Mission Log: 2-10-14

February 10, 2014

Tr, trans-fer? What's a transfer? Is that gonna hurt?

You heard right, folks, Elder Young is finally getting transferred out of Weslaco! I'm leaving the nest, coming of age, jumping the coop, heading off to find myself, passing Go, and collecting 200 dollars. It's been a fantastic almost-7 months, and I'm really going to miss everyone I've met down here, in the church and all over the town. I've made a ton of wonderful friends and I definitely plan to make it back to visit some time (I ain't quittin' you!). But now it's time to move on, see more of the world. I'll be going to La Joya with Elder Pope, and I'm pretty sure I'll be senior companion. But that's what they told me last time, which didn't turn out to be true; while Elder Flores had just arrived here in Texas, he already had more time as a missionary in Peru waiting for his Visa. Funny how that happens on both sides of the fence?

Also, I'll be driving a car now, so my tortilla tummy will be growing exponentially.

There isn't a ton to report this week. We found an awesome family this week (my last week, naturally) who had just moved here from a town over in the other elders' area (ha ha!) They're full of awesome questions, they've been reading a ton of the Book of Mormon already, and they even gave us fish sticks the first time we stopped by.

Our crazy friends are still just as crazy. They're Elder Flores's job now. Godspeed, little Peruano.

Here on the mission, a lot of things go wrong that you don't want to go wrong. Things that you can't control at all. The key is to always remember that this is the Lord's work, and we are the Lord's servants. Nothing can hold us back if He doesn't want it too. When He, in his infinite wisdom, knows we need some miracles, we're going to see some miracles (as long as we have the faith and do all we can.) But when things go wrong, we can't get discouraged. We just have something to learn is all; it's not the end of the world until, you know, the world actually ends.

I love you all! Peace out Boy and Girl Scouts!

                                                                       (Mmmmm...   Thin Mints......)

~Agent Elder Young, over and out

Hola familia!

It's sad to hear about Belle. She was getting pretty old, for a hamster. Just think how many Catty Ratty's will be waiting for us when we all go to heaven?

I don't know about dogs. We get chased by plenty of super annoying dogs (and some kind of scary ones) on the bikes, but then again there are some super cute playful ones that come up when we're walking and follow us around. We'll see what happens I guess?

That's awesome Cassidy is a Spokane Scholar nominee! I remember all the ceremonies and awards and stuff senior year, but I can't remember which was which. I'm sure she's keeping busy and working super hard. I hope she gets it!

I'm getting transferred! La Joya isn't too far away though, it's just the other side of McAllen in the Mission Zone. I think I'm going to be in the same district as Elder Shumway, who was here in the ward when I started, so that'll be cool. He's the one from the Tortilla Tummy picture, and he's the one who taught me to play Magic the Gathering.

Does Rees know you cancelled the Stake dances once a quarter? He would feel so accomplished. It's great to see more people involved with the quarterly activities, that's super cool.

Joy is definitely the key to everything. "Men are that they might have joy." We can find joy in the good times as well as the bad, if we just keep an eternal perspective and remember that we have a loving Heavenly Father who will never let us fall as long as we rely on Him.

One more thing: I don't think I mentioned it when I got here. Here in the Weslaco area is where Elder Strong and Elder Walker were hit by a car two years ago and killed. We have "Walk Strong" in big letters up on our wall, and there's a white bike with flowers chained up where the accident happened. In November, for the anniversary of the accident, all of us missionaries plus the members who they had found and taught went and visited the bike. We sang some hymns and bore our testimonies. It was super powerful knowing that here we have another companionship working along with us on the other side of the veil.

(Here's a link to an article: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700196192/One-of-two-missionaries-killed-in-Texas-died-after-extending-his-mission.html?pg=all)

I love you all so much!!! I keep you in my prayers all the time! Talk to you later!

~Elder Young

Mission Log: Agent Young 2-3-14

February 3, 2014

Just another week in Weslaco. It got cold enough to justify buying sweatpants to wear under my slacks. Afterward I was nice and cozy, but now I have a pair of sweatpants I won't need for another year. The seams on my pants were screaming though; As if my bulbous tortilla tummy wasn't strain enough (See picture below).

This week we talked to a lot of crazy people. We always talk to a lot of crazy people, but this week was especially so. Juan told us he used to read minds, but he would only use that power for good, so he was wondering why God took it away. Not sure how much we believed him. Jamie told us how she's heard scrapings and thumpings in the night, pictures falling off of her walls and light bulbs randomly exploding, but she hopes her Santisima Muerte necklace and candles protect her. That I might believe a bit more, it's some freaky stuff. (Don't go Googling Santisima Muerte).

The good news is we've been reaching out a lot more to people and families who once had the gospel in their lives but for one reason or another had fallen away. Bringing people back to the fold of our Savior is just as rewarding as seeing people come in for the first time. After all, our purpose as missionaries is to invite others to come unto Christ, no matter where they might be on the path.

And finally, for your viewing pleasure, a dead possum. Elder Flores was really excited; they don't have possums in Peru, dead OR alive. 

Fun fact: The elementary, middle and high schools down here don't get a day off for Martin Luther King Jr day. But they DO get the Monday after the Superbowl off. Supposedly it's for the teachers so they can recover from all the partying. At least they're honest with themselves. (Go Seahawks!)

It's good to hear we finally got some snow. Now I no longer feel like I'm lying when I tell people "Yeah, we get a ton of snow up in Washington." Then again they usually think I'm talking about DC, even when I specify otherwise, and I think they've had snow all winter, so we're good.

