Well love you all,
Elder Lopez
Monday, November 24, 2008
I'm going to miss the Turkey Bowl (email dated 11/24/2008)
Hey i hope all is well over there on the home front in Utah. All is well out here in Utuado and i cant believe how fast this passed week flew by. We had a lot of work to do this week and every night we came home i was dead tired. Here up in the Mountains it seems like everyone lives up on the top of a mountain or clear down in a valley. So which ever one it is we get to go up and come back down or vise versa. Lets just say my legs are going to be tree trunks by the time i leave this place. Here in Puerto Rico they have all the same Holidays that they have back in the states and more. I'm pretty sure the people just make up Holidays so they can get of work and have a break. Thats just fine by me though because during peoples breaks there home and we're able to find more people to talk to about our message which contains the way to recieving eternal salvation which is a pretty big deal last time i checked. We have a little small branch here in Utuado like i said last time but the people in it are way nice and feed us and feed us and then feed us some more! We had a Dia de accion de Gracias ( just a long name for Thanksgiving) Party this past saturday with a bunch of food. It was amazing and i was full for all of saturday and most of sunday. Yesterday it rained almost the whole day which sort of put a damper on being able to find people. People here in Puerto Rico dont care for the rain to much and when it does rain you dont find many people out because their all scared of ""La munga"(the cold). Anyway we had some cool teaching experences this week. We came accross a guy a couple of nights ago during our sacred finding time and i called him out and when he came out and it was sort of like all the rest that we had been having that day he just said that he was catholic. So i was like oh ok well is there anything we can help you with, and then he stopped and said yeah. I wasn't expecting that but he then let us in and said some time he'd need his tree in his front yard trimmed so and would need help so we told him we'd be more than happy to help. Then he invited us in his house we talked to him a little about what we do as missionaries and i was actually able to share and talk a lot more then i have in the passed. He even gave us dinner for that night. It was a really cool experience and goes to show that when you show a desire to truely help out your fellow brotheren your leaving a little seed and are being an example like we should be as members of the True Church of Chirst. Mission work is great and i'm gaining a greater love for it every day!
Thank you for all the support back home and have great thanksgiving this week! I love you all at home and thank you a billion for your letters and support!
Thank you for all the support back home and have great thanksgiving this week! I love you all at home and thank you a billion for your letters and support!
Monday, November 17, 2008
One Transfer Down (email dated 11/17/2008)
Dear Mom and Dad,
Well i'm here in my new area and all i have to say is its beautiful uphere. I say up here because i'm right smack dab in the middle of the island which is up in the mountains. The area i'm in is called Utuado, Puerto Rico.Its sort of being in a rain forest/ mountain conditions. Our area is full of hills and i come home every night whiped because we walk a lot of places here.My new companion is Elder Hernandez by the way. He's from Mexico and is aver a hard worker and i'm glade i got him as a compion. The first day here we had a lesson to go to so before i even could unpack my bags we were off to work. It was a great lesson i thought and i love teaching with a native spanish speaker because i learn so much about the language everytime we teach. This is going to really help me with my spanish i'm hoping.
Anyway so far here we've had some really intresting experiances with the people. We taught this one guy named Ruperto who lives way far up the canyon, so he came to pick us upand take us to his house. Well when we got there his house wasnt much of ahouse. It was more like a little schack with metal all around the outside and ontop as the walls and the cealing. As i walked in i looked up and the top and alli could see were cob webs every where with these huge spiders of every kind. Thewhole time i was just thinking to myself how could some one live here and stayhealthy. There were cars all out around the side of his place like you some time see hanging off cliffs and stuff as you drive in mountain areas, like the one at the cabin if you remeber. It was pretty interesting to say the least. Rupert lives with his mom and she's 94 years old and she's still cooking and cleaning she said, but it didnt look like their place had been cleaned in quite some time. I couldn't believe she said she was 94 years old and living inthe conditions she was. Anyway their family is a little different but thats all right cuz were all children of God right. Any way we couldnt stay and talk with them very long because we got to go to a conference that Elder Bendar spoke at!It was so awesome! Elder Bednar came here to Puerto Rico and people got to ask him questions in this meeting and it was great to see and Apostle of the Lord speak here in this little island. He was in a different church then we were sowe watched him on a perjecter at the stake center. One of the people ask the big question about getting a temple here in Puerto Rico.His answer was direct and i loved every bit of it. What he said basicly is that when a temple is chosen to be built some where it has nothing to do with the people here on earth and their wants. The Person who decides where and when a temple is built is the Lord himself and when i decides He then reavels it to the prophet. Than we went on further and said if you really want a temple here you got to have the members who will be able to support and then he told the people to "get your hearts right." It was simple statement but it hit me hard! it renewed my testimony of his calling because the spirit during that meeting was so strong!
Well i got to finish up now so remember your always in my prayers and i loveyou all!
Elder Lopez
PS. I got your tape and i love to listen to it! YOur voices all sound so good to my ears. I have a tape and a memory card of pictures to send home but i dontknow if i should send them with a normal letter or not. Also if you could send THis email to lechell and do what ever you want with it so she can put it up onthe blog that would be great because i dont have time to write another one. thanks love you!
