8 COW COMPANION!

Hey EVERYONE!
So you can probably tell by the title that my companion is amazing.
He is from Washington (the state) like three hours from Uncle John and Aunt Mary Ann. He played Football in high school and is going to Snow College to play ball after the mission. He is wicked good at Spanish and is pumped up to baptize in September. We were instantly best friends, lets just say we have both been blessed. We had super dates this week with over 13 lessons taught on Saturday alone. He is quickly getting to know the members but is still kind of lost. Good thing he has a companion that knows the area. ha ha.
This week in companionship study we started studying the plan of salvation, then we got side track on the temple and then my "Scripture Journal" just popped up out of nowhere with all my awesome scripture refences that I have collected. (Thanks mom that journal actually has came in handy) We then just decided to start reading all the talks my Mom has sent me because they are awesome. Everything seemed to go together perfectly, from Calling and Election to using the Enabling Power of the Atonement. We are helping each other learn all the scripture mastery and have some fantastico plans for September.
So we had some pretty good experiences this week. Our first door we contacted as a companionship was great. They let us in and we started asking questions and teaching two ladies while they were cooking. They were not really interested in our message but the husband came out and invited us to eat fish and so we sat down and the man was like "look at this" scooping up a tortilla with alot of salsa and fish. "ok, pass me the salsa." Elder Nelson said. We each dipped in and drenched or tortillas in salsa. OOOH YEAH! I have gotten used to it. It did not actually sting that bad and I didn't cry. (You can ask my companion) After a minute or two my companion whispered to me. "Elder I am going to eat a fish eye." I watched him eat a fish eye. "Elder why don't you stop being a girl and eat one too." So we both ate another fish eye. ja ja. "Where did you catch this fish?" asked Elder Nelson. "The Lagoona" the man answered. We both gave each other a weird look, thanked the family for the food and left.
The next thing we know we are at Chuchitas house and she is offering us tortuga eggs (turtle eggs) I ask her to pass me one. "Another thing to write in my journal" I told my companion. I pinched the outershell and a white bubble came out of the top. That was enough for me. I chickened out and sat down.
The daughter of hermana chuchita got back from being a local missionary in Chipo. She baptized 11 or more in three months. Sure made me feel great. Sounds like she had fun and enjoyed being a missionary for a minute. We will use her to be a friend to our investigators.
Well, the adventures went on throughout the week. We gave four or five blessings to people in need and I now have a little more experience using the priesthood power.
So we made up a plan to teach all of our investigators about the importance of going to church and read from Moroni 6:4-6. So at lunch I asked a young member to be a missionary and I then told him that him that his calling just came in and that he was going to be a missionary today. So we went out Luis, Elder Nelson and I and we taught 8 lessons, committing 8 people to come to church tomorrow. Well, we passed by almost all 8 people and all 8 people ended up not going to church. Good thing is that Hermana Reyes brought her friend to church and it ended up counting as a new investigator.
In Priesthood the High Councilor was asking for a conference liahona and no one had one with them. President Diaz pulled out the liahona for this month.
"Oh, there is a good article in there about where we have the true church" and then everyone wanted me to teach the class. So I read parts of Elder Oaks talk and talked about the three points of why we have the true church. The only sad but funny part was that hermano Gonzalez almost fell off his chair because he was snoring during my lesson. I was not mad, I really got a kick out of it though.
The part everyone liked the most this week was branch family home evening. I decided to share my talent of music. We were just going to sing hymns but then I had an idea to share one of my talents. Conducting. I taught the small branch how to read music in 5 minutes and then how to lead in three four and then in four four time. Everyone was conducting Sunday in sacrament meeting. It was quite the site from the piano to look over and see the little kids waving there hands in circles. ha ha.
I also started to teach Elder Nelson how to play the piano. He can now site read the right hand slowly. He knows all the note names and is learning flats and sharps next Sunday.
I am excited for district meeting because Elder Lauda is our new district leader. He was just assistant. He called me three time last night and three time during the week. He is a really good leader checking how everyone is doing. I always answered the phone as a pizza guy or subway dude. It is funny. I am not going to do that anymore.
Anyway, onward christian soldiers.
Love
Elder Chadwick

AUGUST 22, 2011

The famous Chadwick pancakes!

How we get around!

Some of my stuff in our house.


Well, I am on the Internet and have not received my new companion yet. His name is Elder Nelson. I know he is from the US. That is all I know.
It is raining right now, that is good because it was a really hot week.
Belinda, our star investigator is now in the US. Bye Bye Belinda. I will pass you her phone number next week. (This is so you can check if she is going to church and help answer her questions! Go MISSIONARY MOM!)

Here are the things I need before I forget:
Pictures of the house. Inside, outside, backyard
Pictures of my baptism
And a nicer picture of the family.
5-10 copies of my pictures in that are on my blog.
That is all I need for now. People ask alot of questions and they want to see pictures.