One thing I did last week was print out all of the "Gospel Classics" on lds.org. They're super cool and powerful. Another thing we've been working on is relying more on the Lord. The assistants to the President gave a training on doing everything we can, being exactly obedient and completely diligent, and then trusting on the Lord to give us the success we've worked and prayed for. If we keep stressing or worrying about things we can't control, we're not going to see the miracles. God knows what we're capable of and doesn't ask anything more. Like yesterday, I was a little disappointed since nobody we were teaching had come to Church. But then we realized the family was just a little late and there was no space in the chapel so they were sitting in the foyer. Yay!

Elder Flores and I will be together one more week. Transfers are on next Tuesday, and I'll be dumbfounded if I don't get moved. 

Thanks so much!!! I love you all and I pray for you all all of the time!!!

Elder Dylan Young

Mission log 1.27.14

Dylan has started a Mission Log that many of you probably receive but I decided that I'll post his logs plus excerpts from his letters to us too.

Mission log 1.27.14:

This was a fairly normal week. What I love about Texas is that every single member you visit will give you food. What I hate about Texas is that every single member you visit will give you food. Some of it's really good, like chorizo con huevo (sausage and eggs with tortillas). Some of it not so much, like menudo (cow intestine soup). But we get by.

I love how for the fifteen minutes we were biking home Thursday night, it was pouring rain. Only those fifteen minutes. When I took off my backpack to look for my sweater (only to realize it wasn't there,) I could feel my back get completely drenched in three seconds flat.

We took a 17 year old out with us to help with a lesson we had planned. It went really well, he has a super strong testimony in the power of baptism and the changes it can bring to the home. As we were leaving, he told us that he recognized their teenage daughter. She's had a crush on him since 1st grade. Flirt to convert!

The mission is wonderful though. It really helps us see everything in such a bigger perspective, especially our own lives. We're out here to serve the Lord with all our "heart, might, mind and strength." These 2 years (or 18 months) are for us to give all our will to the Lord. Every day we should look for things we can give up, or things we can change, in order to become more like Christ. Because when we give everything to the Lord, He can in turn shape us into the people He knows we can be. And if we let Christ help us to reach our full potential, that's when we'll find true joy and happiness knowing we've done and become all we were meant to.

Les quiero mucho!!! <3

Agent Elder Young, over and out.

Love those Texas downpours!

Hola Familia!

The lds.org Bible videos are awesome, they really bring the scriptures to life. You can send as many copies as you want. We've been using the mormon messages and the mensajes mormones a ton, and we've started to get a lot more referrals from members. All it takes is to feel the Spirit and people will realize how much they want to share the Spirit with others.

The Parable of the Talents is a great Family Home Evening lesson. Actually, just this morning I was studying my patriarchal blessing and thinking about talents. Part of it was I left my backpack in a member's car and didn't have my scriptures, but I also like to go through my patriarchal blessing once every week or two. It's super powerful and just helps me find more motivation and spiritual strength. I think I have found some of my missionary talents like maybe organization and knowing scripture references. What I've learned even more, though, is that we need to "seek ye earnestly the best gifts." The Lord wants us to pray and ask and strive to develop not only the talents we have but those we need. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their ^aweakness. I ^bgive unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my ^cgrace is sufficient for all men that ^dhumble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make ^eweak things become strong unto them."

It's great to hear that you have some investigators in your ward! Man, if someone down here wanted to go pull a handcart for three days without being a member of the Church... well we probably would have baptized them by now. Nah, actually we have started finding more people who really put forth the effort to investigate. Including a golden family that are friends of some members who have been coming for weeks, and they're cool with us, but I guess kind of afraid of actually having the lessons. Pretty soon. Well, after all, like you said that Elder Oaks said, no one should get baptized without first receiving a spiritual confirmation that this church is true. I guess maybe the Mexican heritage is just super spiritual or something.

In other news, we had a baptism! Kinda. The family moved a couple weeks ago to the other side of the street which is our border. But we taught mostly everything, while the Sisters gave the final push. Manuel is 11, and he's super smart and super into the gospel, the scriptures, and everything churchy. We first found their older sister, who had been baptized years ago in Honduras and had recently moved here. So we started bringing the whole family to church. 

Well, that's about it. I love you all so much!!! Thanks for being the best family ever.
Elder Dylan Young

Slowly But Surely

January 21, 2014

Hola familia!

Yep, we got the box. Elder Miller was super duper excited about the Mormon Messages DVD's. And the cookies are super good.

Our apartment's fine, we got the window fixed the very next morning. We don't have a new DVD player yet, so we haven't been able to listen to any of the new CDs or watch the Mormon Messages, but we'll get one eventually. We haven't had any other problems with break ins or anything. There was a little while where the toilet tank stopped refilling, and we were using one of those plastic pipe things you sent us for Christmas where you swing them around to make noise to connect from the sink to the toilet so we could flush. But now that's fixed.

The week has been picking up, slowly but surely. We have a bunch of people kind of floating around, with a lot of potential and desires to learn but for one reason or another we haven't really been able to teach a lot. Whether it be for work, funeral arrangements, or... they're kind of afraid of the missionaries. But I know that if we just blew through the mission with a ton of success, converting everyone we saw, we wouldn't learn anything. We're definitely learning a ton these past few weeks. We've been trying harder and harder to rely on the Lord, as well as working more and more on strengthening our knowledge of the gospel.