Well i'm here in my new area and all i have to say is its beautiful uphere. I say up here because i'm right smack dab in the middle of the island which is up in the mountains. The area i'm in is called Utuado, Puerto Rico.Its sort of being in a rain forest/ mountain conditions. Our area is full of hills and i come home every night whiped because we walk a lot of places here.My new companion is Elder Hernandez by the way. He's from Mexico and is aver a hard worker and i'm glade i got him as a compion. The first day here we had a lesson to go to so before i even could unpack my bags we were off to work. It was a great lesson i thought and i love teaching with a native spanish speaker because i learn so much about the language everytime we teach. This is going to really help me with my spanish i'm hoping.
Anyway so far here we've had some really intresting experiances with the people. We taught this one guy named Ruperto who lives way far up the canyon, so he came to pick us upand take us to his house. Well when we got there his house wasnt much of ahouse. It was more like a little schack with metal all around the outside and ontop as the walls and the cealing. As i walked in i looked up and the top and alli could see were cob webs every where with these huge spiders of every kind. Thewhole time i was just thinking to myself how could some one live here and stayhealthy. There were cars all out around the side of his place like you some time see hanging off cliffs and stuff as you drive in mountain areas, like the one at the cabin if you remeber. It was pretty interesting to say the least. Rupert lives with his mom and she's 94 years old and she's still cooking and cleaning she said, but it didnt look like their place had been cleaned in quite some time. I couldn't believe she said she was 94 years old and living inthe conditions she was. Anyway their family is a little different but thats all right cuz were all children of God right. Any way we couldnt stay and talk with them very long because we got to go to a conference that Elder Bendar spoke at!It was so awesome! Elder Bednar came here to Puerto Rico and people got to ask him questions in this meeting and it was great to see and Apostle of the Lord speak here in this little island. He was in a different church then we were sowe watched him on a perjecter at the stake center. One of the people ask the big question about getting a temple here in Puerto Rico.His answer was direct and i loved every bit of it. What he said basicly is that when a temple is chosen to be built some where it has nothing to do with the people here on earth and their wants. The Person who decides where and when a temple is built is the Lord himself and when i decides He then reavels it to the prophet. Than we went on further and said if you really want a temple here you got to have the members who will be able to support and then he told the people to "get your hearts right." It was simple statement but it hit me hard! it renewed my testimony of his calling because the spirit during that meeting was so strong!
Well i got to finish up now so remember your always in my prayers and i loveyou all!
Elder Lopez
PS. I got your tape and i love to listen to it! YOur voices all sound so good to my ears. I have a tape and a memory card of pictures to send home but i dontknow if i should send them with a normal letter or not. Also if you could send THis email to lechell and do what ever you want with it so she can put it up onthe blog that would be great because i dont have time to write another one. thanks love you!
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Champion Burrito
Dear Lopez family:
I had the honor of being with your son today as we moved him from one apartment to another, just before his transfer tomorrow to a new area.
Sister Reyes and I are the "housing coordinators" and after the move we then treated him and his companion to an early dinner at one of the few mexican restaurants in Puerto Rico.
You have a great missionary and it was a pleasure to be with him. Thank you for raising a great young man.
best regards
Elder & Sister Reyes
I had the honor of being with your son today as we moved him from one apartment to another, just before his transfer tomorrow to a new area.
Sister Reyes and I are the "housing coordinators" and after the move we then treated him and his companion to an early dinner at one of the few mexican restaurants in Puerto Rico.
You have a great missionary and it was a pleasure to be with him. Thank you for raising a great young man.
best regards
Elder & Sister Reyes
Monday, November 10, 2008
Transfers
Well another week of the mission life has come and gone! Thank you all for the support and letters that I've recieved, you all keep me going!
Well this week was full of new's! I had my first interview with the President of the Mission, President Martineau, and he pretty much told me after this transfer I'd be gettin transfered some where else. Sure enough this Sunday i got the word that i'm going to be getting transfured this Wed. I'm actually looking forward to this next transfer to get a new companion and learn new things. For the most part i'm starting to settle into the mission life. It gets better and better every day. It started out a little rocky, but no one ever said it was going to be ease. When times are going rough i always am able to find comfort in the scriptures! I found some scriptures that really helped me out this first transfer. One of them was in D&C 128:31 right at the very end of the verse if you want to look it up... The Scriptures have grown to be my best friend out here and i love reading them every day!
My Companion Elder Haskell's birthday was this week, so we decided to celebrate and went bowling last p-day! It was a blast and it reminded me of the good old days going bowling in High School, i still sort of stuggle so i wont tell you my score. I know when my brother Mark reads this he'll be a little disapointed, but it is what it is.
Finding people this week looked up a little bit. We came accross a guy who had been in the Army for ever and learend english and could speak it very well. To add to it the guy was amazingly nice. He excepted everything that we said to him and invited us in to have some water! We set up a return visit with him and everything but unfortunatley i'm not going to be there to teach him cuz i'm getting transfered. Thats alright though, all that matters is that he gets to hear the gospel!
So elections are finaly over and i hear we have a new President of the United States. Í'm not going to say much about who got elected cuz out here on the mission we're not supposed to talk polotics... and this way i wont say anything bad about him, you know how the saying goes, "ïf you cant say anything good dont say anything at all".
Well until next week keep it real back home! Love you all!
