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

Bienvenida al Puerto Rico‏ (email dated 2/22/2010)

So Elder Lopez has made it back to the main island and is very excited to get to work! Our flight got in last Wednesday and we went to the mission home first and then from there it was off to my new area with my new companion Elder Moran from Guatamla! Yeah, he's about 5'7 i'd say and probable doesnt weigh more then 150 lbs but has the heart of a giant. These Elders that come from Guatamala are awesome and i'm glade that we're companions. He's still really young in the mission, actually this will be his second transfer in the field making him really new which is great because he's ready to work hard with me here in Vega Baja. Our area is probably one of the biggest in the mission, if not the biggest because we cover a lot of pueblos, not just Vega Baja. the nice part about that is that we have a car and its new one too...yup we're rolling in a 2009 toyota corolla. I'm feeling pretty blessed to say the least. We got up early today just so that we could wash her.

Anyway as for the work here in the area we got a lot of area to cover and some good investigators that are going to progress towards baptism i believe. We have this one guy named Freddy who i think has ADHD but loves the gospel and the BOM and to come to church. He lives way out in the mountains which takes us about 40 min. to get to for our lessons. I guess he was a reference that they had recieved from to office or something. His baptismal date was for this next week end but were going to have to see if we can move it today because he's living with his girl friend and their not married yet. So that is going to put a delay on the work a little, but i'm sure he'll be willing to repent and get married with her. I'll have to write you next week and tell you what happens tonight. He loves coming to church and has read almost up to Alma in the BOM which shows a lot of progress! If he keeps on progressing like he is right now i'm positive he'll be hitting the water of baptism.

Also yesterday we were at church and received a referece of an inactive member to go visit in our area. So we went over there yesterday and found to our happy suprise that the member lives with his wife there and she's not baptized and right now she feels more prepared to be baptized and he wants to come back to church. The whole situation was just really cool. We went over there with our Mission leader of our ward and sat down and taught the 1st lesson with them. As we were teaching we found out that Armando was baptized a while back but went inactive and started to get caught up in the world until last week he had a complete 180 happen in him. He decieded to go to church and from there we got his info from a member. Also his wife has previously heard the lessons from the missionary's but never felt ready to be baptized but as we taught yesterday she told us that now she feels like she's ready to take the step of baptism! So we threw out the goal for her baptismal date this 27th of march thats coming up! Elder Moran and i felt really blessed to have been put in their path to be able to teach them and find a child of God ready to follow His path. All of this and the fact that our appartment is basicaly on the beach made our week here in Puerto Rico a great first week to start the transfer off with!

Well that's the great news from the mission field and i hope all are doing well back home!

Much Love,

Elder Lopez

New email system (email dated Feb. 8th, 2010)

Greetings from the Island of Curacao,

So looks like the Mission is starting to upgrade on these email accounts and change their system which changed my email addrss to bret.lopez@myldsmail.net. So it would probably be good to start sending your emails to this account. In the information it says that all the emails that are sent to the other address will automaticaly be sent to the new account so that you dont have to worry to much. But if Lachelle could put that up on the blog that would be cool. Thanks!

In other news from the island of Curacao we saw a great dolphin show last p-day at the sea aquarium. Yeah, dolphins are pretty much an amazing animal i decided after waching them do all of the their jumps and flips out of the water. It took me back to those good old days when Mom and Dad took us to Sea World and we watched the shows there. But this time i didn't sit in the splash section and i realized how amazing the dolphins really are.

Also this week we had a great week of hard work. Pretty much during the week you can count on us getting some good sun rays and a leg work out on those bikes of ours. But at the end of the week its all worth it because you can look back and see the difference you made in the world. What we had to look back at this week was a new member, Marlone who we baptized last week, receive the Priesthood during Elders Quorom on sunday! Yeah i was way happy to see him already getting right before i have to leave with tranfers next week. Its been such a good time watching him progess so much in the Gospel. I think i sort of know now how parents must feel to see their kids accomplish things in their life, its an awesome feeling to say the least. Man do i love this work! Also on sunday night we had a great lesson with our new golden investigator named Duan. He's 21 years old and lives with his family who's from Colombia. He came to church yesterday also which makes him progressing a bunch also. He was a little nervous at first but that is expected for your first visit, but as church went on he got a lot more confidence and started to participate and everything. When we went over that night we were able to feel the spirit tell us he was ready for a baptismal date and we set one with him for the 27th of February! And Yes he did accept it with smile on his face and a lot of desire to make it happen. He's going to be great example for his family in the changes that he's going to start making to make his baptism happen also which we're happy for because they also should be baptised here down the line but they have a little stumbling block in their way. Their little daughter who is 11 is preparing to go through the first communion in the catholic church which is every sunday morning right during church which keeps them from coming to church with us. But their more then happy to bring Duan and drop him off at church with us before they go to their catholic church which is good. Yeah you could say they still dont understand the whole authority of priesthood deal but they will here soon, so some prayers to help them except it would be awesome! Duan understands the authority fairly well but we're still going to have to make it more clear for him but that will come with time. Their doing great though for only having visited them twice... We have a lot of high hopes for them! Unfortunately i'll be leaving next week so i wont be able to see him be baptized, but thats not to important as long as he's baptized on the 27th of February!

