February 26, 2018 Letter #16

The lessons went well and it's been good to see that the Lord provides a way for His children to come back even when He has to work with imperfect instruments (Elder Marquez and I have been a little up and down this week as a companionship, but nothing to worry about). The lessons with Lucy have been super neat because the Spirit is always really strong and we have the benefit of always having a member present at her lessons because she's been staying with her cousin-in-law who is a member.

The main way I've been working on consecration lately is through leaving behind pride because pride is a huge stumbling block in the work. Just trust me on knowing that the Lord is preparing me haha. It's been a chain of events. 

We don't know for absolute certain what bit him (the Elder he was on splits with), but he got fixed up this week in the hospital so hopefully he'll be good as new when I see him Wednesday at zone conference.

 As for the guardian angels thing I would suggest that your thought is indeed correct as I have been thinking of one particular angel whom I expect has taken a large role. 

The music I got wasn't exactly what I expected, but fortunately I like Hillary Weeks more now than I did as a kid. Haha It's all good stuff and if I ever go on splits or something with Elder Mardo I'll show him the song with you and your sisters (we were good about taking interest in one another's family). I don't know where I put the lizards (bead lizards we made for him to give little kids).

Splits simply depend on the day. Sometimes we go, sometimes they come, sometimes we split after district classes because we're already together. The best thing about this week is that we have had two investigators express real interest in baptism (Lucy and Briana). 

We had a killer lunch today that consisted of breaded shrimp, veggies, and fries. I do some weird exercises in the morning because options are limited. I stopped sending group emails because I forget.

February 19, 2018 Letter #15

Birthday was a typical day, but Hermana Esquihuas did call me to tell me happy birthday.

We haven't been able to see Rosa yet and Jose Manuel we're giving some time off. We have a new investigator named Lucy who seems to be the real deal so that's exciting. Another little niña named Ashley too.

In my studies I've been trying to understand more fully how I can consecrate myself as a missionary and I think it's helping a lot. The main thing I've been working on is being positive in the face of difficulties.

A guy in my zone got bit by a spider and they had to cut his leg open and I was with him when he changed bandages and had to have it cleaned out and so there are a couple missionaries that have said something like "Elder Finlinson has seen more blood in two months in the field than the rest of his life" or "At this rate Elder Finlinson will be a doctor by the end of the mission." So it's been interesting out here. Luckily I myself have been protected. 

I've been blessed with the knowledge that the Lord is preparing me right now more than anything else. I've been pretty happy about my progress with Spanish lately so that's a blessing. Elder Marquez is good for me because he is preparing me well for the work and keeping me humble. My hardest moment this week was Sunday because we didn't have anybody to preside so we had to call someone from Martinez to come and he couldn't come until late so we changed the order of the meetings. Then I taught Priesthood, Gospel Principles, passed the sacrament, and gave a talk. After church we had to rush to the bus stop so we could get to a meeting with other missionaries in Martinez. So it was a tad stressful you might say. But the Lord provided a way. Also I remembered the weird food I had. It was Armadillo. It was boney and gamey.

Elder Finlinson

Letter #14

My birthday will pass well I'm sure. We've been able to teach and we've found several new investigators. We still haven't seen Rosa because she had surgery yesterday, but we heard the surgery went well (blessings). We need to go see Jose Manuel soon. 

Elder Marquez is doing better and so we're not too troubled anymore physically. The bit of damage he had in his brain is in the front so he's been a little prone to mood swings lately, but hopefully that passes with the healing (the front of the brain controls personality if memory serves me).

Favorite moment is when a less active 10 year old came to church for the first time since before I got here. She's way funny. Anyway, when she took the sacrament it felt like a baptism to me because it had been so long for her since she last renewed her covenant.

I have had more odd foods, but can't remember what. This week I'm looking forward to that fact that we already have a lot of appointments made. I've realized while doing my studies that the time we have to study is honestly a big part of the reason missions are such a blessing. It makes me grateful and excited when I have time to study all the different resources we have (Scriptures, LDS magazines, etc.)

Love, Elder Finlinson

Letter #13

We're back in Vega, arrived on Saturday, but we'll be starting slowly this week because Elder Marquez was told to rest a little before fully going back to work. Daniel and his mom came to church on Sunday and we talked. Daniel is still in a neck brace and has stitches in his head, but he felt good enough to come to church so that's a positive sign. He told me that Ada is doing really quite well. Rosa is still in enough pain that she doesn't leave bed much, but she's gonna be alright. She had to get surgery on her wrists and stitches in her head too. We didn't talk much about Marcos, but Daniel told me that he'll be fine. I just didn't bother writing a group email last week because I didn't have many of the answers that I felt were necessary. Elder Marquez actually chose to stay in the hospital a few extra days so the assistants and I took turns being there with him throughout the week. That meant that I was on splits with the assistants all week (which was awesome because they're way good missionaries and I learned a lot). I actually liked working in Xalapa quite a bit. Tuesday we had a training in Xalapa for new missionaries and I was already conveniently there so I got to attend. It was super cool and I got to see the guys from the CCM, which was nice. Elder Mardo was excited to see me in one piece (as he had already heard about the accident). One night I went on a split with Elder Gunderson (secretary) and he showed me where to get some good hot dogs after we taught a killer lesson to an elderly woman who had a strong testimony of miracles. She has a surgery coming up so we got to give her a blessing too. The next day I taught a couple more awesome investigators with Elder Kucharek (assistant) and finally got to try the infamous tracting with Elder Sutton (assistant). I don't get why tracting has such a bad reputation because I actually enjoyed it and we made a number of appointments in relatively little time. Maybe it's just more effective in Mexico. President Esquihuas and his wife are actually the best. Hermana Esquihuas gave us some extra garments too. She and I had three dinner dates this week haha (she would pick me up from the hospital and leave President with Elder Marquez for a second so I could eat). The language is coming along well enough I suppose. President told me such. He then proceeded to tell me that that's good because we need good Spanish speakers to be leaders. (I didn't know how to respond to that). I'll be studying a lot this week. 

Love,

-Elder Finlinson