March 21th & March 28th First Week In Toluca

Mother,

My first week in Toluca went really well! I am loving it here and its looking like we are going to have a lot of success. The bishop here is great and he loves the missionaries so it makes things really nice when it comes to the mission work! We have been working really hard and just giving it all we have. We both have such short time left that we are leaving it all on the field. We are going to have success or we are going to die trying!

We had a few new people come to church this week and we are hoping that we will have a baptism this weekend but we are going to have to see how things play out. Elder Olvera and I are getting along really well. We both have very different personalities but at the end of the day we make a pretty good companionship.

We havent had anything too impressive happen this week but we are working on it. I do like the área a lot, and I think things will go a little better than they did in Lerma. I am loving the mission and I am going to keep working hard.

Mother,

This week went extremely well. We worked about as hard as I have ever worked as a missionary and it finally payed off! We brought 9 investigators to church today and they all seem like really good people. Yesterday was the first time they had been to church so we are excited to see how their progress goes.

We also baptized yesterday!!! We baptized a woman named Elena. She is a great woman, that we have been working with for the 2 weeks that I have been here. She is an investigator that Elder Olvera found with his old companion, and she had been to church a couple times before, but in these last two weeks she has changed completely! She is a really good person and has been doing her best to understand the gospel but all week she has been saying that she still isnt ready to be baptized and that she wanted to wait a while before she made her decisions, but this whole week we went by to visit her and we had really spiritual lessons. We helped her understand that she was ready and by Friday she made her decision to be baptized! It was a great experience to see her progress and to see her make such a great decision!

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.