The zone leaders came over one day and talked to us about working with the members. Our area has the majority of the leaders in both wards, especially in the English ward. Plus the number of less active members in the wards is monstrous... after more than 6 months I still haven't met them all. The Lord isn't going to bless us with more people to bring into his fold if we're not already taking care of the sheep we do have. And a great way we can do that is by working with the leaders. The missionaries don't have enough time to take care of everyone, and neither do the leaders, but the church leaders have all the people in their quorums and groups that they can motivate and inspire to reach out to the lost sheep, both those who have wandered off and those that have yet to find the Good Shepherd.

I love you all sooooooo much!!!!!! 

~Elder Young

Something Exciting. . .

January 13, 2014

Hola familia!!!

It's good to hear everyone's back into the routine. It's Cassidy's last semester of high school - Has she started getting senioritis super bad yet? Just wait until after the AP tests. :P

Man, we find out about more mission calls every day. It's crazy! I'm just waiting for someone I know to get sent down here to McAllen. I mean Rees and Kellsey both went to Montreal, and down here my district leader Elder Merica has a cousin here as well. What if I got to train Elder Facer or someone? That'd be crazy.

Thanks so much for the Mormon Message discs! The other missionaries are already super excited. They even wrote you a thank you note:

"Dear Elder Young's Mom, thank you for being so awesome, and sending the coolest stuff. You are a great example of what all missionary moms could be like! Le Quiero, Elder Miller

P.S. Your son is an awesome missionary. He is doing great work, is a spiritual Giant, y'all did something right at home! " 

This week has been pretty tough trying to find people to teach. Not too many people want to listen to us, and most of the people who do are kind of completely insane. We talked to one guy who told us he has dementia and that he "saw Jesus flying" the other day. We were talking with one guy on the street when the the city judge pulled up in his car to make sure we were okay, because he recognized the guy from court several times. It's been kind of a frustrating week, but we've been learning a lot about patience and trusting in the Lord. We can't let our faith fall even a little bit. All these trials, no matter what happens, are for our benefit to give us experience and to bring us closer to the Lord if we allow it. We had interviews with President Maluenda on Tuesday, and most of what he said was to enjoy the mission and not to be too hard on myself. We've got some big miracles coming up, I can feel it.

Well, something exciting did happen to us on Thursday. We got back to our apartment at the end of the day, put our bikes away, used the bathroom, and when I went to the bedroom to put my jacket away... I saw that my bed was covered in broken glass and the blinds were all torn down. There were two holes in the window right above the latches, and two small rocks on the ground. Someone had broken in! Thankfully, all they took was the small, barely-functioning DVD player, my little speaker, and an extra backpack we had lying around. They left the extra bike, the washer and dryer, and even Elder Flores' wallet which he had on his desk. Whoever this crook was, he wasn't the brightest one around. My only regret is that we forgot to get a picture of the crime scene before we cleaned up. We were just too surprised.

Other than that, it was a pretty normal week. I did an exchange with Elder Solis, it was my first time out of my area for what seems like forever. A nice little break.

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for all your prayers and love!!! Keep on keepin' on!!!

~Elder Young

To Be Worthier Servants of the Lord

January 6, 2014

Hola Mama!!!

The time definitely flies no matter what's going on. The Mormon Message DVDs are awesome. There's actually another missionary in the district that wants me to ask you if you can make him some.

The Old Testament is pretty cool. Sometimes I wish we had more time to study every day. An hour of personal study isn't quite enough sometimes. It's good though. The Book of Mormon is definitely awesome. Plus I bet more people like to read in Spokane than here. I'm sure there are tons of people who would love to give it a read some time.

The missionaries down here haven't been knocking on doors since before I got here. We talk with everyone we see on the streets, but other than that we work with the members a lot or go by former investigators or potential people whose information we have in the apartment. We haven't gotten a hold of the man who had a seizure recently, but we'll definitely go by every once in a while. There's one family we found with a 13 year old guy named Giovani and his aunt Dora. Giovani loves Minecraft and Pokemon and everything Nintendo, and wears a Pikachu hat all the time. They're super cool.

New Years Eve was great, getting to watch Mulan with the Zone. Now "Be A Man" is stuck in all of our heads. Thursday wasn't so great since I had to stay inside all day with some kind of flu, but I'm all good now. We've made a bunch of New Year's Resolutions as missionaries to be worthier servants of the Lord for 2014. It's gonna be great.

I love you all so much!!! Keep of praying and staying true to the faith!

Hola Cassadah!

Rees always wanted me to read the Belgariad but I never got around to it. I've never thought about it being our duty to be joyful, but that's definitely true. That's part of sharing the gospel, letting others see how blessed and happy we are. And it's also part of showing gratitude for all the blessings we have.

I don't quite know the names of everyone in the Spanish ward, since it's huge and everyone is speaking Spanish plus we don't have as many Spanish members in our area. It's awesome you're doing the gratitude journal. I'll admit I haven't been writing in my journal as much as I should be. I'll get better for sure.

Are you excited for college??? You're getting sooooo big! I love you so much too!!! 

Hola Papa!!!

It's awesome that Brazil has grown so much while you were there. I can't wait until there's a temple announced here in the Rio Grande Valley. A root canal sounds awful, I'm taking good care of my teeth down here. I had a cold last week too. It was pretty bad on Thursday but now I'm all patched up, with lots of Dayquil and everything. I definitely need to write in my journal more. Not only will I want it years from now to look back on the mission, but it'll help me to see and recognize the hand of the Lord every day here in the mission. I love you too!!!!!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Mom's Note: I got a little behind posting letters to the blog. The highlight of our Christmas was definitely being able to Skype with Dylan for 45 minutes and 30 seconds on Christmas Day. Here are Dylan's last 3 letters and lots of photos:

DECEMBER 16, 2013

The Christmas season has been flying by. I'm sure the Christmas party went awesome and I wish I could have heard the songs. I wish I could hear all the concerts too! I've been missing band the more and more I listen to all the awesome Christmas music. Maybe I'll look back into it when I get back. We'll see how well I can pick the clarinet back up.

