Pictures March 14, 2016

Elder Farnsworth & Elder Hirsch

February 29, 2016

Family and Friends,

First of all since I haven't written an email to everyone in a while I will let you know what´s going on. I am currently serving in a small town called Lerma in the State of Mexico, which is about 30 minutes outside of Mexico City. The town is great and I am really enjoying my time working with the members in helping others come unto Christ. 

I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance that living the gospel plays in our lives. As a missionary you see it all. The rich, the poor, the happy the sad, the sick, the healthy, the point is that you see it all. It´s such an amazing blessing to be able to see life from the outside in, and you can genuinely see the difference that the gospel makes in the lives of those who live it.

I am not saying that you can't have a happy, successful life if you don't live the gospel. Everyone, whether they have the gospel or not, can live a happy, satisfying life, but what most don´t recognize is that it could be better. The gospel brings us a different kind of satisfaction. Eternal.

The gospel is simple. There are five simple steps that lead us to have eternal happiness. Faith, Repentance, Baptism (Covanents), The gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. It´s really simple but sometimes we make it difficult and choose to take other paths that lead to different rewards. I have genuinely seen the blessings that come to the people that live the gospel, and early in my mission I asked the question "Why does living the gosple change lives?" and I couldnt quite figure it out until I broke things down.

Faith- If we have faith in Christ and his atonement we can't feel down for too long. Sure we will feel saddness or guilt or failure, whatever it may be, but if we truely understand that Christ suffered for each of us and for each and every one of our sins, pains, and sicknesses, then we can't stay in a state of unhappiness. It's impossible!!!

Repentace- We make changes to become better people. We accept Christ in our Lives and we accept his atonement!  Who wouldn't feel happy seeing changes in their lives that make them better people and help them feel closer to God!

Baptism and Other Covanents- They are litterally promised blessings! They are contracts that we make with God that if we do the right thing that he will give us blessings. If we do our part he has to do his. How great is that to be able to know that if we keep the commandments we are promised blessings that can never be taken from us!

The gift of the Holy Ghost- This one explains itself. I dont know anyone that doesn't want the third member of the Godhead as a constant companion to guide them throughout their lives. I know that the spirit guides us in every moment if we remain worthy of his guidance.

Endure to the End- As we continue doing these things every day. Having faith that things will be better. Repenting and making changes to become better people. Keeping our convanents that we have made, and following the guidance of the spirit I know that we will be happy, and not only for this life but for the eternities!

I love each and every one of you. I love this gospel and the blessings that it has brought me in my life. It´s not always easy but it is always worth it. If we put the gospel first in our life we will find happiness.

Have a great week. 

Elder Hirsch

Miracles This Week!! February 10, 2016

Mother,

This week was a lot of fun. Susana got confirmed and she was really excited. She is going to be a great member of the church. Now the struggle is going to be getting the rest of her family on board. At least that is what we thought. We went to visit her family the other day,and they started telling us about their experience at Susana´s baptism. They said that they felt normal at first and a little bit bummed out that their daughter was changing religions but then they said that when I said the prayer and she went under the water they felt something inside them that made them feel at peace and happy for Susana. We then shared a couple of scriptures with them about the Holy Ghost and they were shocked that they had felt the spirit so strongly. They said that all week things just seemed to go better and that they could really feel the influence of God. 

It was awesome to hear that from her family. We are hoping to be able to get them baptized as well. Its going to be a little difficult because they work so much but we are going to do what we can to help them out.

Then we had another miracle this week. We walked into church on Sunday and there was this 16 year old kid in a wheelchair. I had never seen him before, but during testimony meeting a little 12 year old girl (Kenya) got up and shared her testimony about how the gospel has helped her and how excited she was that her brother came to church that day (Jonathan-kid in wheelchair). Well after sacrament meeting their Mom came over to us and said "We would like you to come over tomorrow because me son is ready to receive the lessons" It was awesome. We went over on Monday and he is awesome. He slurrs his words a lot because of his handicap but he is one of the smartest kids I have met. We taught him a little bit and he is preparing to be baptized in a couple weeks! He is a great kid and has a really special heart. Its a blessing to be able to teach him.

I am super excited that I am officially an Uncle now!!!! I have been praying that everything goes well with the baby and it looks like everything went great and thats awesome that Braden got to be there too! The baby is 100 percent healthy? I am super happy for them. They have a long few years ahead of them but thats awesome! 1 down and 1 to go!

