Week 44: Tragedy in Mexico Tampico Mission, but the Work Goes On

Hey guys! 

well looks like the news of the Missionary that died wednesday had gotten to you.  Its so sad.  They were reading their scriptures outside because it was cooler outside and they were heading inside. And to get inside they had to walk on a ledge and while he was walking, a live wire brushed his shoulder and knocked him unconsciences and he fell 2 stories to the street. 

Some people gave us the newspaper that had that story. Super sad. I didnt know him because he just got here last month.  Anyways we found out friday morning in a special meeting we had.   (Elder Colt Daniel Kunz, age 20, from Victor, Idaho, died Wednesday, Oct. 9, while serving in the Mexico Tampico Mission. )

Well the week has been alright. It went by really fast! The transfer is almost over already! CRAZY....so we have been teaching this one couple named Julian and Lucero. They are really cool. Julian is a member but he went in active like 4 years ago and meet his girlfriend that he has right now.  Shes not a member be we are working on that! haha 

Shes pregnant and she is going to have her baby probably this week. We have been focusing on her in the lessons and saturday we taught her the PLan of Salvation. So many elders have taught her all the lessons, the only reason she cant get baptized is because she isnt....married. Thats the case with about evryone here in our mision. 

The lesson we had saturday was really spiritual. We talked about our propose here on earth and how it is to have a family. I talked about the importance of having a family and and even more important to be married and to have a good home to raise a child. That the best situation to raise a child is in the gospel. Then i talked about how blessed they are to have a baby so soon and that the baby is coming directly from our Heavenly Father. I was feeling the spirit pretty strongly! 

On friday we taught a recient convert. She recently got bit by both of her dogs!! The bite is so bad!! We were teaching her then she stopped us because she coulndt focus because she was worried about getting shots and that her bit was going to get infected and she was in pain. So we ended the lesson and we told her she could ask us for a blessing and she said yes. 

So without my comp asking me he gets the oil and does the first part of the blessing which meant that i was going to give the second part of the blessing! I was kinda nervous becuase i didnt know what to say and even more in spanish! But i went ahead and started. 

Right when i declared the autority of the Preisthood of Melqusidec i felt like the ¨power¨ running through my hands to her head and gave the blessing. I blessed her that her leg would heal and that it wouldnt get infected. Then i told her to have peace and comfort. ANd that Heavenly Father has been and is always protecting her. I said more things but i cant remember. I definately had to realy on the spirit for that blessing and it strengthed my testimony about the preisthood a ton! It was a really cool experiece for me! 

So wednesday, sorry im like writing this all in disorder haha im just remembering these things all the sudden!, We did divisoins with the zone leaders! The Gringo Zone leader was the asistant that i stay with for 3 days when i got here in Mexico, Elder Stockard. He is so cool. I actually learned a lot from this division. He taught me how to actualy set goals and plans for the goals. Because i notcied with him that i wasnt really geting everything out of my mission that i could and that i should. SO he opened my eyes to that and now i have some goals that i set on thursday and i have comleted them everyday to this day! 

I also feel that the lessons we teach to everyone is really changing me than its changing the people we are teaching. Because as i teach my testimony grows and i feel the spirit testifying to me that what im teaching is true! The mission really is such a blessing for me and im so glad that im out here, theres nothing better that i could be doing! 

I love every single one of you! Mom, Dad, Michael, Brandon, Julie, and Katie! and the rest of you family! 

Love, 

Elder McNamara  

Week 43: Semi-Annual General Conference from SLC to Mexico

Hey guys! 

Well sounds like you all had a good time in Utah! Both you guys and the christensens. Im a little sad that i couldnt be there but that time will come soon. Just a matter of time. 

But hey! What about that general conference huh? I thought it was so awesome! I tried to look for you all when the congeration sang together...but i didnt see you. ha but hey we sang together.  Well my 2 favorite talks were from the Sunday morning session. Henry B. Eryings talk, the first one. and President Monsons talk. those were the ones i felt the spirit the strongest. 