So that about wraps up this week from the news here in curacao!

Thank you all for your Love, support, and prayers!

Love always,

Elder Lopez

Baptism (email dated 2/1/2010)

Well i'm very happy to report back home that down here on the island of Curacao we saw the waters of baptism be filled and used! Yes, Marlone was baptized on the 30th of january and he even asked if i would do it and i was more than happy to do so. He really is a good guy and is going to progress a lot i believe and turn into a very strong member down here for Curacao and it was humbling to be able to preform the ordiance for him. I really cant believe how fast this month just flew by with all of our teaching to Marlone and others.

As i look back at our time from when we meet Marlone and up to his baptism it took a total of 35 days for him to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day-saints. By far the fastes i've ever seen on my mission. He's really just a sharp guy and ready to learn. Its amazing to see what the Lord can do to change the life of a person by the power of the Holy Ghost! Mission experiences like this one are what make the Mission unforgetable and testimony builders that just cant be replaced by anything else in this world.

Also to add to the success of the week we found a really cool family of 4, all with the potential of baptism some day. They really were open to hear the message of the restoration of the gospel and liked it a lot. They said it brought a lot of peace to their family and are for sure open to hear and learn more. But we'll find out this week how reliable and responsible they are from what they do with the Book of Mormon and assignment we left with them in 3 Nephi 11. Its always a key indicater of peoples real desires from if they read the Book of Mormon or not. So we'll keep you up dated on what happens with them next week...

Well those are the highlights from this week!

Thanks so much for the love and support that you all give to me through all of your prayers. They really do have an effect on the work out hear in the field. They truely do give me energy to keep on going forward with the Lords will!
Well much Love,
Elder Lopez

Hey! (email dated 1/25/2010)

Well another week has flown by and as far as our fecha goes for the 30th everything is going good! We plan for Marlones interview to this thursday to make sure he's ready for the 30th. So keep your prayers up that everything goes according to plan. I was really amazed at how he really didnt have any problems with the law of chastity or the word of wisdom like the rest of the world does almost. He smoked a cigarrett every now and again when he would get stressed, but thats it. He said he's willing to give that up now though and look for a differet way like reading his BOM! I really think its so awesome that he's just been progressing so fast and we just found him off the street in a randome contact. Its amazing to watch the gospel and spirit do its work on those that are really prepared to hear the gospel.

In other news we found a lady who has a lot of interest now after listening to the first lesson we gave to here. She was really worried about her previese baptism in some cristian church because she understands really well that to preform a baptism you must have the authority of God to do so. Finding that out and learning about the BOM has really got her on a fishing line i believe. Its people that find interest like her and act on it that progress a lot and have the spirit touch their heart. We'll find out with time what happens, i'll be sure to keep you updated if anything happens with her.

Any how other than that the work is just moving forward and the sun is shinning bright and beating on us hard this winter. Winter here in the Caribbean is really enjoyable!
Much Love,
Elder Lopez

Tasty!

Just a taste of the food in Curacao!

Elder Lopez from Curacao

So this week was a good spiritual week with zone conference, which means president was in town. It went really good as we studyed some of Elder Bednar's talks. The pretty cool news with that is that Elder Bednar is coming to our mission to speak with us... but then there's a catch to it, he's going to Puerto Rico and not down here to the islands... So yeah, Elder Bednar will come to our mission but i probably wont get to meet him unfortunately. But what can you do about it is the question, nothing just take it for what it is at keep on moving forward.