Back to the week, so Zone Conference was GREAT! They celebrated my birthday and I received a new note book with the mission name on it and a candy. Yeah!
The first half of the conference was on OBEDIENCE. Something that I have been really working on. They cracked the whip and now we can not go on lds.org or mormon.org.
If we want to print of a talk we have to email president or our parents and they will email it to us. So we can only use myldsmail.net. So more stories will come your way.
They also talked about girls and not emailing them and not touching them. If there is a young mother home alone we can not teach her now, same with lunch. If the kids are home we can go through the gate and eat like humans. If not we have to take the food at the gate. It is for our protection, we don't have a problem with it here.
So we are reading the Libro de Mormon as a mission. We are all marking the references of Christ in one color. I have learned alot about the Savior so far from this and He is literally everywhere....we just have to find him. It is like "Where's Waldo?" but like "Where's Jesus?" we can also do this in our lives and look for Him in everything. In the people, land, food, family, and scriptures. EVERYTHING. The Book of Mormon says just that, that there is evidence of Him in everything.
We also received the huge Preach My Gospel posters, in Spanish of course, so cool. but they have to stay in the apartment.

I will not be sending the package home. I will just put it in the offices with my name on it and take it home in 2012. That is easier and I don't have to pay for the package.
I am going to send letter though and something else....it is small but you will like it.

We went to Peta this weekend. It is about 30 minutes away. Then to Coyuca. We went to find less active families and see if we could reactivate them.
Well, not knowing any directions we got off the combi (picture attached) and started doing what we do best, following the spirit. The third house we knocked on I asked if they knew any Mormons. Two houses down they told us there was a family of them. So we went and as we were approaching the house we heard a pan fall and hit the ground. A woman came running to us. "Es un Milagro!" she screamed. Its a miracle. And really it was. The church we have was built a year ago, many people didn't know anything about it including this family. After the church was finished the houses of prayer didn't run anymore in their city. So they now know. But is it expensive for them to go, with five children all over three it is sixty pesos to church. Yeah, did I mention there are no jobs right now? There are not. The people ask if we know of anywhere to get jobs and we don't. It is sad that people cantt come to church. We found two more families by asking around. We will hopefully get some baptisms out of these families.

My talk went really well in church. I slowed down and talked so EVERYONE could hear me. (Hermana Chuchita gives me a hard time. I am working with her to improve my accent.)
So Elder Wake is going to the ugly part of Acapulco, he is training and district leader. Elder Lada is coming here. He is training too and was one of the assistants. He is also our new district leader here. All the areas in the mission are open. We are full to capacity.

I loved the pictures of Lacey's wedding. The dipping picture really made me laugh. In ward council yesterday we talked about the temple and the importance of going.
Elder Nelson and I might go to a wedding this weekend to see one of our investigators get married. I am getting really attached to this branch. I have been here for half of my mission and will turn 20 here. Weird. Everyone loves the pancakes I make, that is what we do now. We go over to peoples houses, make pancakes, eat pancakes and share messages. It is delicious and great. I am a happy camper.

So how was the beginning of school....are you children going to miss the boat?
I am....but hey I have the beach at my fingertips.
How is seminary? Who are your teachers?
Did anything weird happen to the school?

Well, I will have another update next week.
Love ya.
Elder Chadwick

AUGUST 15, 2011

What an amazing week once again. I am so excited for tomorrow because it is zone conference.
My foot is really back to normal, actually more then normal, like fantastic.
I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ have given me a boost this last week.
Belinda, our best investigators that hasn't gone to church is flying over to the state of Elder Robb. If she goes to church she will be baptized. If not well......no.
It is sad to see people make commitments and not keep them.
I have come to a more full understanding of turning my heart and soul to the Lord.
It really sets us free. I am so happy to be here and help people come to Christ.
So last Wednesday we went to bake cookies at the Gonzales' house.
We had fun because the ingredients are a little different, but they turned out great.
We are sharing an article by Elder Erying with each family and having them pray about ten people they can invite to church or us to teach. We have had a couple references from this. The spiritual experience we get from this is to watch the families prepare and see their faces light up when the investigator
come to know the truth. We also ask them how they came to know this church was true and if they are sealed in the temple how that experience was. It is really a spiritual experience to here the testimonies of each of these families.
Testimony meeting is still my favorite because they just have so much power and they know what is right and they have no problem sticking up for it.

So, one morning we dropped by Hermana Rosabla's house and the Testigos de Jehova (Jehovah Witness') were there trying to convert her through the fence. I was like "¡HOLA HERMANA!" and walked right through them. It was funny, they left, we had actually taught one of them the first lesson. Hermana Rosalba was really confused because they said their church is the true church. I told her that this was the true church and not to worry about it.
I have no doubt this church his true and that Joseph Smith was a Prophet.
I am giving a talk in Sacrament Meeting this next Sunday.
Btw, all of you should keep an eye on ALL the church websites and newsroom. Looks like Mormon.org has hit New York. How FANTASTIC!
I taught about just that this last Sunday, about missionary work and how the lord has new ways of getting it to people today.
Well, Juan Carlos came to church today and was a big part of my lesson in Gospel Principals.I asked him how he felt when we taught him and he opened right up...most of the people in the class were recent converts and it started a fantastic discussion. The spirit was so strong and I am excited to work more with the members here and also Juan Carlos.
My studying is going great, I am still with Elder Wake, changes are next week. We will see what happens...if I don't email you I am probably traveling.
Anyway, that is about all from me.
Love Elder Chadwick