Hopefully you guys had a chance to see those talks but im going to sum them up real quick. So Erying talked about the atonement and how we can recieve strength even when we dont think we have any. He told a story about a grandma whose grandchild was really rebellious. That he got into really bad things, drugs, violonce, girls, and ended up in jail. Then the grandma couldnt take it and was walking back and forth crying asking why if she has done everything she could have done. and always tried her best to live the gospel, why does she have a grandson like that? Then she recieved an answer that [I gave him to you because i knew you were the one who would always love him no matter what he said or did[ then Presidnet Erying compared it to the savior and how much he loves us. He got pretty emoitional. It was a really good talk.

Then the talk from Prsident Monson. He started out talking about his wife. How last conference she was in the hospital because she had suffered a fall. then in May she pasted away. Then he talked about his love he has for her. That she was the love of his live, best friend and that he misses her so much. When he said that he about started to cry. That was the first time i have ever seen him cry. You could tell how much he really did love her. Thats the kind of love i want AND im going to have that love for my future wife (everyone knows who:)) 

Then he explain how he has gotten through this hard time because he is based in his testimony and the promise of his sealling has kept him going. It was pretty powerful! I started tearing up! I loved it. You all should watch it on LDS.org. 

Well besides conference this week wasnt too good. On tuesday our investigator dropped us. the one that had a date for her baptism! She sent us a message saying that she is not going to be able to meet up with us anymore and that she is going to congregate at the church she went to before! OH MY GOSH! 

It broke my heart to read that, i felt like if a girlfreind broke up with me! I was kinda down that day. I felt bad because we had no idea why she sent that and doesnt want to meet up with us anymore. She seemed like she was a golden investigator. And the rest of the day EVERY SINGLE lession we had planned fell through. We taught one lesson thats it. It was the worst day. The rest of the week was better though dont worry! 

Right now we are just having a hard time in our area. We dont have any investigaotrs and we only have like 10 less active families we are teaching. Our area is tough! We need help from the branch here but they dont do much. Hopefully the conference opened there eyes a bit to see that the WARD and MIssionaries need to work together to get the work going! 

This week i have grown my testimony a ton for Christ and his atonement. I have had some really cool personal experiences but i dont want to share them here ha. Lets just say that im feeling his love more and his hand in my life more. Its something incredible and i still dont understand it fully. 

The mission is definately one of the biggest blessings in my life.Its changing my life and looks like you all are seeing the blessing in your lifes too. Which is awesome. i love you all so much. I cant say that enough. 

Mom one lesson we had this week we were teaching a single mom and she has 2 little girls. She was saying how hard it is on her to raise them because she has to do everything. SHe works everyday and her family doesnt support her at all. So i was sitting there listening to her wondering what i could say to her to help her. 

Then i started to explain just how important it is for the mom to be an example to thier kids. And how hard of a job it is to be a mom. then i started to tell her about you mom. About how hard it has been on you in the past and how much i look up to you.  Im not going to lie, i started crying talking about you. I couldnt say anything for a couple seconds then i said that My mom means so much to me. 

Then i said that being a mom is the MOST important role that each women has. and how improtant it is to teach their kids about the gospel. It was good lesson. It made me realize how much i miss you mom!! 

And the rest of the family too! I love you all. 

Love,

Elder McNamara

PS:  Dad,

Looks like the meeting for usana was a hit!  With the christensens loving it especailly barry  haha he is a good guy.  I cant believe how good looking katie is now. She has gotten more beautiful since i have left. 

Im definately down for doing usana. Im pumped for it. I would love to do it and want to do it. Reserve a spot for me. because i am going to need money to buy a car and a ring when i get back!

thats good that michael is doing with you and doing it seriously. looks good up there on stage. 

I love you dad and glad that you watched conference. Look for the talk of Jefferry R. Holland, he spoke on saturday but the whole time i was thinking about brandon. He talked about deep depresion, and its an awesome talk. It will be on the church website this week sometime

Week 42: It's Raining, It's Pouring ... No, Wait, That's Me!

8 6 7 5 3 0 niiine.....That song just came into my head as i was thinking about what i should write haha 

Can i just say it been SOOOO HOOOOTTTT here? I have sweated more than i have in my life i swear. 