In other news our man of Gold so far Marlone keeps on progressing! He was in church this sunday and i think his experience was a little better this time around. He's still on for the 30th of January but we'll see if that changes at all as we teach him the word of wisdom and chastity and tithing this week. 3 big commandments for the world now a day sadly. But i have a lot of faith in our man Marlone! Its awesome every time we go over there he's so willing to learn and reads every thing we give to him at least 2 times. As we taught him the Sabbath day last week he was really interested in how by going to church every week keeps us clean so that we can return to our Heavenly Father Clean from sin. We showed him 3 nephi 27:19-20 which talks about no unclean thing can enter into the kingdome of god and he really took it to his heart i believe. Especially becuase he asked us the question what happens if i dont go to church one week and i miss the cleaning by the sacrament and then i die the next week.... as heard his sincere question i thought to myself this guy is truely becoming converted because he wants to know everthing he must do to return to our loveing father in heaven!

sorry i have to end this early but if i dont send it now i'll run out of time!
i love you all hope your week is great!
Love elder lopez

BON DIA NA TUR‏ (email dated 1/11/2010)

Wow, another transfer in the books and a new one just starting up! Its sarting off really good right now also with a lot of potential. All the hard work last transfer is starting to pay off right now. We have a baptismal date for the 30th of january with Marlone but he still has a little way to go. I really feel he needs to understand the importance of prayer in his conversion and his decision he's going to make better. So this next week we're going to have to see what we can do to help him out with that. He's reading everything we give to him which is awesome, but he did miss out on church this week. We past by his house afterward to see what happened and his nephew came out and told us he was feeling sick and to call him today... thats not always the best sign when that happens, but we'll give him the benifit of the doubt for now until we see him againg tomorrow. I feel he's a little nervous right now but i think if he can get to church next week it will smooth everything out. So were going to keep Malone in our prayers!

Also last week we came across a really cool Dominican lady named Glen and her daughter Isglainy who's 9 years old. Their great and love us coming over to teach them about the restoration. Glen is even understanding pretty well all we've taught her in only 2 visits. She even said she'd be bapized if she feels in her heart what we teach is true; and we all know its true its just up to her to ask our Heavenly Father. I have a lot of hope for her though. The obstacle for her though is going to be getting her to church... But we'll figure something out.

So things here on the island of Curacao are starting to look pretty good! We just got to keep on doing our part and the Lord for sure will do his part.

Oh yeah and by the way having a Puerto Rican companion is pretty fun because i'm starting to pick my spanish back up after not having used it for so long. It will come back fast though. It was pretty cool yesterday we taught a lesson in Papiamentu and then English and then Spanish to top the day off. I never thought in my life i'd be going in and out of 3 different languages. The Lord really prepares us for our callings if we do our part.
Man the mission is AWESOME!

sorry time is running out so i'm going to have to end this weeks email.
Love you,
Elder Lopez

Another transfer in the books (email dated 1/4/2010)

Yup, Another year has past and another Transfer also went with it... Yeah, that means that i only have one more transfer down here on the ABC islands before i go back to Puerto Rico. My time down here is just going by way to fast. There is a slight chance that i could go back over to aruba after this next transfer, but i think its very slight.

Anyhow enough about the future lets talk about the present. This past week we had 3 investigators come to church which was AWESOME! One is a new guy named Marlone who we just found this last week who is progressing fast and good! He's really awesome and loves to read from the BOM. We have a cita with him tomorrow so we'll see what he thought about it. I think he liked it but i'm not 100% sure yet. Then we also had Eugenia there who used to have a fecha baptismal but when december hit she had a bunch of work and couldnt get to church but now that the new year has started she's coming back and back on track! Then we also had a man who just has been coming to church lately and has been going through a lot of family problems. I guess a member invited him to come to church one day and when he came he really liked it and now he's one of our investigators!So as you can see this new year our work just totally turned around...it went from going pretty slow to picking up really fast! Its amazing to see how the Lord works some times, and i'm very grateful to be a part of it!

So my new companion is coming down from Puerto Rico today which means i'm island training again, and another cool fact about him is that he's actualy from Puerto Rico too. Yup he's a pure Boriqua as they say and i've heard that his english is so so. But we'll find out later on today when he show's up. I'm really excited to start a new year and new transfer and am looking forward to all the great experiances!

