El Plan De Salvación

Hey everyone!

We started teaching a new person this week named Maura, and she is super awesome. She got in contact with us because she needed to meet with the bishop for an interview to work at Deseret Industries. We gave her bishop's number and asked her if she wanted to learn more about what we believe too, and she said yes. We've had two lessons with her now, and both times we've brought Hermano Torres, an awesome member that loves to do missionary work.

We were originally going to teach her about the Restoration of the Gospel first, but after getting to know her, we decided to teach her more about the Plan of Salvation first. Her parents, her siblings, her husband, and her son have all passed away. It was so cool to see how the Spirit touched her when we taught her about where we go after we die, and as we taught her that she can be with her family forever. 

We had two 24 hour exchanges this week, which are a pretty new thing in our mission. So for both of these exchanges, the new missionary has come to my area with me. After we did our morning run, I made my special pancakes for the new elder both times. ;)

One of the elders I went on the exchange with, Elder Barrus, is my fifth cousin. The other, Elder Ulibarri, graduated high school in 2022, and is making me feel old haha.

At our recent zone conference, one of the main things we discussed was praying for charity when dealing with others. We should share the gospel because we love that person and want them to be happy, not because we have to. As I've done that, it's made a huge difference. So many times in lessons I've just felt so much more love for the friends and members we have taught. I know that God loves all of us!

The highlight of the week was the news I got from Elder Neuffer, the military relations senior missionary. He sent me a text letting me know that one of the young men I baptized at the MCRD is preparing to serve a full-time mission, and that he wanted to get in contact with me. I was not expecting him to want to serve a mission, and especially so soon after being baptized. He was medically discharged from the MCRD because he got hurt, and he told me that since then he's just felt like he needs to serve a mission. He will begin the paper work in January! Man, I love the gospel. I know that will be life changing for him. 

I hope everyone has a great week, God bless you all!

Elder Pettit

Joshua 1:9 

Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.

Fresas!

Hey everyone!

So sorry, haven't had much time to write today so I'll just be sending some pictures. Another good week. Got lots of strawberries and potatoes from the food bank service. If anyone knows how to make strawberry jam or knows any good potato recipes, let me know!

Love you all

Elder Pettit

Referencias

Hey everyone,

This last week we started teaching someone named Elba, who referred herself to the missionaries. We've had two lessons with her so far, another one tonight, and she came to church on Sunday and absolutely loved it. We've had member couples at both lessons to fellowship her. Bringing native Spanish speakers to lessons is a cheat code haha. They really help to smooth over anything that gets lost in translation, and members in general are great for bringing their testimonies, and a perspective that isn't from a young missionary. We are likely going to invite her to be baptized tonight!

We had a lesson with Obispo Monje (the bishop) and his wife after church on Sunday. They are super cool, they both converted to the gospel about 8 years ago. So many of the members are converts, so they love to help out with missionary work because it means a lot to them.

Had a Bible study with a member, Hermana Gonzales, and her two friends. One is a Catholic and one is Christian. We read a bunch of different scriptures about the Holy Ghost and they both said they could feel it. It was an awesome lesson. They are going to have us over next week for another lesson and feed us tostadas to celebrate Mexico's Independence Day. 

Well, that's it for this week!

God bless!

Elder Pettit 

Cold Showers, No AC, No Drinking Water!

Hello everyone!

This past week has been nuts! Elder Wayment and I have been so busy here in San Ysidro. I didn't even really unpack for a few days after moving in, because we did not have any free time! All of our time was spent teaching, finding, sending texts or making calls, with very little time to ourselves. We haven't had any AC in the apartment, and it's been hot lately. So I've been keeping a sweat towel on my desk so I can wipe sweat off my face during my study time. We've been taking cold showers as a result, but we just sweat as soon as we get out. I've never sweat in bed as much as I have this week! We've also had very little good water to drink haha. It's been awesome though, definitely one of the most eventful weeks of my mission. We have had some many awesome lessons too. 

One that I'd like to highlight is when we met Manuel. We were visiting some inactive members in an apartment complex. Just before walking up to knock this door, we decided to say a prayer and ask God to help us find someone to teach in this house. The member we were looking for didn't live there anymore, but instead a man opened the door. As usual with these apartments here, we couldn't see his face because of the metal screen door that it seems every Mexican person has. We started talking and my companion cracked a joke about how he is from Los Altos de Jalisco (a place in Mexico where there is an unusual number of white people, basically), and the screen door opened. Manuel invited us in and we sat and talked with him for almost an hour. He had so many awesome questions, all questions that are answered by the message of the Restoration and through the Book of Mormon. It was wild. He took a selfie with us afterwards and sent it to us. During the lesson, all I could think was, "This guy will be a bishop in five years." I told that to Elder Wayment afterwards and he was shocked, because he had the same thought, and he said he's never had that thought come to him in a lesson like that before.

Lots of good stuff going on here. My companion and I get along really well because we both want to be obedient and work hard. It'll be a great transfer! We just spent like 4 hours today cleaning the apartment and car up real nice, and Elder Lainhart from the mission office brought us an AC unit. Water filter coming soon. Life is good!

Que tengan una buena semana!

Elder Pettit