Have a great week Mom. Love you.

Elder Hirsch 

Brandon and Vanessa had their Baby!!!

 Our New Baby Tinsley was born on February 8, 2016

She will get to meet Uncle Kelton on her 4  month birthday!!

Our Family

Grandma loves this baby!

Uncle TJ and Aunt Aimee

Uncle Braden

Family Joke! Braden no longer the favorite?

Tinsley Jade

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Pictures February 1, 2016

Susana's Baptism February 1, 2016

This week went really good for us! Susana got baptized yesterday!!!!! It was awesome because even though her family has been really mean to her about changing religions, they all came to the baptism! It was a really special experience. She has gone through a lot of really tough things in her life and has been prepared to receive the gospel. She has progressed a ton in the last few weeks and she is going to be a great member of the church forever! Also it was really cool because she asked me to baptize her. It was a great experience to be able to perform the ordinance for her.

Unfortunately Elder Veazey got transfered to another area. I stayed here in Lerma and I am now serving with Elder Farnsworth from Washington. He is a pretty goofy guy, but he is a great missionary and we are going to have a lot of fun together. He has been in the mission for about a year and a half. He goes home in August. 

 Susana's Baptism

January 26, 2016

Mother,

Everything went really well this week. In our zone we had 5 baptisms so I got to do 3 of the baptismal interviews so that was pretty cool. The family that got baptized is in another ward but they are great people. They had been prepared by the Lord to receive the gospel. We brought Susana to church again, but her family didnt come. Susana is really excited for her baptism and its been a lot of fun teaching her. We have a few other people that we are teaching as well, but they are still really early in the process, but hopefully they will start progressing here soon.

Last night we went to the Bradys house to have ice cream cake for Elder Veazeys birthday and it was a lot of fun. Its been a long time since I have had such good cake! They drove like 45 minutes to go to the closest dairy queen to buy the cake for Elder Veazey. They are awesome to us and always helping us out!

 Elder Hirsch and Elder Veazey

The Brady Family throwing a party for Elder Veaseys

birthday and Keltons 20 1/3 months in the field.

January 11, 2016 A Great Week!

Mother,

This week went really well. We really decided to buckle down and just give it all we had this week, and it really payed off for us. We have found a ton of great people to teach and a couple of families that are interested in learning more. We were really excited all week and we were positive that we were going to have around 10 investigators in church yesterday, but things didnt work out. Only 3 people ended up coming so that was probably the biggest bummer of the week, but this next week should go really well.

Last week we went to church, and this less active kid, who is about 20 years old came to church and he invited his girlfriend (Susana) to come with him, and she isnt a member of the church so we talked to her and set up an appointment to go visit her on Saturday (2 days ago) When we got to her house her 2 sisters and her mom were there with her as well. We taught the whole family and it went great. Towards the end of the lesson the dad showed up and asked us a few questions and just joined the lesson. We then invited all of them to come to church yesterday, and they all agreed. They were super excited because they have been going through a hard time as a family and that they needed some direction in their lives. We were really excited for the family. Mainly for Susana because she was the most excited.

Then Sunday hit and they didnt show up..... We called them after church and they said that they had some problems in the morning and couldnt make it to the church in time. We then had a chance to talk with Susana and her boyfriend alone. Susana told us that her parents werent completely convinced and that they didnt know if they wanted to go to church or not, but she then said out of nowhere. "I know my family isnt ready yet, but I want to start the process to be able to get baptized" !!!!!! We invited her to get baptized on the 31st of January and she accepted the date!!! 

Here is the best part. Right after that the whole family got home and we just started talking with all of them. Well about 10 minutes later. Susana looks at us and says "I havent told my family what I told you guys" We were confused and didnt know what she was talking about, but then she looks at the whole family and says "I have decided to be baptized on the 31st of January and I am changing my religion" !!!!! The whole room went silent and her dad looked like he had received a dagar in his heart. I think it was silent for about 2 minutes which felt like an eternity! The dad they respected her decision even though he wasnt too thrilled. We then invited the whole family to baptism and they said they want to keep investigating and they will see what happens in the next couple of weeks!

It was an awesome story! Susana is awesome, and she is really excited to be baptized! She still barely knows anything about the church but she is ready for whatever comes.

Our Zone

Kelton & Elder Veasey

Elder on Christmas

This bread is a tradition in Mexico, it is called the Rosca!

Elder Hirsch and Elder Veasey