So like a couple days ago in the morning we had a cita up in the mountains. So we go and start our dreadful ascend up the mountain. In pictures you just cant imagine whats it like. It took about 30 minutes from the bottom until half way up.  By then it was like sweat just flowlying freely from my pours. Then we had to slowly climb in the street to the members house. It was like a water hose flowly out of my pours. I honestly have never sweated like that in my entire life! haha It was the worst. 

My pants were all dark from the sweat and my tie was starting to drip with sweat. haha im not even kidding. And what is it..Pretty much Octubre? Theres streets that lead up the mountain just to let you know but the incline is about 70 degrees and cars have trouble going up. 

Enough about my dreadful experience with the heat and mountains. By the way im just sitting here sweat while i write. 

Anyways this week was pretty good. We had some good lessons. We are teaching some couple named Julian and Lucero. Julian is a less active member and his girlfriend is not a member. Shes pregnant and is due on the 7 of octubre. They are a cool couple. They live right off of the stairs of hell. Just about half way up next to the stairs. We are trying to help them get married so she can get baptized. He is like president of his colonia or like nieghborhood. So he spends a lot of time with goverment stuff in his colonia.

With them i used a scripture that i thought i would never use in my mission. Its in 4 Nefi 1:14 or around there. It say ¨Se casaban y se daban en matrimonio y fueron bendicidos con la multitud de promesas que el señor les habia hecho¨  They really like that and i testified of how the relationship between a couple is even stronger and better when based in the gospel and when the are married the lord blesses their marriage just for the fact of being married. But still have to complete with their own duties. 

In one of the lessons we had this week. We were teaching the restoration, joseph smith and the book of mormon. And while we were teaching all of the sudden i remembered when i went to efy there at Kirtland ohio. And how i had visited all the early church sites and how i felt the spirit there and when i gained my testimony about Joseph Smith. 

I had the spirit re affirmed my testimony about those things and i shared my testimony with the Recent Convert that we were teaching. Didnt seem like it effected her really but it strengthen my testimony again thats for sure! It was really good to have that. 

So at church yesterday. Well they are pretty slow at getting everything ready here. The Sacrament wasnt set up until 9 15 when church was supposed to start at 9. And it is a little dis organized here. We got to change that here. But the president of the branch after the sacrament all of the sudden asked me to share something with the Branch. HE didnt tell me anything about that or that he wanted me to say something. 

So i stand up button one button on my suit ( thats the style, learn from me) and walk up to the stand. I just told them my name where im from and that im excited to work with them. Then i shared my testimony for like 5 minutes. I was kinda nervous becuase theres like 80 people here compared to Soto La Marina with 30 haha. 

Well that was my week. 

I love you all.

Love,

Elder McNamara

Week 41: Climbing Beastly Stairs and Making Baptismal Challenges!

This week in the Huesteca zone. Oh yeah, It was fun and its fun here in this area. Just one problem. There are a ton of mountains! Our area is small but we have two mountains in our area that we have to climb every day! My legs are about dying every day haha  we didnt walk that much in soto la marina. 

Hopefully i dont really sound like a girl when i say this but the scencery (however you spell it) its beautiful! The top of our house you can see the 2 mountains and at night the houses obviously have there lights on and it looks so COOL!

 

In our rama, which i dont know why its a branch but it has 90 people that go ever sunday which is a ton. And there are 6 missionaries in this branch, well really 7 with a pair of sister missionaries. they are in a trio.

yesterday (was) district conference and president Jordan came and spoke. IT was packed!! All the branches from this area went and there was a ton of people. President Jordan spoke about tithing and spoke pretty direct and strong. He told them that this will be the last time he wants to talk about tithing with them. Then he said "El señor no necesita sus tristes pesos!" in english its the Lord doesnt need your sad pesos. It was so funny! All the missionaries were trying not to laugh but the members werent.