I'll definitely read your talk during study time tomorrow. Really the idea that we are truly sons and daughters of God is something that they've wanted us as missionaries to teach better. Every one of us has infinite potential and is more loved than we can imagine.

Thanks so much for all the boxes and CDs and everything! I love all the Christmas music!!! We've been blasting out to Piano Guys and Josh Groban every morning, lunch, and dinner, plus whenever the other Elders give us a ride in their car. In fact, all this Christmas music has made me miss my ocarina. It'd be awesome if I could add that to my Christmas list. :) I've got enough treats now I don't think I have to go shopping till January. It's awesome though. I think the cold spell has left for now. We'll be having a nice warm Christmas. Poor Rees is stuck with -40 degree weather in Canada, plus I can't imagine how cold it is in Russia right now. It's good I like the warm weather, though.

So for Christmas we just need to ask a member that has Skype to let us come over and use the computers. We'll figure it out this week and then let you know the username and everything. Make sure you send me your username too, just in case. Well I guess when Christmas comes around I can actually call if we need help figuring out the computers. Craziness!

Don't worry, headaches have been a lot fewer and farther between since the mission started. As missionaries we even fast at least a couple times a month, whenever we need extra miracles with certain people. And it always pays off.

We had a huge missionary conference with Elder Callister from the Presidency of the 70 on Friday. He talked a lot about the Atonement. It's important that everyone understands well how powerful the Atonement is and what it means personally for their lives. It covers everything that could ever be wrong in the world or in life. Christ provided the means for us all to be saved from death. To overcome and make our weaknesses into strengths. To make fair every trial or disappointment  we pass through. And to make us clean so that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father and one day become like Him. He also talked a lot about becoming a consecrated missionary, which he gave a talk on; our Ward Mission leader gave us not long ago. The biggest thing from that I learned was that in order to give everything to the Lord, we also have to sacrifice our fears. Only then can our faith grow, by trusting completely in the Lord.

I love you all so much!!! Have a Feliz Navidad!

~Elder Dylan Young

DECEMBER 23, 2013

Merry almost-Christmas! You really just barely got snow? That's crazy. We're definitely not expecting snow any time soon. But we got the box and the stockings and everything. We're trying really hard not to open anything until Christmas. We'll see how that goes.

Well even with Christmas coming along the missionary work keeps moving forward. I love seeing all of the Christmas lights on the houses. I saw one house that had a ton of cardboard cutouts of the characters from the old Rudolph movie, even Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snowman. Then there is another house that has Santa riding in a tractor and there's a big glowing Texas that says "Ho Ho Y'all." It's awesome.

For Christmas down here, everyone loves to make tamales. I'm not sure why. But, the onslaught of tamales has already begun. I'm excited since I love tamales.

I love you all so much! Thanks for everything you all do for me all the time, for your prayers and for your love. Have a Merry Christmas!!!!

DECEMBER 30, 2013

Hola familia!!!

Yep, I've definitely gained a few pounds, but I'm not sure how many since we don't have a scale. I haven't weighed myself since the MTC, where I gained 7 pounds.

The rest of Christmas was pretty awesome. I'm not sick of tamales yet, and I'll never be sick of tamales, although we didn't actually get taught how to make them like it was planned. The family that invited us over for Christmas did have a ham as well, so that was more Christmasy. The week was a little slow missionary-wise for us. Everyone we are teaching went out of town, and almost nobody was outside for us to talk to, plus we were super busy just with the members and all the meetings and things we had. But it's okay, since we're going to start the new year off right.

We got transfer calls Sunday morning, and the verdict is: I'm staying! Elder Flores and I have 6 more weeks together here in Weslaco. It's weird since all the missionaries who were here when I started will be gone tomorrow. This will be my fifth transfer here, and the next oldest missionaries will only be on their third. I was feeling before that a fresh start in a new place would be a great way to start the new year, and that it would have given me more fire as well, but obviously I still have work to do here and things to learn here in Weslaco.

It's good Cassidy's wisdom teeth extraction went well. Did she say any crazy things? We should have recorded me after my operation.

Crazy story for the week: We invited a man to church a few weeks ago. The first Sunday he came but he was super drunk. The next Sunday he had a seizure on the couch before church started and the paramedics had to take him home. Definitely a Sunday to remember! He's doing okay though.

That talk sounds awesome. The newest talk that Edgar printed for us is "His Grace is Sufficient" by Brad Wilcox. It's probably one of my favorite talks. It's all about the amazing power of the Atonement, how Christ has already paid the price for us in full. He asks us to do our best not to qualify for His Grace, but to be changed by it and become holier, more like Him.

I love you all so much and I'm so grateful for everything you've done and keep doing for me. I know I already failed my letter every week resolution, but today half the missionaries in the district are at the doctor's so I should have time.

Mucho amor!!!

~Elder Young

Our District has Christmas Spirit!

With our ward mission leader

Texas Christmas Stockings

Our mini Christmas tree

Our mini Christmas tree buried in piles of gifts from home

Stockings from our ward mission leader

Opening presents (marshmallow blow guns & lots of mini marshmallows)

Christmas tamales!