Well i better wrap this up right now but much love and i'll write you next week!
Keep on keepin on this week!
Elder Lopez

Christmas week (email dated 12/28/2009)

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!! So this Christmas week i've been reading a lot in the Book of Mormon. I was reading a lot so that i'd be able to finish it up to make the the challenge that our President gave us in the mission. The challenge was to read the whole Book Of Mormon starting November 23 and finishing it by December 31. That gave us a little over a month to start over wherever we were in the book and go through it completely again. At first i was a little pesimistic about the challenge because i had read the BOM a lot already and i was getting into studying the new testiment. But as i began to read i started to change my attitude towards the challenge and started to realize why our president had given us this challenge. In D&C 84:54-58 we can read one of the biggest reasons that President Martineau gave us this challenge. It says in those versus that we are brought under condemnation if we treat lightly the blessings that we have been given. The main blessing being the new covenet of knowing the Book of Mormon and all the commandments that God has reveled to his modern day prophets. Basicaly our president could tell and knows of the importants of the BOM in the Lords work and for that reason gave us this challenge so that we might remove any type of condenation from above our heads and preach the new and everlasting covenent that is going to bless this whole earth.

So now personaly as i've read from the pages of the BOM i have felt again a renewal and strength to a testimony that i had already had. The renewal came as i've prayerfuly read from the words of acient prophets that lived so long ago on the American content. I know that the words from these great men are true and that they truely new of Christ even though Christ lived on the other side of the world as them. Their testimony of the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ is perfect in every way and as we live the commandments that they gave we will be blessed by our loving Father in Heaven. Now that i'm about to finish the book for our Presidents challenge here in a couple of days i find myself looking forward to the year to come! I really would like to make a goal for 2010 and forward that i dont go a day with out letting the words from that book cross my eyes. I know that as we read and pray about the message that is found in the book we will grow and see the blessings of God! I also would like to invite all who are able to read this e-mail to do the same this upcoming year. By so doing we will be remembering the new covenent that God has established in our days as we read earlier in D&C!

Well i hope all have a Great week an a happy new year with great times to remember forever!! much Love,
Elder Lopez

Last full week of 2009 (email dated 12/21/2009)

Yeah its hard to believe but its true... this is the last full week of the year 2009. Man how time can just catch a plane and fly! I remember where i was a year from this moment. I was in the land of Puerto Rico kicken my butt trying to learn Spanish in the mountains of Utuado. Now i'm here on a little island just above Venezuela called Curacao kickin my butt trying to learn Papiamentu... I sure hope next christmas i'm done with this language learning thing...

Anyhow this past month has just snuck on by because its already Christmas time and that means a phone call home! I'm pretty exctied not going to lie! I hope everyone in the family has some good questions and stories to tell me! I'm sure i have tons to tell you all about whats gone on in my life this year!

So this week we had a good hard working week with a lot of contacts, and a lot of lessons, and a lot of fun! It was really fun to be all over the place teaching a lot of different people and having a lot of funny experiences!

We ran into a preacher guy this past week who we just contacted like normal, and from the get go he told us he wouldnt talk to us until we had read Act 2:36 to the end of the chapter.So it just so happens that i have studied that part in the Bible quite a bit while i've been out here on the mission. So i just quoted him verses 37 and 38 of that chapter and it sort of threw him off gaurd.. he wasnt really expecting that we'd know them of the top of our head.

So anyhow these 2 verses talk about peticost and how a bunch of people listend to the apostls and we're baptized right off the bat. Then he asked us if we had down as Peter says to do in these verses and we testified to him that we had and we left it at that and then left the man. It was a pretty funny situation because the guy was just looking to fight and we just testified to him of Christ and then left. He was pretty suprised. that was just a funny story i thought i'd trough in real quick for you guys.

well like usual the time has run out and our ride is leaven so i got to wrap this up but i'll feel you up in more detail on Christmas this week!!!
Any how for the phone call info.. I'll call you Christmas eve real quick and set up a time for christmas. I'll probably call you at 9 here which will make it 7 back home so you know.
I'll call dads cell phone to! Love you all so much!!!!

Elder Lopez

Christmas fast approaching (email dated 12.14.2009)