Elder Lopez
Well this week was full of new's! I had my first interview with the President of the Mission, President Martineau, and he pretty much told me after this transfer I'd be gettin transfered some where else. Sure enough this Sunday i got the word that i'm going to be getting transfured this Wed. I'm actually looking forward to this next transfer to get a new companion and learn new things. For the most part i'm starting to settle into the mission life. It gets better and better every day. It started out a little rocky, but no one ever said it was going to be ease. When times are going rough i always am able to find comfort in the scriptures! I found some scriptures that really helped me out this first transfer. One of them was in D&C 128:31 right at the very end of the verse if you want to look it up... The Scriptures have grown to be my best friend out here and i love reading them every day!
My Companion Elder Haskell's birthday was this week, so we decided to celebrate and went bowling last p-day! It was a blast and it reminded me of the good old days going bowling in High School, i still sort of stuggle so i wont tell you my score. I know when my brother Mark reads this he'll be a little disapointed, but it is what it is.
Finding people this week looked up a little bit. We came accross a guy who had been in the Army for ever and learend english and could speak it very well. To add to it the guy was amazingly nice. He excepted everything that we said to him and invited us in to have some water! We set up a return visit with him and everything but unfortunatley i'm not going to be there to teach him cuz i'm getting transfered. Thats alright though, all that matters is that he gets to hear the gospel!
So elections are finaly over and i hear we have a new President of the United States. Í'm not going to say much about who got elected cuz out here on the mission we're not supposed to talk polotics... and this way i wont say anything bad about him, you know how the saying goes, "ïf you cant say anything good dont say anything at all".
Well until next week keep it real back home! Love you all!
Elder Lopez
Monday, November 3, 2008
Just another day in the life of Elder Lopez (email dated 11/3/2008)
Well i'm sorry that i haven't been able to get a E-mail out for the passed couple of weeks. My E-mail has been sort of being dumb and hasn't worked for me. Now it should be doing just fine though. This passed week we've been doing a lot of finding with not a lot of luck. Its alright though because it will start to pick up sooner or later. Some good news is that we found a good Apt. to live in. Hopefully next week we'll be able to move in to it. Right now their trying to get all the paper work done for it so hopefully by next week we can move in. The Ward out here in my area isn't like a Utah ward, but it is pretty big for here in Puerto Rico i believe. The People in my ward are all nice and loveing people and are really wanting to have a Temple built here in Puerto Rico. Thats where us missionaries come in. I hope to be able to see a Temple here in Puerto Rico some day! It probably wont be while i'm here but i'm hoping to be a help in getting this island ready for one. I see the Lords help every day while i'm out here doing His will and His work. Thank you all for your support and prayers!
sorry this E-mail is pretty short, i ran out of time so next week i'll see what i can do.
Oh yeah and one more thing, When your write me letters you need to put my first name and my last name because there is 4 Elder Lopez's here in my mission...
Thanks again and I love you all! Until next week God Bless!
Elder Lopez
sorry this E-mail is pretty short, i ran out of time so next week i'll see what i can do.
Oh yeah and one more thing, When your write me letters you need to put my first name and my last name because there is 4 Elder Lopez's here in my mission...
Thanks again and I love you all! Until next week God Bless!
Elder Lopez
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Sorry my emails aren't sending (email dated 10/27/2008)
Hey Sorry that you didnt get my email last week. For some reason my e-mail wasmessed up and hasn't been sending my e-mails that i wrote. I'm prettyfrustrated about it to cuz i wrote some pretty long e-mails! Hopefully your ableto recieve this one. Thank you for checking my Checking account for me. I loveyou guys and i love reading your emails and letters. next week i'll makesure that i send a better e-mail but for now i'm out of time because i spentall my time on the email i sent earlier that didnt send. Well thats the way lifeis sometimes i guess. Remeber I love you!
Elder Lopez
Elder Lopez
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Weathering out the storm (email dated 10/14/2008)
Well it's been a full week out here the field and i'm starting to get how things are done around here in the Mission field. This is definatley good training for Life. I mean i have to go shope for myself and even cook, like with a stove not just a microwave... I'm even searching for a house to live in so we can start this new Area up that we've been assigned. Actually techanicaly right now we dont even have our own Area, becasue they still have'nt decided where exactly they want to put the line to seperate our area from the others. So this passed week consisted of a lot of walking and biking around in different areas trying to get a feel for Ponce.
It's been raining a fair amount here and every time it does i just think its probably snowing back home. I dont think that i'm going to see very much snow for the next 2 years of my life. While we were out toking (going house to house) this week we got cought in pretty bad rain storm unprepared. It pretty much looking like we went swimming with our clothes on. Yeah, and to make things just a little worse i was wearing my only silk tie i have out here and it took a really bad beating. Silk and rain dont mix well together. But you know what its all just part of the missionary life. I guess you could say it buildes character. Its all good though the work goes on. We had our P-day changed to tuesday this week because it was Columbus day yesterday and when there is a holiday we work because people are at home with their family's. It turned out to be a really good time to work though. We had our best success yet yesterday. We got 4 return visits and i'm excited to finaly get out and teach some lessons. One lady that we got a return visit with really needs our message and i dont think it was by accident that we talked with her. We talked with her for a little bit and bore testimony of the gospel and that we know that there is a plan for us to return to live with our Father again in Heaven and we are all childeren of our Heavenly Father. As we were talking she told us that her brother was killed not to long ago and the funeral was going to be on Wednesday. So we scheduled a return visit with here on thursday! Yeah it seems to good to be true right! I pray that we're able to teach her this week with the spirit, and that the spirit will touch her Heart so that she'll want to hear more.