Elder Flores picked up a hitchhiker

Our Personal Testimony is the Most Powerful Thing We Have

Hola familia!

My Turkey Cookie. Our District made these on P-day last week. Thanks Mom!

Yeah, Christmas time always is super busy with all of the concerts and ward stuff and all the crazy things. Just don't forgot to make time to go see the lights in Coeur d'Alene sometime! Is it a little better without the store though? I bet uncle Ben is pretty busy. We've been keeping pretty busy like always.

So the word has come in from the mission leader conference. For Christmas music we can listen to anything that's not "Hip-Hop" or more intense. Which means all of the classic Christmas songs, not just hymns. Which means Michael Buble's Christmas CD is approved. :D The only other CD I'm missing right now that I can think of is that Josh Groban one. I'm excited for the pre-Christmas package for sure! 

Yeah, BYU Provo took forever to respond. I'm sure Cassidy will get in though. Canute (Dylan's RA from last year at BYU) is in some kind of computer science major too. He sent all the missionaries a whole bunch of pictures of Whitney Hall being torn down, little by little. It was super sad.

This week was super duper awesome. We had TWO people get baptized on Sunday!!! It's a Christmas miracle! First we have Santiago. He married a member months ago and has been living with her parents, coming to Church every week and even paying his tithing. Last week he finally gave in, gave us the word, and now he's baptized! 

And then there's Nick. He's nine. The Morenos have been less active for a long time, apart from their oldest son and daughter who come to Church every once in a while. We finally caught the parents at home a few weeks ago and they were all like, "yeah there were some missionaries coming over a long time ago but then we lost contact with them." So now they've been making time, putting sports aside and everything to come to Church. And Kevin even baptized Nick, which was awesome.

Also this week, Elder Tad R Callister is coming to the mission and giving a bunch of conferences for the missionaries and all the members. We have ours on Friday. It'll be super spiritual and I'm sure we're all going to learn so much and get all kinds of inspiration.

Definitely bearing testimony is super important in missionary work. I read a talk last week from like 50 years ago, but it said that the most important roles of missionaries is to testify and challenge. We bear testimony of the truth of the gospel so the Spirit can carry our words to their hearts, and then we challenge people to make changes in their lives to see the blessings and feel the Spirit more strongly themselves. Missionaries love to make commitments. Commitments are an act of faith, and when people keep them they help change their lives, which is repentance. As people repent and feel the spirit they prepare to make covenants and come unto Christ. The only reason we teach lessons is because sometimes people are stubborn and don't want to recognize the spirit or admit they need to change. Our personal testimony really is the most powerful thing we have, to strengthen us in our own lives as well as bringing others to the fold of Christ.

Well I love you all so much!!! I'll talk to you all pretty soon. I heard we get to Skype on Christmas Eve or Christmas for 45 minutes. Man the time flies!!!

Love,

Elder Dylan Young

We're dreaming of a White Christmas

Hola familia!!!

The new house looks great! That is, if it really is a new house and you didn't just paint the old one. :P

Man when I learned I would be going to Texas for two years I never expected I would end up feeling cold. Some of the other missionaries were making fun of me for having those gloves you sent me. We sure showed them. As long as I have the sweater and the rain jacket on I stay plenty warm. I could maybe use another sweater, but for the most part it's just going to sit in my suitcase all year. One is fine.

The District wearing our sweaters in Southeastern Texas!

I bet everyone missed your pies for Thanksgiving! Is Katniss super cute? Have you seen Catching Fire yet? Our Thanksgiving down here was super great. We had lunch with a family whose dad we baptized a few months ago. It was regular Thanksgiving food: turkey, potatoes, green bean casserole, rolls, stuffing, sweet potatoes, plus some mexican style rice for good measure. No tortillas though, that would've completed the meal. Then for dinner we ate with the same family we went to for Halloween. We had standard Thanksgiving food there as well. It was all amazing. We still have an entire pie left in our fridge. We're planning on decorating those turkey cookies today. Oh, also, the day before Thanksgiving we ate with the Spanish ward mission leader, Edgar. Standard Thanksgiving plus some ham as well. Everything was super duper good and I stuffed myself. It was Elder Flores' first Thanksgiving and he ate a decent amount. Not as much as us fat americans but still good. Some of the other Elders had 6 dinners in a row on Thanksgiving, pobrecitos ("poor things"). One of them threw up afterward. Hopefully that doesn't happen to us on Christmas.

I'm pretty sure I've been sleeping better with Pupilodicus. I'm not sure what would be on my Christmas list, other than some Mormon Messages DVDs. They're super cool not only for introducing the Prophet and Apostles to people but to help when teaching members. Another thing that might help is a CD with some general conference talks or even the Book of Mormon in Spanish, just to practice listening and understanding. Or I could get some CDs and make those pretty easy, I think. I don't know what Elder Flores would want. He just said whatever. If you want to send something go for it. He's super cool. He's actually the only member in his family and was baptized when he was 15. His testimony and faith are super strong, it's great. :)

I have no idea how Skype will work yet. I'll let you know when we get there. I can't believe it's already December! Six months out. It doesn't even seem real.

We had a miracle yesterday as we were fasting. Not only did all of our investigators come to church (I think for the first time,) but the guy who married a member and has been paying his tithing for months finally decided to get baptized next week. Woo!!! It's a Christmas miracle (I'm dreaming of a white christmas... :P) Actually that's something we could make for a ward vision: let's all dream of a white Christmas as we fill the baptismal fonts with white.