 

So in this area we dont have that many members. there is just one active member family and only a few less actives. And we have like 2 investigators. One of them is named Lili. She is with ganas.  We taught her on friday and the lession was full of the spirit. We just talked about the Book of Mormon and how its important to read it to have a testimony about it. She is having a hard time right now with her husdband. for some things or another there are getting a divorce and she has 2 little girls, which by the way are the cuttest things ever!! They always say Los Elderes!! Its cute. then after the lesson we walked with her back to her house and i started to have races with her little girl. Shes about 3. Its was cute. 

Then we taught her on saturaday and holy cow the spirit was even stronger in this lession! She read 2 Nephi 31 all about baptism. So we focused ourselfs in bapstism. I cant say or explain it but the spirit was so strong the whole lesson. I was going to invite her to be baptized but i didnt know when!!! I was so mad at myself. My comp kept going in cicrles to give me the chance to do it but i didnt....so he invited her and she said yes!! For the 26 of october. 

And she went to church yesterday!! My comp and i were waiting there in the sacrament room and we started to sing the first hym and we called her like 10 times and she didnt pick up. We were so disappointed until she walked in the door and we gave her our seats. Because it was packed. So we left the room to go to another and then by comp and i were like YESSSS she came and we like hugged each other haha

 

Well it seems like Julies party was a blast!!! I wish i was there. SOunded aweesome. On the beach with a bonfire and sports and a ton of food! I think im starting to gain some weight haha i eat so much now! And even better with this Ammon kid making a night to remember for Julie. SOunds like a good kid if our whole family likes him.  

I wish could see julie just light up and talk all about him. Kind of like me with katie  :)   Thanks michael for writing me! Thats cool that your stronger than a polar bear and thor.  well guess what Im as white as an american, legs black like usain bolt, and speak like a mexican. Boom...

brandon thats awesome that your killing it in school! and have a personal trainer that cool man. I need one here haha   happy Birthday this saturday!

Dad sound good. Thanks for your advice and stuff.  My comp has more time than me in the mission. BUt he has a little atitude problem sometimes and a little annoying haha but we get along well.  

Mom I love you like always!! the best mom ever!!! I wish i was there to eat all the left over food you got haha i would go through those bag of chips like nothing. I have at least 3 bags of chips a day. Just those small bags. there only 5 pesos! Well fam thats my week for ya!

I love you all.

Love,

Elder McNamara

Katie (second from right), and the entire Christensen Family .....so far!  :)

Week 40: Hurricane Hits Tampico, Mexico and David Gets Transferred

Hey family!!!

What up guys! This past week was pretty awesome. Well the hurricane was kinda crazy.  It destroyed the beach town that is 40 minutes from soto, called La Pesca.  But after it hit there it went from a hurricane to a tropical storm.  So in the morning on monday at like 6 it hit soto and it was so windy and raining a ton for about 3 hours then it stopped. 

The river that is there grew a ton from all the water.  But later that day at 4 i got a call from the asitants that i was changing areas and had to leave on the bus at 5 30.  So i had to pack ALL my stuff in like 30 minutes...do not know how i did it! haha   

then Like 20 minutes before the bus left it started raining a ton..a ton!! And we left the town onto Victoria. But guess what? Soto La Marina flooded after we left! The water was up to the knee in some parts and the river raised even more that it destroyed a lot of houses, and a lot of members are now sleeping in the church like 22 people. 

(Hermano Benito, here on the left is probably living in the church right now in Soto de Marina; as his home is probably destroyed from the hurricane.)  

They closed off the highways to the town right after we left! What a miracle. BUt im going to miss that area. 

I had a lot of fun and it was awesome. SO we worked in Victoria for a day, yesterday, and now i finally arrived in my new area! Its called Huejutla in the state of Hidaglo. Its about the most south of the mision. haha from the most north to the most south! Pretty cool. It looks pretty cool so far. 

Its in a mountain area and its all green and houses on the hills. Ill send pictures next week because i dont have my cord to put them on here! My new comp is Elder Garcia. He is cool and i got raised to be the Senor Companion! Oh yeah. Im excited to be working in this new area. 

Oh when we got to victoria monday night it was crazy to see all the water in the streets! It was honestly a full on raging river haha! There were cars stuck and the water was almost past the tires on the cars there. Look for videos on youtube of When it rains in victoria tampualipas, or something like that. One of the craziest things i have seen! 