STAYING HEALTHY

I am doing everything I can to stay healthy. I have stopped drinking pop and coca cola. I drink twice as much water now and some Gatorade during the week.
The email you sent me about eating eggs.....well, I have been doing what you have been telling me to do, three eggs in the morning....atop of my PANCAKE!!!! WITH PEACH PIT JAM!!!!
Elder Guasnal found the Krustese or whatever brand it is in a HUGE package and one of those gallon maple things. Yeah, I gave in and now am in heaven every morning.
I don't eat alot of tortillas during comida and fill up on the eggs, rice and beans they give me. Let me tell you mother.....we had eggs in every single comida but one this week. That is alot of eggs.
I have a plate of spaghetti maybe every two weeks....if lucky. I might start making it myself.
I am still good on food, the koolaid things save me. Still have PLENTY....so I am good. I am eating yogurt for a midday snack....along with a six pack of oreos...ha ha. I have a good workout program and am staying fit.
I am sending you a package next week, returning books and there are letters in there for the whole family on top. A missionary planner for Jordan(In English)
and other stuff. I don't want to have heavy suitcases for the transfer.
As for the funny story....not as funny as Elder Bryce but hey we try here. (Were exactly is he? I forgot....)
So we have like four awesome lessons with Belinda. We had a really good one on Prophets and Enos. We gave her a Liahona Saturday. She is reading the Book of Mormon everyday. So we were on the subject of baptisma and we asked how much they charge people to be baptized in the Catholic Church....Yeah, we got a good laugh out of that....(For Freeeeeeeeeeeeeee??? The girls will get that..)
We talked about how baptism did not cost anything. Just her soul and to come to church and have blessings poured on her. We joke around and then it will get really serious. We used Moroni 8 to answer the baby baptizing problems she had.
So after I was like, "So are you coming to Church tommorow?" she muttered alot in Spanish and then was like " I will be direct with you" this is what all of them say when they are really serious. "I have a commitment tomorrow with my family and can't make it. We are going to see CAPTAIN AMERICA!" (just so you know this is when I started getting a little upset in English.) She speaks English, Spanish and French...she is in her 40s btw. "You are going to see CAPTAIN AMERICA and not to church with me!!!" I got a good laugh out of it....turns out she didn't go to the show because she was too busy. So she will try to come next week. Good thing is that her mom smokes and is in bad health...ok not good but good that she has to stay in Mexico to take care of her mom, right? so we can baptize her!!!
President Spannaus is heading our way next week for zone conference in my area. How exciting!
So I cleaned out the refrigerator today and I sweep every 3 days and yeah lots of water. We have five gallons here too ya know. (Editors Note: we use a water cooler and 5 gallon water containers in our home.) Sometimes they even come to us.
Have a great week mom and EVERYONE!!!!!
The band looks great. Send more pictures I love them!
Love Elder Chadwick

HUMAN WEED WHACKER

What a great week Family,
I am so happy just to be here. The spiritual experiences will not stop. I love it! They will not stop for the rest of my life.
How cool, half the world is getting married. I am happy for all of them. How awesome it is to be sealed in the temple for time and all eternity. (Editor's note: we have abouut 5 weddings we will be attending in the next few weeks.)
We are including the temple more in our lessons. People here are really worried about their salvation and want to know everything about the gospel.
Yes, their are still people who reject us but that is fine. They will come to know the truth either way.
I have really learned that people have their agency. I love the story President Uchtdorf told about the two boys. Are you committed?
I taught about honesty in principals of the gospel Sunday and asked "what would it be like if total San Jeronimito was totally honest?"
The sisters went wild, got crazy on me. "Well, it would be totally silent!" one said. Another couldn't even handle the idea. It was quiet humorous.
Belinda, was going to get baptized but she did not attend church.....so we have to pass her off to the Elders in California. (Maybe Colton will have the privilege of teaching her)
Solomne was sick but still has his three times. He is eager to be baptized and stay active the rest of his life. All he needs is an answer to his prayers.
Juan Carlos had to work so could not come to church, he stopped by after and caught us on the way out. He said he would try his hardest to come next week.
He says that he has known us for a long time, that he feels better and more of the spirit around us then in any church he has attended. (Wait till he comes to testimony meeting)
We have a teenage couple that is getting married and then he is going to be baptized. (I think half of the reason is to use the Church's basketball court for the reception but you know I could be wrong)
Arturo works at the airport. He is on the ground crew transporting stuff and taxing the planes if I understood right. He loves it.
He also owns a little store were we teach him. He believes everything we believe but has not received an answer about the book of Mormon.
I told him about dad working on planes and he said "so your going to be a mechanic when you go home" "well no, I am going to be a musician."
He responds " way to break the tradition Junior." ha ha. When ever I say musica he says musico....then mechanico. ha ha. yeah...good times.
So yeah still get to mechanic talk dad....we will work on that later...I guess.
I will send the pictures of the human weed whacker right now....
love Elder Chadwick