We Baptized This Week!! November 30, 2015

Family and Friends,

WE BAPTIZED THIS WEEK! Mohammad decided to stay here in Mexico for a little while longer and he got baptized yesterday. It really was one of the coolest moments of my entire mission. I wasnt here when they found him but I was here for all of his teaching. He is from Iran and in Iran just about everyone is Muslim and they have a very unique way of worshipping.  He says that he wasnt Muslim but for the most part he just stayed out of religion. In Iran there is no freedom of religion and the people dont have the same possibilities of learning about the gospel. We looked it up the other day and there arent even Missionary pamphlets in the Language that he speaks. It truely was amazing to see the change in this man. Just a month ago he was having a hard time accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior and then yesterday he was able to enter into a convanent with our Heavenly Father. He is a great man and was very emotional in his baptismal service. The bishop doesnt speak english so I had to translate the Welcome at the end of the baptismal service, and during the Welcome he started to tear up and you could tell that he had felt the spirit. Yesterday was truely a miracle that showed us really how much the Lord has his hand in this amazing work.

It is amazing to be a missionary and be able to see miracles every single day that we are out here. Sometimes its not the easiest to be dillegent and give it our all but all the tender mercies that the Lord gives us every day really keep us going. He truely is our Savior and Redeemer. He can change the life of anyone no matter who you are, or where you are from the Lord loves each and every one of us, and wants every one of his children to return to him. His work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Not just some people that have more privleges that others but of every single one of our brothers and sisters. 

On a less serious note for this week. Just to let you all know that I was able to celebrate thanksgiving. Its not a holiday here but luckily there is an American Family that lives in our ward and they were kind enough to invite us over for Thanksgiving to celebrate. It felt really weird to see such a big meal in front of us, and it really makes your realize how much we really have. I am thankful for each one of you, and hope that everything is going well back home.

Have a great week.

Elder Hirsch

Great Thanksgiving in Mexico

A Great Week in Mexico!! November 22, 2015

Mother,

First of all, I hope you had a great birthday and that you are forgetting how old you actually are! hahahaha sorry but it was necessary!

This week went really well and we had a lot of fun. We are working really hard but we are having a little trouble getting people to progress how they should, but we are going to work even harder this week trying to help all the people we know start to progress. Its been a lot of fun here with Elder Veazey, and with us being such good friends sometimes its hard to focus 100 percent of the time. We are getting better but we have a lot of improving to do. 

I am so happy to hear about Braden and his decision to play up in Idaho. I think that he will do great and that he is going to have a lot of fun. I know he will do great! Please give him an extra big hug and buy him some ice cream from me! 

We just had a pretty average week this week, and not too much happened but here are a few fun things that are going on here. The worst thing that happened this week is that we worked our butts off and found a lot of new investigators but on Sunday only two decided to show up, so that was a little bit of a bummer for the weekend! 

One cool thing we are doing right now is that we are teaching a guy from Iran. He is here because his girlfriend is from Mexico but he doesnt speak any spanish but he does speak pretty good english so we do our best to help him understand the gospel in English. He loves the gospel and wants to get baptized but he hates it here in Mexico so he told us that he might be leaving this week to go work in Canada. (Not sure why Canada but he thinks it will be better) In Iran they are all muslims and they dont have religious freedom. He told us that if you change religion in Iran that they kill you. He says that if he gets baptized he wont be able to go back to his country, but he loves the gospel and says he never wants to go back to Iran and that he wants to get baptized. We are doing our best to convince him to stay but we will see what happens by the end of this week!

Also another funny thing that happened this week is that my companion got bit by a dog. There are tons of Dogs here in Mexico, and you shouldnt mess with them. Some are really cool and nice but there are also scary ones. The scary ones usually bark and you can avoid them pretty easy and there is no problem, but the other day it was a little different. We were just walking down the street like normal and we saw a dog just laying down in front of his door. He just sat there really normal and then when we passed he jumped up and bit my companions calf! haha He didnt bark or anything. He just decided to bite Elder Veazey! We then had to go to the doctor and get medicine so it doesnt get infected!

Glad to hear that all is well. I love you guys and miss you a ton. Have a great week!

Elder Hirsch

Elder Veazley and Elder Hirsch

Zone leaders

Super Long Week! November 16, 2015

Mother,

Well this week was super long, and first of all I will appologize for not writing all week. What happened is that I wrote on Thursday and then I had to help with all of the new missionaries coming in on Monday at Presidents house. Then I had to head out on a 2 hour trip out to my new area and didnt end up getting back until 830 at night. Unfortunately in the mission field we dont get to choose what day we write and Pday was over, so I didnt get to write last week and figured it was alright because I wrote on Wednesday. Im not dead and the ATM wasnt working right and would only let me take money out of the savings account, just to clear up all of your doubts. Sorry for leaving you worried!

My new area is Lerma, and I am now a zone Leader! I got sent out with one of my best friends in the mission, Elder Veazey. We got to the MTC on the same day and we have been really good friends since we got to the mission. We are having a ton of fun being zone leaders. We have 9 areas that we are over and we are the guys that get to run around and help everyone out, and at the same time we have our area. We are always staying busy and doing our best to help out all of the missionaries in our zone!

A little background on Elder Veazey. He is from North Dakota, but his family is now living in Germany. He lived in Utah for a year going to BYU, but we are very similar people. He loves Basketball and we both might be two of the funniest people in Mexico right now. We are having a lot of fun together and getting some great work done. We had a bit of a rough week and a lot of people let us down, but somehow we still ended up bringing 5 investigators to church. Its crazy how much of a difference it makes when we get along well and we work well together. It is my first time not being in a companionship where I am training so it has been pretty great.

We had some awesome lessons this week and we have the spirit really strongly with us. The ward here is great and they love the mission work and they are all working hard to make the ward bigger. Its a great opportunity that the members have to be great missionaries. Being here in the mission makes me realize how important it is to share the gospel. (Answering you question that you received from the missionaries) (Still cant belive that the missionaries actually visited but that is awesome, tell them hello for me) We have a huge responsibility as members of the church to share the gospel. It is the missionaries job to teach people not to find them. Members find, and missionaries teach. I know that living in Utah it is a lot more difficult but we still know people that arent members of the church. We have to recognize how much the gospel has blessed us and share it with everyone else! Find someone that isnt a member, invite them over, invite the missionaries over and then let the spirit take over. Trust the missionaries and help them find God´s lost children.

Also your birthday is this week and I couldnt get a letter out to you in time, so I will have to save it for next year. I just want you to know that I love you and that I am very thankful to have you as a mother. I know it hasnt been easy raising us or going through everything that you have for us, but just know that you are loved and appreciated. I would not be the man I am today without you. You have taught me great principles that have changed my life here on earth and that will change my eternities. I am so grateful for all that you do. I hope you have a great birthday and that everyone treats you well. I love you mom, and I hoope you have a great week.

Elder Hirsch

Keltons Zone

Golf Course Kelton got to play on

New area Lerma

New Companion, One of Keltons favorite Missionary Friends

Elder Veazey and Elder Hirsch