In church this week they introduced my companion and I to the ward and had us stand up and be recognized. The ward is really full of nice people that i would love to talk with more often but right now my conversation skills in spanish are still limited...But i try. We had a nice dinner with some members on sunday and had potatos. The potatos reminded me of sunday dinners back home. Oh how i miss those dinners. I'm still trying to get used to cooking for myself. I'm not exactly sure on all the things i like to make yet, so right now i'm still experimenting on what to buy from the store to eat. Hopefully over the next two years i learn to be a good cook. (so if anyone back home has some nice easy recipes that they'd want to send me I'd be very gratefull!) Oh yeah and Mom you'd be proud to hear that i've been buying soy milk here because the regulare milk taste even worse than the soy... I'm actualy learning to like it. Oh yeah i'd ate some shrimp at a members house and it wasn't to bad. You learn to like everything on the mission i guess.
Thank you all so much for you support and love; All of you back home help to keep me going. I cant thank you enough and remeber your always in my prayers and i love you all!
Your's Truely,
Elder Lopez
It's been raining a fair amount here and every time it does i just think its probably snowing back home. I dont think that i'm going to see very much snow for the next 2 years of my life. While we were out toking (going house to house) this week we got cought in pretty bad rain storm unprepared. It pretty much looking like we went swimming with our clothes on. Yeah, and to make things just a little worse i was wearing my only silk tie i have out here and it took a really bad beating. Silk and rain dont mix well together. But you know what its all just part of the missionary life. I guess you could say it buildes character. Its all good though the work goes on. We had our P-day changed to tuesday this week because it was Columbus day yesterday and when there is a holiday we work because people are at home with their family's. It turned out to be a really good time to work though. We had our best success yet yesterday. We got 4 return visits and i'm excited to finaly get out and teach some lessons. One lady that we got a return visit with really needs our message and i dont think it was by accident that we talked with her. We talked with her for a little bit and bore testimony of the gospel and that we know that there is a plan for us to return to live with our Father again in Heaven and we are all childeren of our Heavenly Father. As we were talking she told us that her brother was killed not to long ago and the funeral was going to be on Wednesday. So we scheduled a return visit with here on thursday! Yeah it seems to good to be true right! I pray that we're able to teach her this week with the spirit, and that the spirit will touch her Heart so that she'll want to hear more.
In church this week they introduced my companion and I to the ward and had us stand up and be recognized. The ward is really full of nice people that i would love to talk with more often but right now my conversation skills in spanish are still limited...But i try. We had a nice dinner with some members on sunday and had potatos. The potatos reminded me of sunday dinners back home. Oh how i miss those dinners. I'm still trying to get used to cooking for myself. I'm not exactly sure on all the things i like to make yet, so right now i'm still experimenting on what to buy from the store to eat. Hopefully over the next two years i learn to be a good cook. (so if anyone back home has some nice easy recipes that they'd want to send me I'd be very gratefull!) Oh yeah and Mom you'd be proud to hear that i've been buying soy milk here because the regulare milk taste even worse than the soy... I'm actualy learning to like it. Oh yeah i'd ate some shrimp at a members house and it wasn't to bad. You learn to like everything on the mission i guess.
Thank you all so much for you support and love; All of you back home help to keep me going. I cant thank you enough and remeber your always in my prayers and i love you all!
Your's Truely,
Elder Lopez
Monday, October 6, 2008
The Real Mission
Well it's a new life here in the real mission field. The flight over here to to Puerto Rico was nice and i was releved when i finally met my mission President. He's a great guy and his wife is Awesome. The mission President and i have the same time left on our missions so we're preping the this mission to hand over to the next mission Pres.
My date to come home is Aug. 5th 2010. Yup you can start the count down....Actually it would probably be best if you didnt. Anyway my first day in Puerto Rico i stayed at the Mission Presidents house and had a real nice dinner over there. Their house was really nice and i could see myself living in one like it here Puerto Rico when i grow old. Its so beautiful here! The only down side is that its way humid here and you sweat no matter where you are. Anyway my one day at the Presidents house had to come to an end and then i got thrown around like a little child i felt like. We drove to one of the Chapels and all the Missionaries were there, except for the ones down in the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonier, and Curaco). I met my new companion there. His name is Elder Haskell from west Jordan Utah. He knows his spanish pretty good and he's a fun companion to be with at least so far. We'll see how it goes as time goes on. Once i got my new companion we got a new area too. When i say new I mean brand new. Elder Haskell and i have the job of opening a brand new area called "Ponce 5". There spliting one of the Areas here up so we get to go find a new house and start a new Area from nothing. Right now we're living with 2 othere Elders, Elder Martinez from the DR and Elder Powell from Oregon. Its a pretty big job for a brand new greeny to get to try and help his companion open a brand new area from scratch, but i think i'm up for it.