I cant really remember what we did last week, so i dont know what to write about. But julie your are going to be 16!!! TOMORROW OH MY GOSH, how do you feel crazy girl! I cant believe your 16 and a junior in high school. Where has the time gone? be careful around those guys! You seem like your getting guy crazy...oh man. haha 

dad thats cool that you and michael are getting going in usana! That sounds exciting. I for sure want to join the team and make some bank. 

Brandon man, keep rocking those minds in college and work your butt off in it man!  I love you guys 

And mom!!!  I love you. Keep working to get those flabby arms in shape  hahaha i laughed pretty hard when i read that,  And have fun all of you at Julies party! 

Love,

Elder McNamara

David with Elder Gregory who is probably already home .... finished with his two years!

Week: 39:6/7th Writing a Day Early Due to Approaching Hurricane!

Hey mom and dad!

Well I don't if you guys know or not but there's a small hurricane coming our way. It will hit here tonight (Sunday) or tomorrow.  We were told to write our family to say that every thing is going to be alright. And that we won't be writing our family until Wednesday.

The mission gave us all these precautions. We going to be in the church at 6 tonight haha  it's been raining a ton! Theres some streets that are honestly like rivers! Ha kinda crazy.  Everything is going to be good. I'm a missionary and everything is taken care of.  we baught food last night and us 4 missionaries are sticking together in the church here in soto la marina.  The switched the transfers until Wednesday so I might be changed but who knows!

I love you guys. 

This past week was good a lot of rain. 

My feet and shoes have been soaked for about 4 days straight. 

I'll write more on Wednesday. 

Love you all

Week 39: Falling Into Water-Filled Holes on Dirt Roads

Hey family!

Is it me or has these past 5 weeks flown by? I think so!! It honestly feels like my new comp just got here but that was just a little longer than a month ago! And i have been 20 for a month...OH YEAH!! 

Well right now we are in the city of Victoria writing because we came here for our P day to play soccer!! President just barely changed the rules about playing soccer. Before we couldnt but now we can. It was so much fun playing actually. All the latinos are so good at it, its kinda ridiculous. But i made a few goals...yeah.

 

Anyways this past week flew by. It has been rainng a TON this past week. Even more than it did the week before. So on Thursday it started raining like crazy all day. And it contuned to rain all night and all day friday! I guess there was some cyclone that hit mexico in the south or something.

Anyways on friday my comp and i left to our first cita. Which was so far away from our house that we have to go and walk on dirt roads. So we were walking for about 20 mintues and we get to this one spot on the road where there were a ton of holes with water and it was raining hard. so my comp stood there thinking how he was going to pass it, so he decides to jump the hole and...BOOM just lands and slips and falls into another hole  hahah i just started cracking up and pointing and laughing at him. 

So i look and find another way and i took like 5 steps just laughing at him and...BOOM i slip and fall into a hole hahah karma came back and hit me hard. So we were muddy the whole day. Just one side of our leg and our butts all muddy haha  All of our lessons we had people asking what happened and they all just laughed at us.

So this Lalo we have been teaching is progressing a lot. He is changing and you can see the change in his face. Its pretty cool to see and notice that in people! He has been coming to church and having lessons with us. He reminds me of michael and brandon put together. I feel like he is my brother. He has ganas to reactivate!

We are also teaching another investigador named Letty. She is a humble laddy and has had a lot of stuff happen to her. She has 2 little kids. But she has recieved her answer already! About the book of mormon and the stuff we have taught her! She tolds us that when we talk with her she feels something pretty and unique in her chest that she has never felt before! When i heard that i just smiled so big!! It was awesome to hear that. I felt the spirit as she tried to describe what she was feeling. A cool missionary moment!

Well this is the last week of the change. This will complete 3 changes here in soto. So the chances are for me that i might get moved out of this town. But who knows. Anything can happen. Im just here to learn and for the journey!:) I love you mom, dad, michael, brandon, and julie!

Love,

Elder David McNamara