Wow, here we are on another week in the life of a Missionary... This past week was full of big events that were all fun but sort of took away from our time on the street working hard. So this week we are going to have to repent and make up for the lack of time we were on the street from last week. I'm looking forward to it though and am sure that if we put in our part the Lord will bless us with the fruit we need here. Any how this last week we had our christmas Conference and ward Christmas Party and a baptism from a different area on saturday with a lot of serviced mixed in there that took up all our time. The week just flew by quick and next thing i know i'm sitting down here enjoying all the letters from home. Thank you to for the letters and e'mails! You all rock! So here for our Christmas conference we boarded a plane and flew back to Aruba to have it with the whole zone of the ABC islands! I felt like a real business man because we flew out to Aruba on tuesday morning and then flew back that same night in time for a couple of appointments! Yeah, cool christmas conference though right. We got to fly and have a spiritual meetting then go out to eat at a way nice restaurant on our Mission President! Yeah it was one of those places that makes the food right in front of you and do tricks a long with it as they cook. It was pretty impressing actualy the stuff that they were able to do while cooking our food! Then after our lunch it was back to the air port to catch a plane and work the rest of the day out until 9 o'clock. So that was a fun experience to have! Then we found this really nice lady thats become sort of like our adopted grandma and just loves to feed us. Actualy it was a real blessing because last p-day we didn't have enough time to go shopping so all the food she feed us ended up saving us for the week. What we would do is go do service for her and then she would feed us after we finished cleaning up her yard. She's awesome, but she's just sort of been offish about excepting the gospel so far, but little by little we'll see what we can do with her to get her to church. She has a great family also that we're going to see if we can work with to but only time will tell. Her name is grandma Felis and cooks way good suriname's food! So in other news i was able to do a baptismal interview for a man named Oscar who's from here in Curacao and a great man that is really prepared to be baptized! He's just a man that eats up the gospel and wants more and more every day! It was an honor to be able to help open the doors of baptism for him so that he could make such an important covenent with God to get him on the straight and narrow path. Mission work is so awesome when you get to see people grow so much in Christ! So thats pretty much the hightlights of the past week! hope you enjoyed and have a great week! Love you all! Elder Lopez

Mission Front (email dated 12/7/2009)

Hey every one,

Well down here on the Island of Curacao things are Progressing slowly but there starting to go some where and we're coming across some new potential. The only problem now is going to be making sure we're getting enough lessons in with our investigators as we want to. Its starting to become a little tough because of the Christmas season everyone is to busy. For that reason i loved the talks this Christmas Conference by the 1st presidency! I was so happy to be able to even see it down here on these islands! Honestly it was such a nice fresh breath of air and edifing a the same time. Just like always though right? As i was watching the Christmas Conference this year i starting reflecting to myself, why do i as a missionary get so excited to hear the Prophets and Apostles speak? Because honestly yesterday i was basicaly just counting down the time until we could go listen to the words of the Prophets who are living today.

Then it dawned on me the reason that i get so excited, its because of the spirit that i feel as i listen to truths that they teach as they speak. AS a missionary serving the Lord 24/7 for 2 years we basicaly live off of the spirit, because with out that we are not good servents in the Lords hands. Then i started to think what exactly does the spirit do for us, and the fraise "the spirit always edify's" came to mind. So as i thought of that little fraise i realized as missionary's we're here to invite others to come unto Christ be excepting His restored Gospel and Church. Truely the only way of doing that is by teaching others or edifying others with the truthfulness of the Gospel that the spirit testifys of.

So as all of these thoughts were running through my head i realized that every time i listen to the Prophets or read their words the spirit is inviting me to become better,and thats why i feel so good. But if i dont act on what the spirit is teaching me then that spirit will go away and i'm left at where i started. Now here on the mission i've come to love the words of the Prophets so much more then before, because i'm more prone to put them in practice and act on the feelings that the spirit gives to me. I can truely testify that we are led by a true Prophet Thomas S. Monson with real Apsotles of God that were divinly chosen to lead us down the straight and narrow path. As we listen and put into practice their teachings we are edifying our spirits and as we put their words into practice we are growing spiritualy which is what really matters here in this life.So as you can probably see this past Christmas Conference was a great conference for me as i listend to good old Mo-Tab do their thing, with Presidents Uchtdorf, Eyring, and Thomas S. Monson speaking!The Christmas Spirit is in the air and lets carry it forth this whole year and not only for Christmas, always looking for Christ in everything!

MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone and i hope and pray the best for you!
Much Love,
Elder Lopez

Na Mi Mama i Tata‏

So here are some pictures that i've taken while down here in the wonderful ABC Islands!The one family where i'm holding the Book Of Mormon is Alexandras family. She's the way cool investigator we had in Aruba who is just waiting to get married before she can be baptized. Then there's a picture of Luisa's family on the last day we visited her before i was transfered. then theres a picture at all the languages we come in contact with here in these Islands that were in and have to find a way to comunicate in Papiamentu, Spanish or inglish. Yeah pretty crazzy huh. i'm pretty sure there are 9 different languages there of Books of mormon that we have to five to people we meet. A lot of culture right?....Also the bowling was one of our Pday activities we just barely did down here in Curacao! So as you can see were making memories down here that last a life time!