My 1st time "toking" was a good experience though. Toking is what they call tracking here in Puerto Rico. people usually have gates around their homes and i guess its rude to walk in so we stand out side and have to yell to get them to come out. Yeah i thought it was a little wierd too. Its not to bad though. As we were going we talked to this one man that was Catholic and he was interested in hearing our message but wouldnt really except anything we said. I know he could feel the spirit touch him because he was standing there moving around a lot and i just seemed like he was trying to find out what it was he was feeling. We started to talk about the trinity and my Companion shared some scriptures from the Bible and explained how God, Christ, and the HG are three different personages. We pretty much gave him the 1st lesson and i was able to recite the 1st vision to him. That was a great experience and felt so good. We eventualy had to leave and asked him to pray about the things we had talked about. I sure hope he does.
Saturday was a really special day because it was conference! How lucky am i to get out here in the field on conference weekend. Anyway we all went to the Chapel to watch Conference and unfortunitly the power to the Chapel wasn't working and we missed almost the entire first session. They finaly got it to work right before the last talk by Elder Utchdorf on Hope. I was sure glad i got to watch that talk because i felt like that talk was specificly for me. Learning a language isnt the easiest thing to do and i learned that i must have a hope in order to learn Spanish...After conference we had a BBQ with all the missionaries that are in our zone at our Apartment inbetween the conference sessions. It was good to get to know all the Missionaries. One of the Elders out here is playing Baseball at BYU when he gets back home. His name is Elder Wells. Small world huh? We talked for a while about baseball and just everything. He's a really cool guy and has been out here for a year about. He's an outfielder. After the afternoon session was over Elder Martinez had a Baptism for a boy named Ricardo. He's 14 and likes to play baseball. He's good kid and i was actually able to be the witness for his Baptizm! I felt way honord to be able to be one of his witness. Missionary work is great!The natives here speak really fast and are hard to understand but give me a couple of years and i'll get it. Well thats all thats coming to my mind that happend here in my first week on my mission thats worthy of telling. For the most part i felt out of place and didnt know a thing i was doing, but i'm still alive. And what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger right? So i guess you can just say that i'm a little more stronger now.
So whats going on Back home?
My address here is:
Puerto Rico San Juan West Mission
Urb. Jardines de Caparra
500 Calle Marginal Norte
Bayamón, PR 009559
All the letters are just sent to that address and then they bring them to us, so that will be my address for the rest of my mission. I'd love to read Your É-mails to so thank you all and God Bless!
Elder Lopez
My date to come home is Aug. 5th 2010. Yup you can start the count down....Actually it would probably be best if you didnt. Anyway my first day in Puerto Rico i stayed at the Mission Presidents house and had a real nice dinner over there. Their house was really nice and i could see myself living in one like it here Puerto Rico when i grow old. Its so beautiful here! The only down side is that its way humid here and you sweat no matter where you are. Anyway my one day at the Presidents house had to come to an end and then i got thrown around like a little child i felt like. We drove to one of the Chapels and all the Missionaries were there, except for the ones down in the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonier, and Curaco). I met my new companion there. His name is Elder Haskell from west Jordan Utah. He knows his spanish pretty good and he's a fun companion to be with at least so far. We'll see how it goes as time goes on. Once i got my new companion we got a new area too. When i say new I mean brand new. Elder Haskell and i have the job of opening a brand new area called "Ponce 5". There spliting one of the Areas here up so we get to go find a new house and start a new Area from nothing. Right now we're living with 2 othere Elders, Elder Martinez from the DR and Elder Powell from Oregon. Its a pretty big job for a brand new greeny to get to try and help his companion open a brand new area from scratch, but i think i'm up for it.
My 1st time "toking" was a good experience though. Toking is what they call tracking here in Puerto Rico. people usually have gates around their homes and i guess its rude to walk in so we stand out side and have to yell to get them to come out. Yeah i thought it was a little wierd too. Its not to bad though. As we were going we talked to this one man that was Catholic and he was interested in hearing our message but wouldnt really except anything we said. I know he could feel the spirit touch him because he was standing there moving around a lot and i just seemed like he was trying to find out what it was he was feeling. We started to talk about the trinity and my Companion shared some scriptures from the Bible and explained how God, Christ, and the HG are three different personages. We pretty much gave him the 1st lesson and i was able to recite the 1st vision to him. That was a great experience and felt so good. We eventualy had to leave and asked him to pray about the things we had talked about. I sure hope he does.
Saturday was a really special day because it was conference! How lucky am i to get out here in the field on conference weekend. Anyway we all went to the Chapel to watch Conference and unfortunitly the power to the Chapel wasn't working and we missed almost the entire first session. They finaly got it to work right before the last talk by Elder Utchdorf on Hope. I was sure glad i got to watch that talk because i felt like that talk was specificly for me. Learning a language isnt the easiest thing to do and i learned that i must have a hope in order to learn Spanish...After conference we had a BBQ with all the missionaries that are in our zone at our Apartment inbetween the conference sessions. It was good to get to know all the Missionaries. One of the Elders out here is playing Baseball at BYU when he gets back home. His name is Elder Wells. Small world huh? We talked for a while about baseball and just everything. He's a really cool guy and has been out here for a year about. He's an outfielder. After the afternoon session was over Elder Martinez had a Baptism for a boy named Ricardo. He's 14 and likes to play baseball. He's good kid and i was actually able to be the witness for his Baptizm! I felt way honord to be able to be one of his witness. Missionary work is great!The natives here speak really fast and are hard to understand but give me a couple of years and i'll get it. Well thats all thats coming to my mind that happend here in my first week on my mission thats worthy of telling. For the most part i felt out of place and didnt know a thing i was doing, but i'm still alive. And what doesnt kill you only makes you stronger right? So i guess you can just say that i'm a little more stronger now.