Well, I love you all so much!!! Everyone be safe out in the snow!

~Elder Young

Our District - THE UNiT

Hola Familia!!!

Man your week was crazy!!! That's super cool that Dallin H Oaks came down. I'll have to ask Jacob to tell me all about the plane ride. I bet it was super cool. It seems like every single talk and conference now a days is about missionary work, which is super cool. The work is hastening onward for sure. Tell Abby congrats for me!

If you couldn't get someone out of your mind, it probably means something. One thing they teach the missionaries is that whenever you don't feel like doing something, as long as it's not something bad obviously, then that probably means you need to do it and do it soon. I know the opportunity and the right time will present itself in one way or another. 2 Timothy 1:7 is a scripture that my trainer shared with me one time that helped a lot with going out and talking with everyone.

You're actually moving. I don't believe it. A tennis court and everything? That's gonna be awesome. So is the new house going to be all one floor? Or are you just going to install an elevator from the get go?

I'm glad Belle turned out okay. She's still got a while left in her. Is she still super cute and everything?

Well this week was crazy here too. They did tell me I was training in the call but it turns out my companion Elder Flores already had about 6 months in Peru waiting for his Visa and 6 weeks in the Provo MTC. So he's older than me in missionary years but I'm still technically senior comp. Like some kind of adopted father. My Spanish is gonna skyrocket as I help him learn English, for sure.

It's funny because my trainers were both completely different. But they both managed to get work done and get people baptized, just by going about things a lot differently. I guess I just had a lot to learn on both sides of the spectrum.

Elder Flores is great. He's from Lima, Peru, and is the only member in his family. He was baptized when he was 15 and met the Elders by trying to annoy them. He's super great and knows the scriptures super well. He loves the missionary work and works hard.

For Thanksgiving we already have a couple plans, for lunch and dinner, with some different members of the ward. We're getting fed at least once every day this week, which is awesome.

Chocolate Pop-tart with rice. I don't know who I am anymore!

This week we had something crazy. It was cold!!! Even with our sweaters and gloves it was still freezing outside. Maybe I'm just used to the heat or something. Friday was crazy though, it was raining like crazy and we got super soaked. Thankfully a member gave us a ride home at the end of the day and even bought us pizza to warm us up.

We stopped by a less active family last night and finally caught everyone at home. Out of the blue the dad said "yeah we keep forgetting to get our son baptized. You can all come over like every night and teach him everything." Milagro!!! We definitely always need to remember that the Lord works in His own time. As long as we do everything we know we should do and keep up the faith, the blessings will come.

I love you all so much!!!! Keep on sharing the gospel everywhere you go!!!

~Elder Young

Happy Thanksgiving!

Diligence, Obedience and Love

Hola familia!

The Holidays are definitely around the corner. I think I have enough Christmas CD's, but if you have more cool ones I'd love to have them. I'm sure Spencer's piano recital will be super awesome! And I bet you and dad will have fun planning the Christmas party - I'm sure it will be great too. Is Dad going to be Santa Claus then?

Yeah, I remember the Riley's. I bet the Spirit was super strong as you sang. Our district has already sang at a few funerals, usually for people who aren't members but have a daughter or son who is. The Spirit has always been so strong as we sing and the members bear their testimonies of the plan of salvation.

I can just imagine how awesome The Spirit of God sounded live with the Spirit so strong and everything. Those youth conferences were a lot of fun. Was there a dance too? Did Cassidy like it?

Well, this transfer is coming to a close again. Our district all became super tight, and it kinda hurts to see us getting split apart now. We named ourselves "the UNiT," came up with like a hand signal and even made T-shirts. We'll get a picture of us all wearing them today to send next week. But yeah, we found out transfers yesterday. One of our Sisters is going to Corpus and one of our Elders is leaving for Hidalgo. My companion is leaving too, to be a zone leader in Edinburgh. 

Our District - "The UNiT"

So that means I'll be staying here another transfer, which is cool since I'll get to be here for Thanksgiving and Christmas where I already know the members. It's crazy though since I also found out I'm going to be training!!! AAAAH. I'm getting a greenie. A verdecito. I'm gonna be a dad. I've been kind of freaking out since I found out. I just need to remember that no matter what happens everything is going to be okay. This is the Lord's work and he will not allow us to mess it up. As long as we do all we can, try our best and have faith, He not only will make up our difference but shape us and build us into the missionaries and the people that he knows we can be. It all depends on the three basic principles of missionary work: diligence, obedience, and love. Meeting these things is really how we see miracles as missionaries. And everywhere else in life.

The work keeps rolling onward and it's a wonderful opportunity to be a part of it. I love the Lord and I love you all sooooo much!

~Elder Young

TIE HAMMOCK
We made it out of ugly old ties while I was staying with the other Elders last week.

Miracles Are Everywhere!

Dear family,

That's super awesome that Lexi got baptized! I bet the whole ward was just super excited and the Spirit was so strong.

It's good that your tooth is feeling all better mom. I'll try to remember to take care of things before they get too bad. I think that's something that missionaries just have trouble with in general. I know our Mission President's wife has talked about it a couple times, and one of the Assistants to the President had an ingrown toenail a while ago that he ignored for way too long.

I still don't believe you're actually moving. Something is bound to come up and stop it. I don't know what, but until I see the house with my own eyes I'm not going to believe it. It will be awesome for Spence to be right by Ronnie and Nathan and Olivia. It'll be a lot of fun for everyone.