Getting to know Curacao‏

Bon Dia,

Con ta bia mi kerido famia i amigunan?! Mi ta spera tur kos ta bon bon pasobra Tata Celestial stimanos hopi! Well i just thought i'd through a little of papiamento in there for you to let you see how we speak out here in Curacao. Its really a fun language to be honest. its really similar to spanish which makes it easier to pick up but it still comes out the mouth a little rough... ma poco poco manera e hende ta bisa no. ( but little by little like they say right?) We had a good building week this week here in our area my 1st week here. The whole week just was spent trying to get a hold of our investigators because they all had things coming up and canceling our visits which made it really tough. So i wasnt able to even meet all of our investigators this week but i did meet most of them. We have a couple of promising investigators named Nilson and his wife Anna. Their actualy from Colombia and have been here for a couple of years. They really seem to have interse in finding more happiness from what we've been teaching and have been injoying us coming over. But they didnt make it to church this week which was sort of a blow for us because we were so excited for them to come... but sometimes that happens i guess... We'll have better luck next week though and they'll get up intime to come to church.

The Branch here is pretty cool and should help us out a lot to help this branch grow! I'm looking forward to working with them and making some good relations so we can get the work moving here! My district is a great district also which always makes things injoyable... oh yeah i'm district leader again by the way... i dont rembember if i metioned that last week or not. it will be fun. I'm starting to get to the point in my mission were i really dont remember what it was like to be at home in the real world. I think i actually hit that a couple of months ago but i never really thought about it. Mission work has just become my way of life now and its awesome! It full of fun moments mixed in with some funny experiences that only happen on the mission. I cant believe how fast time has flown though and its almost christmas already. Decemeber has made it and 2009 is coming to an end... looks like my year of none exsitence is coming to an end rapidly.. ugh oh... anyhow to be honest that about sums up my week here in Curacao because nothing else is coming to mind and time is running short. So until next time, God speed! Ayo.

Elder Lopez

A New Island (email datd 11/24/2009)

HEY, Well i'm sure your wondering where could Elder Lopez be at right now... and the answer is Curacao!! Its an island right next to Aruba! Its a lot bigger then Aruba i'm begining to realize and I'm stoked to be able to serve hear on such a beautiful island with a awesome companion also! I'm with Elder Turner from Layton Utah. He's a big boy, he played football at Weber and we get a long great. Really i think it might be impossible to not be able to get a long with him, were going to have an awesome transfer together. So as you can tell i'm pretty excited to be able to be here and start a whole new transfer for the holiday season. Unfortunately Thanksgiving isn't really known here but i'll have you all know i'm very thankful for you all back home and your thoughts and prayers that are always with me.

So my last week in Aruba was spent with a lot of hard work like usual, preparing all of our investigators the best i could before i left. I was happy to leave it in a good condition with some future baptism waiting to happen which is always great to be able to do but tough to leave...Alexandra's husband, Alexander, came to church and had a great experience which i think is going to help him a lot to progress toward baptism. It was tough to leave their family behind but i'm sure that they will be getting baptized here down the road and enjoy the blessings of the gospel in their family!

Also i had to say good bye to Luisa and her family which was really tough but good none the less. She's doing so good right now and learning every day and strengthing her testimony and looking forward to going to the temple in the future! Not only that but she was liking the idea if some way i would be able to go with her because it would be after i return home and i'd be free for that maybe... Cool thought!!! oh yeah, and you could pretty much say that i got a new home in Aruba!!! Definately going to have to take advatage of that some day!

So as you can see i'm very content and happy with life right now and am looking forward to making a bunch of new memory's this transfer here in Curacao. I arrived yesterday and we went out and worked, because P-day is on tuesday during transfers, and we came across a family who came out and recieved us very happily! Always a good sign! so we started to talk with them and then they told us that they had heard the missionary's before through their friends who had moved so they lost contact i guess. They said they really enjoyed it though as the missionary's visited them before and said they'd love to have us over again. As you can see the Lord is blessing us already on our first day of the transfer to get it started off right with finding a great family with some potential. So we're passing by tonight to visit them with the whole family present! Hopefuly all goes well! Looks like you'll have to tune in next week to find out for sure. .. I know the suspense.

Well that about sums it up for now in the life of Elder Lopez so until next time much love, and remember i am really thankful for you all this thanksgiving week and all the rest also!
Love,
Elder Lopez