So whats going on Back home?
My address here is:
Puerto Rico San Juan West Mission
Urb. Jardines de Caparra
500 Calle Marginal Norte
Bayamón, PR 009559
All the letters are just sent to that address and then they bring them to us, so that will be my address for the rest of my mission. I'd love to read Your É-mails to so thank you all and God Bless!
Elder Lopez
Friday, October 3, 2008
Puerto Rico Missionaries
Bienvenidos a Puerto Rico,
Gracias por sus misioneros. Ellos son misioneros buenos. Esta es lamision mejor. Todos son animados y felices.
Thank you for your missionaries. They are good missionaries. This isthe best mission. They are all excited and happy.
Con amor,
Hna. Martineau
You have been sent two pictures.
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Puerto Rico, here comes Elder Lopez!
We'll i'm here in paradise aka "Puerto Rico"! I made it safe and sound and the plane that we took was one of those little planes with the propelers on the wings and you have to walk out on the run way because the planes not big enough to reach the little tunnel thingy...
Anyway my Mission President and his Wife Hermana Martineau are great. I feel like i'm just at home with them. Their spoiling us with some great food at their house but in the morining i'm going to have to fend for myself out in the El Campo,(the mission field).
Well i just got time enough to e-mail you this and let you know all is well. Oh yeah and my p-day is on mondays and my mailing address for my whole mission is:
Elder Bret Lopez
Puerto Rico San Juan West Mission
Urb. Jardines de Caparra
500 Calle Marginal Norte
Bayamon, PR 00959
I love you all!
Elder Lopez
Anyway my Mission President and his Wife Hermana Martineau are great. I feel like i'm just at home with them. Their spoiling us with some great food at their house but in the morining i'm going to have to fend for myself out in the El Campo,(the mission field).
Well i just got time enough to e-mail you this and let you know all is well. Oh yeah and my p-day is on mondays and my mailing address for my whole mission is:
Elder Bret Lopez
Puerto Rico San Juan West Mission
Urb. Jardines de Caparra
500 Calle Marginal Norte
Bayamon, PR 00959
I love you all!
Elder Lopez
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Last week in the CCM (email dated 09/25/2008)
Well this is going to be my last email from the CCM. I cant believe my time is done here and now i get to go out into the world and preach the Gospel to the people of Puerto Rico! Its going to be such a great experience for the next two years. I'm really feeling ansy to be able to get out of this place... I mean dont get me wrong i love the people here and all the teachers are great! But being in one building and and only using one floor of that building for six weeks is starting to get to me. i want to get out there into the world and walk around. At least on Mondays here they'd give us a little taste of what the outside world is like by letting us go to the University.
This week was our last week going to the University actually, because next week we'll be getting ready to leave for tuesday morning. The proselyting went really well though, and we ended on our best time yet. We just went this time and bore short but sincere testimonies to as many people as we could. It went way good, we actually were able to talk to 35 people and recieved 35 phone numbers. Yeah i was shocked when we got back to the class room and started to count up our numbers. It really didnt even seem like we did that much. The best part about it was that when we were leaving to go back to the CCM we ran into one of the guys that we had talked to the previews week! He rocognized us and was excited to see us. He wanted to meet with us agian next week but we're going to be gone, but he gave us his number again anyway. Latter that day i talked to one of my teachers here Hermano Mediovilla and he said he'd give him a call for us since we're not going to be here. I felt good about the whole thing and know he's in good hands with Hermano Mediovilla. I pray that all goes well with him and he's able to recieve the gospel!
This sunday we were able to watch a movie for our fireside. We watched the Testament which is a great movie! There was a part that i actually had to cover my companions eyes because the kiss for one second. Yeah i know i'm a good comp. just looking out for his best interest. We dont need to bother looking or even thinking of that stuff our here on the Lords time.
Anyway not much else happened this week. Just the usual sit in class try and learn/speak spanish. The spanish is actually getting a little bit better. I'm still about 4 or 5 months away from being able to have a good conversation with anyone but its coming none the less. Some things just take time...
So How's everyting back home? I love getting all your emails and letters. Ryan i was happy to read that your still palying ball and crushing Bombs on High School size fields. By the time i get home your going to have teach me how to hit again. Cory i hear your just bulldozing through kids in football. You might have to start taking it easy on them a little.( on 2nd thought, no dont do that. Keep it up!). Jessi you need to keep an eye on your two brothers and keep them in line k! Skyler i hear your doing great at football too. Keep up the hard work buddy. Sierra & Brooklyn I hear you 2 are dancing now. I miss dancing with you two and Jessi to the High School Musical CD. Its alright though time will fly by and we'll be back to dancing before to long. I hope your taking good care of your little sister Kelly too. And Andrew I hope your taking good care of your little sister, Hayle down in ST. George! I love you bud, and dont beat to many kids in games at P.E. ok. We'll I'm running out of time so i got to sign off... I love you all and thank you all for your emails!!!!! Next time i write it will be from the Beautifull Island of Puerto Rico!!!