That's cool that Sister Roderick (a friend from BYU) and Sister Webster (a friend from home) are companions in the Philippines. I did hear about the typhoon, but not until Sunday at Church. Man, it did a lot of damage. We'll definitely be praying for all of them, and it sounds like the Lord has a lot of work for the missionaries there to get done.

You asked if I used the sewing skills that you taught me to fix my companion's pants. 

They were beyond either of our abilities to fix. 

Thankfully, one of the Sister Missionaries volunteered to fix them. The Sisters are the boss. Which reminds me of a rap song some Sister Missionaries recorded called "The Sisters are the Boss." There was a member that wrote it and recorded them. It's awesome.

I think I remember dad's story about when his companion ripped his pants. I feel like he has a lot of stories about people getting hit by cars on his mission. Is that just a common thing in Brazil or what?

We got completely destroyed by mosquitoes the other day. We sat outside for almost an hour for a lesson, and afterward my arm looked like extra-large bubble wrap. I had mosquito bites on top of mosquito bites. We do have bug spray, we just didn't think we'd need it that day.

This week was crazy since there was a three day leadership conference in McAllen. I spent most of the week up in another area in our district. Thankfully they have a car, so it was a nice little break from biking. The biggest thing we're focusing on now from the training is talking to every single person we see. Even if we're in a rush and all we can do is leave a pass along card. When we make plans, we are telling God where we're going to be and when. He'll do His part to lead people to us who are ready to receive the gospel. All we have to do is open our mouths.

We saw this happen last night after church. We told God in prayer who we were going to visit, then set out in the dark. When we got to the house we remembered they were having a Quincenera that night, so we kept biking. We stopped to talk to some people who were heading out, and they randomly pointed us at a house across the street. We went and knocked and ended up finding some former investigators from about 15 years ago. They really loved their missionaries and even still had Books of Mormon, in English and Spanish. It was awesome!

Another thing: We decided to do a district fast yesterday, because that's another thing they taught at the Leadership training was to fast more often. (They tell us to still drink water when we're fasting, so don't worry. Between water and Excedrin I do just fine.) That Sunday, three people showed up to Church who had been a lot in the past either with family or friends. Miracles are everywhere!

Well, I'm all out of time. I did lose the original white deedee at Osh Kosh B'Gosh, but I had two extra ones that eventually filled the whole in my heart. I don't know where either might be, though.

I love you all so much!!! Just keep spreading the gospel every way you can!

~Elder Young

Another Great Week

Querida Familia!

Man, time just keeps flying by back home. Were you super excited to get that text? (Halloween night, we received an anonymous text with a photo of Dylan, his companion and their amazing Jack-O-Lantern.) We carved the pumpkin with the symbols of the four elements from Avatar, since we decided that best described our companionship. 

On Halloween the missionaries weren't allowed out past 6, so a couple from our ward invited all 12 of us over for a barbecue and to carve pumpkins. They had all kinds of cute Halloween treats. They do this every year since all their kids have grown up and left. They're super cool.

I'm excited for those scriptures! (We just sent Dylan the new 2013 mini-quad so he can fit a little more in his backpack.) I think I figured out what I want for the next package you send, too. My companion convinced me I should have Pupilodicus and my white deedee here because he's had his big Cowboys blanket since he was like 2.

Pupilodicus (Dylan's favorite stuffed animal since he was born.)

Yesterday we had some representatives from the stake come talk to us about family history. Using family history to find new people has been something that not a lot of missionaries really know how to do. It sounds like the stake is going to be ordering some genealogy pass along cards, and has some training videos we can watch to get the ball rolling there. It'll be great putting that pedigree chart to use!

Missionary work is definitely a lot of work, but that's really what it takes. Some of the Christlike attributes the Preach My Gospel talks about are diligence, patience, and hope. We just have to keep working through whatever comes our way, patiently believing that as long as we do all we can do, the blessings will come according to the Lord's time.

On Saturday we helped unload a truck full of clothing bundles for the distribution center here. We're all still sore. But while we were there a member told us a crazy story about his mission. He served in New Zealand and knocked on the door of an old man, like 90 years old. They started talking (in the native language) about genealogy and stuff. Somehow, Hagoth got mentioned and the guy said, "He's my ancestor." He went over to a back room he had with family history records stacked floor to ceiling. He could trace his family all the way back to Hagoth, then all the way to Lehi in Jerusalem. President Hinckley happened to be in New Zealand at the time, so the next day he went and visited the man while the missionary translated for him. They invited him to be baptized, taught all the discussions, and he was baptized and confirmed that weekend. The very next day, the man passed away. He had so many records, though, that Church headquarters is only 1/4 of the way through from when it started in the 60s. The story just blew my mind and made everything so real. The Book of Mormon isn't just an inspired book of scripture, it's all completely real, the stories and the people, and everything they wrote was for us in this day. It's so awesome.

Also, we had a baptism this Monday!!! They are two daughters of a less active member. Out of the blue they decided they wanted to start coming to church and be baptized. Their active uncle baptized them. The baptism was crazy. For some reason, our ward hardly has any baptismal suits and we couldn't find anything that fit one of them very well. After about an hour of thinking of solutions, they found a pair of pants in the stall. All she said when she put them on and came out was, "The Devil lost." The baptism was amazing, though. A lot of people were getting emotional, their mom and less active uncles and aunts were there, plus their dad made it just before they got baptized. Everything went perfectly.

I'm definitely out of time but I love you all so much!!!!!

Elder Young

Do Everything You Can To Love The Lord

Hola familia,

I'm going to start off with the answers to all those questions:

Where do you go to use the computer?

