Hey Mom and Dad!
How are you? Life is going really well. I am having a good time here in Tepalcingo helping people accept the gospel. I've been really blessed in this area and in my mission. I feel free!
Yesterday I was talking to a young member in my ward named Pedro. He wants badly to go on a mission, and he's going to go, but he has horrible problems with depression. He's also had problems being afraid. Every two or three days he starts to feel dark inside and really afraid and nervous. He also has dark dreams. I don't really know what to do to help him. His family has had some rough times. The mom got pregnant at 15 years of age. The first baby died. The dad's now a drunk that we've tried to help multiple times. The gospel is in the home. We just have to give it time to work it's way into their lives. I just told him to go on the mission and to trust in God. If he has to take pills on his mission it's okay. If he has to talk to a psychiatrist, it's okay. He felt better after we talked. He put a lot of confidence in me to tell me these things.
The members here in Tepalcingo are just starting to understand the gospel. They haven't grasped the whole scheme of things, but it's a little hard to do that when you're in a little pueblo in the middle of nowhere.
We've been working our best these past weeks. We are contacting at least 35 people each week, or we talk to people on the streets and we get 35 of them to accept a visit. The majority of them aren't home when we go to visit, but sometimes they are. I've felt the spirit a lot stronger since we've been doing this.
The investigators we have are doing well. We didn't have many in the chapel yesterday, but we have a lot that we are teaching. One is named Mariana Bravo Perez. She's a single mom of CUTE little baby girl. She's had a ton of problems going to church on Sundays. She's gone two times and was going to be baptized yesterday after church but she didn't go. She had to work selling clothes. I don't really know what to do with her. We're gonna keel trying to help her. There's another special lady named Sabina. She has been looking for the truth. She asked my why there are so many churches. I explained apostasy and spiritual darkness and prophets. I felt the spirit really strongly, and I felt that He testified to her the truth of what I was saying. I asked her is she had any questions and she said, "Nope, it all makes sense." We've invited her to be baptized and she want to think on it more. We found her over three weeks ago, and she's read all the way to Jacob 2 in the Book of Mormon.
We found a lady names Sofia. She's a little bitter against all religion. When she opened the door, she looked angry and started to ask us a bunch of questions. She has so many questions and wanted to know all of the answers. We taught her the restoration and invited and committed her to pray. She said she would. We are also helping people recognize that they really don't have faith. Here in Mexico, all the catholics say they have faith, and a strong faith, when it's really not true. We don't accuse people of not having faith or anything like that, we just lovingly explain to them that it is the first principle of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and that to really be happy, we have to really have faith. Many think believing and going to mass every once in a while is faith. It is pure belief, but not faith. Faith is belief that moves us to act, to change! I don't see change too often in the average person here! I love the Mexican people, but they are so ignorant. They've been kept in the same dead religion for centuries! There's no change, no progress, no real happiness. Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming against the current here, but that's been the problem since the beginning of the world. If we're going to be disciples of Christ, we have to understand that the world is not perfect. We have to recognize the reality of Satan, sin and the horrible things that happen in the world; but in spite of all of that, we have to have faith and be HAPPY! I was talking to Dr. Morgan the other day, he told me that "optimists are people that just don't know what the heck is going on", referring to all the bad stuff the happens. We can't be optimists, in that sense. I understand that we should have hope and press forward, but we shouldn't ignore the problems in the world. We have to face them courageously or nothing is going to change or be better. The people here in Mexico are at least willing to try. They've got fertile soil. They are humble, and willing to believe. The hard thing is getting them to be constant! You've got to get a little hard on them sometimes. The world doesn't like compromise, and less here in Mexico. People flee when they hear the word compromise! When we ask people if they'll go to church, they tell us, "well if I have time I'll go" or "If God wills it, I'll be there." or "THREE HOURS???" Crazy monkeys!!! They make me laugh!
I have another list of people here that I need you to pray for:
Pedro Cedillo, Sabina, Marianna Bravo Perez, Jose Luis Coyote, Sofia, Masiel, Sagrario, Aventure Pliego, Laura Cortez and Alejandro y Julia.
So Tiffany Brown got her mission call??? When does she report in the MTC? That is so cool! Good for her! Give her a hug for me, and if you see Brittany Windsor, do the same. How is the family? I hope everyone is doing well. I love you all and hope you are all well. Russell
Elder West