With Love,
Elder Lopez
This week was our last week going to the University actually, because next week we'll be getting ready to leave for tuesday morning. The proselyting went really well though, and we ended on our best time yet. We just went this time and bore short but sincere testimonies to as many people as we could. It went way good, we actually were able to talk to 35 people and recieved 35 phone numbers. Yeah i was shocked when we got back to the class room and started to count up our numbers. It really didnt even seem like we did that much. The best part about it was that when we were leaving to go back to the CCM we ran into one of the guys that we had talked to the previews week! He rocognized us and was excited to see us. He wanted to meet with us agian next week but we're going to be gone, but he gave us his number again anyway. Latter that day i talked to one of my teachers here Hermano Mediovilla and he said he'd give him a call for us since we're not going to be here. I felt good about the whole thing and know he's in good hands with Hermano Mediovilla. I pray that all goes well with him and he's able to recieve the gospel!
This sunday we were able to watch a movie for our fireside. We watched the Testament which is a great movie! There was a part that i actually had to cover my companions eyes because the kiss for one second. Yeah i know i'm a good comp. just looking out for his best interest. We dont need to bother looking or even thinking of that stuff our here on the Lords time.
Anyway not much else happened this week. Just the usual sit in class try and learn/speak spanish. The spanish is actually getting a little bit better. I'm still about 4 or 5 months away from being able to have a good conversation with anyone but its coming none the less. Some things just take time...
So How's everyting back home? I love getting all your emails and letters. Ryan i was happy to read that your still palying ball and crushing Bombs on High School size fields. By the time i get home your going to have teach me how to hit again. Cory i hear your just bulldozing through kids in football. You might have to start taking it easy on them a little.( on 2nd thought, no dont do that. Keep it up!). Jessi you need to keep an eye on your two brothers and keep them in line k! Skyler i hear your doing great at football too. Keep up the hard work buddy. Sierra & Brooklyn I hear you 2 are dancing now. I miss dancing with you two and Jessi to the High School Musical CD. Its alright though time will fly by and we'll be back to dancing before to long. I hope your taking good care of your little sister Kelly too. And Andrew I hope your taking good care of your little sister, Hayle down in ST. George! I love you bud, and dont beat to many kids in games at P.E. ok. We'll I'm running out of time so i got to sign off... I love you all and thank you all for your emails!!!!! Next time i write it will be from the Beautifull Island of Puerto Rico!!!
With Love,
Elder Lopez
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
And the work goes on (email dated 09/18/2008)
All in all it was a good week. But honostly when isn't there a good week out here in the mission field. Elder Sellers wanted to get up at 5:50 am to read our e-mails so right now back home its about 4 in the morning. Mom i bet your up, but as for everyone else i'm sure your sound asleep.
The weather here hasent changed one bit. We dont have the trees that change nice pretty colors here, but we do have some really pretty palm trees around the temple grouds. We went on a little walk during one of our breaks around the temple and saw like 50 little lizzards running around. It was pretty neet. I loved to watch them change colors for whatever back ground they were in.
Anyway we get to go to the Temple today which i'm way stoked for! the Temple is like a fresh breath of air every time we get to go. This week i was able to play catch during gym for a little with one of the Elders here. He's from North Carolina and brought his glove. i think i might have told you a little about it in my last letter. It felt really good to get out there and to throw the ball around for a bit. The arm feels good. at least it did for the little bit i threw. Mostly for Gym i either play basketball which is fun. the only down part is with all the humididy outside i have to go in and shower after cuz i sweat so much. Its all good though its a good work out. I'm still the same size and weight as when i came in. We'll have to see how that keeps up for the rest of these two years.
We got a new hermana in our district this week, actually two. One of them just flew in from the states last night. she only had a week in the states before she had to come out here becaust Hermana Etwaroo came straight here to the DR MTC because here country Guyana wasnt gettting any visas to go to the US. She's been having a rough week especially because she just got thrown into a country were she doesnt really understand anything thats going on. It will be good that she has a companion thats in the same boat as here now.
Last saturday and monday we were able to go to the University to prosolyte. Its getting better every time we go. When we went on Saturday i just decided i was going to talk with as many people as possible and we were able to get 34 contacts and 26 referals. Thats by far the best we had ever done. We would just go up to anyone and everyone. there was this one time when there was a group of like 5 or 6 people and one of them was looking at us so i just went up and starting talking t o her and we ended up just talking with them all at once. it was great.
We went again to the Universtiy on monday and we didnt get as many references but thats because when we would talk to people it was for a long time. We ran into this one member with all of her friends. We introduced ourselves and found out that they all were learning English. so they wanted to talk with us in english. That was pretty neet but we decided to make a deal with them. I told them we'd work on our spanish with them and they could work on our English with us. so thats what we did. It Went so good. We gave them our little message on one of the comandment to read the scriptures and to always be obediant to the lords will and stuff and they were all interested. it was a dream come true and then we just let them ask there questions in English as best they could, it was great. We were able to answer all there questions. We both bore testimony to them in Spanish and in English, we even had the one member t hat was there bear here testimony to them in english. It was great! I Was on cloud 9 the whole time! I could feel the spirit and i knew they could to. As we were teaching like 2 or 3 other people came to listen to us and hear what we had to say and aked questions. After about 20 or 30 min we gave them all commitment to go to church this sunday with there friend that was a member. I hope at least one of them goes. We gave them all little pamphlets about the church and got all there numbers for the missionary's! It was a great experience.