We use the computers at the South Texas College mid-vally campus, which is in my area.

Do you talk with both ward mission leaders all of the time?

Yeah, we have two coordination meetings each week, one for each ward, with all 12 missionaries in the ward, the ward mission leaders, and often a member of the bishopric and/or some auxiliary leaders.

Where do you go to do your laundry?

We have a washer and dryer in our apartment, which is super convenient.

How is your morning study time set up?

During personal study, we try to study according to our investigators' needs. I usually read a chapter from the Book of Mormon and then go into Preach My Gospel to really dig into specific topics, whether it's from the lessons or stuff to help us teach better. I'm also slowly but surely reading through Jesus the Christ, which is super cool. I've learned that the more you understand about Christ and His life, the more you can appreciate all He did for us and the more love you'll have for Him, which leads to becoming more like Him as well as having more love for the people all around us.

What is your typical schedule on any given day?

Every morning we get up at 6:30 am and work for a half hour. We eat breakfast and shower and everything and begin personal study at 8. At 9 the companionship study begins, where we go over lesson plans and stuff, and then it's spanish study at 10, lunch at 11, and then we head out to work until 9 or 9:30 pm. A lot of days have some kind of meeting or something to break it up, either in the morning or in the afternoon, like coordination or district meeting.

Also, each companionship does get the Ensign every month, but last month we only got the Liahona so maybe it would be good for you to send one.

Whew. Well, this Tuesday was crazy. We got a call right after studies started and we were told that the whole McAllen zone had to go down to the mission office because we were having interviews with President Maluenda. Yikes! We were all freaking out but also all super excited. President Maluenda is just super inspired. We got in and said a prayer, he asked como estaba yo, and then kind of looked up and behind me for a few seconds before shooting me with super deep, personal questions. My companion described his almost like there was an angel standing behind him with cue cards. It got me super pumped up though.

Someone's phone just went off and the ringtone was the jazzy version of "Still Alive" from Portal. I just thought I should say something about it before I forget.

It sounds like you've all been busy like always. How does Cassidy feel with marching band being over for good? Did they do hackfest, and did she remember how to conduct the Sparticus show?

What's Dad gonna do without the store to run? Just play with Spencer all day?

We had the Spanish ward Halloween party this past week. The Sisters made the Elders little cards that said "Hermana" ("Sister") on them for us to tape to our plaques. They also gave us bows. It was silly. But there were two members just in our area that brought friends that we met, so it was super cool.

Man it's super cool we're gonna have a baptism in good old Spokane!!! I'm super excited for her. What you have to do now is use this to get the fire going. The most important thing that determines how much missionary work gets done in a ward is how excited the members are about sharing the gospel. Everyone's gotta get involved, but definitely it starts with the leaders, which is why all the work you're doing in the stake, Mom, is so awesome. And it's awesome that Kenna wants to come to church!!!! I'll be praying for all of you and everyone in Spokane to find and seize missionary opportunities everywhere they go.

That's about it. I love you all so much!!!!!!! Just keep doing everything you can to love the Lord!

~Elder Young

Another Crazy Week in Texas

October 21, 2013

Querida Familia,

It's been another crazy week here in Texas! I can't believe marching season is almost done. There's a pretty big football stadium in our area for the Weslaco and Weslaco East high schools. Not near as awesome as Joe Albi, but you can't really have basements here plus there aren't any hills, so it couldn't be built into the ground like that. Also, the mascots are the panthers and wildcats, so that's kind of weird.

It is cooling down a little bit, so I don't mind as much when we ask people for a glass of water and they give us a Coke instead. We still make sure to drink plenty of water though. It's weird because tons and tons of birds have starting to come south for the winter, which means they're all coming here. The telephone poles are just covered in birds, all super loud and making weird Mexican-jungley noises. The butterflies are back too, so many you sometimes can't avoid smashing into some on the bikes.

Yeah, I got the Halloween package. The card was super funny, too. And the candy was only a little bit melted. I think our wards are gonna have a trunk-or-treat this week, which is cool. And it turns out the Zone leaders will be doing an exchange with us on Halloween, so I have no idea what that will be like. Whenever people ask if we get to dress up, we just say that a missionary is already the scariest thing you could see out on the street. I wonder how many people will know who Rosie Cotton is. Does the new Hobbit movie look super mega awesome? Also I saw a Sonic the Hedgehog costume at Walmart and realized what I had been missing my whole life. Too bad they didn't have one in my size.

I definitely wasn't expecting to see a .gif in the email. I made sure to send it to all my other missionary friends.

There was just a lot of food this week. I didn't throw up in my mouth again, even though I almost did when a member took all the missionaries in the ward to Golden Coral. I just didn't want to stop eating, you know? Also, we made a huge breakfast for district bonding. Here's a picture of one of the huge piles of waffles. We threw just about everything in the batter: raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, even an entire banana. It was fun.

So yesterday was super crazy. The other missionaries were baptizing 5 people, 4 brothers and sisters plus their cousin, all kids of less active members. One of their moms was too sick to make it to Church, but she and the rest of her family wanted to make it to the baptism. We had a member drive over to pick them up, but she couldn't find them at home. They tried a bunch of their other relatives and friends and finally found them. Then, while they were speeding back down to the church, we got a call saying "Hay policia, oren por nosotros." They got pulled over and the policeman was threatening to deport them! Thankfully he calmed down, gave them a ticket and let them go. Everyone got baptized and it was awesome!

I'm out of time, but I love you all so much!

Elder Young