On Tuesday we had a General Authority come and speak with us who's name was Elder Johnson from the Seventy. It was really good. the only down part is that it was all in Spanish... Its alright though i'll get used to it on the Lords time. I was actually happy with all that i could understand. For the most part it was just the natives that were involved in the lesson but i think i followed pretty well for only haveing been learning this language for a month and half. So that was really good and i got some good notes on how to become a better missionary. we were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie to which is a definate tear jurker... I love that movie and the spirit is so strong when we watch it.
Well my time is winding down so remember i Love all of you back home!
And to answer Skyler, Sierra, and Brooklyn's questions. I'm in the Dominican Republic right now learning how to speak Spanish. I'm teaching people in Spanish about the Church. I wont be back for a couple of years but thats alright cuz the time will fly by. Just remember i love you all and think about you and pray for you every night! I love you guys!
With LOVE, Elder Lopez
PS. Mom and Dad, behaive yourselves on your little trip to San Diego!
The weather here hasent changed one bit. We dont have the trees that change nice pretty colors here, but we do have some really pretty palm trees around the temple grouds. We went on a little walk during one of our breaks around the temple and saw like 50 little lizzards running around. It was pretty neet. I loved to watch them change colors for whatever back ground they were in.
Anyway we get to go to the Temple today which i'm way stoked for! the Temple is like a fresh breath of air every time we get to go. This week i was able to play catch during gym for a little with one of the Elders here. He's from North Carolina and brought his glove. i think i might have told you a little about it in my last letter. It felt really good to get out there and to throw the ball around for a bit. The arm feels good. at least it did for the little bit i threw. Mostly for Gym i either play basketball which is fun. the only down part is with all the humididy outside i have to go in and shower after cuz i sweat so much. Its all good though its a good work out. I'm still the same size and weight as when i came in. We'll have to see how that keeps up for the rest of these two years.
We got a new hermana in our district this week, actually two. One of them just flew in from the states last night. she only had a week in the states before she had to come out here becaust Hermana Etwaroo came straight here to the DR MTC because here country Guyana wasnt gettting any visas to go to the US. She's been having a rough week especially because she just got thrown into a country were she doesnt really understand anything thats going on. It will be good that she has a companion thats in the same boat as here now.
Last saturday and monday we were able to go to the University to prosolyte. Its getting better every time we go. When we went on Saturday i just decided i was going to talk with as many people as possible and we were able to get 34 contacts and 26 referals. Thats by far the best we had ever done. We would just go up to anyone and everyone. there was this one time when there was a group of like 5 or 6 people and one of them was looking at us so i just went up and starting talking t o her and we ended up just talking with them all at once. it was great.
We went again to the Universtiy on monday and we didnt get as many references but thats because when we would talk to people it was for a long time. We ran into this one member with all of her friends. We introduced ourselves and found out that they all were learning English. so they wanted to talk with us in english. That was pretty neet but we decided to make a deal with them. I told them we'd work on our spanish with them and they could work on our English with us. so thats what we did. It Went so good. We gave them our little message on one of the comandment to read the scriptures and to always be obediant to the lords will and stuff and they were all interested. it was a dream come true and then we just let them ask there questions in English as best they could, it was great. We were able to answer all there questions. We both bore testimony to them in Spanish and in English, we even had the one member t hat was there bear here testimony to them in english. It was great! I Was on cloud 9 the whole time! I could feel the spirit and i knew they could to. As we were teaching like 2 or 3 other people came to listen to us and hear what we had to say and aked questions. After about 20 or 30 min we gave them all commitment to go to church this sunday with there friend that was a member. I hope at least one of them goes. We gave them all little pamphlets about the church and got all there numbers for the missionary's! It was a great experience.
On Tuesday we had a General Authority come and speak with us who's name was Elder Johnson from the Seventy. It was really good. the only down part is that it was all in Spanish... Its alright though i'll get used to it on the Lords time. I was actually happy with all that i could understand. For the most part it was just the natives that were involved in the lesson but i think i followed pretty well for only haveing been learning this language for a month and half. So that was really good and i got some good notes on how to become a better missionary. we were able to watch the Joseph Smith movie to which is a definate tear jurker... I love that movie and the spirit is so strong when we watch it.
Well my time is winding down so remember i Love all of you back home!
And to answer Skyler, Sierra, and Brooklyn's questions. I'm in the Dominican Republic right now learning how to speak Spanish. I'm teaching people in Spanish about the Church. I wont be back for a couple of years but thats alright cuz the time will fly by. Just remember i love you all and think about you and pray for you every night! I love you guys!
With LOVE, Elder Lopez
PS. Mom and Dad, behaive yourselves on your little trip to San Diego!
Monday, September 15, 2008
Pictures from the SLC airport
I just got these fun pictures from Bret's Aunt Francie! These pictures are when Bret coincidentally ran into his brother-in-law, cousins, and his Aunt Francie at the SLC airport- on his way to the Dominican Republic MTC. Enjoy!
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