August 27, 2018 Letter #42

I still haven't met Alfredo's grandma, but she doesn't live in our area so if she accepts anything, I'll probably only hear minimal details about the process. Sasha didn't get baptized and now she's gone to Guadalajara for the next few weeks so I don't know what'll happen with her. Elder Bednar will come this week. We'll be with him on Thursday. Yeah, this week will really be something for us, but we'll be good. (Elder Bednar visits on Thursday. Then the first part of next week 17 new missionaries come and some will go home.)

Elder Breinholt's got an infection in his intestine, but he's already doing a lot better. We couldn't really work this last week, but I think he's good to go again. I gave him a blessing. I've given several during the mission, but they seem to come in spurts where I'll go a week or two or three with nothing and then all of a sudden they'll be all over the place. Elder Marquez is doing fine as far as I know.

I'll likely be a secretary for 6 or 12 more weeks depending on how things go. Secretaries are typically in the offices for around 6 months. The best part of the package would've been the music, I don't have a "favorite" part of the music because I hold those two albums both in high favor. I liked the granola bars for snacking. 

My favorite part of the week was that I was able to work on Friday and Saturday with Elder Ahumada because the assistants were back and town (Elder Lovaas was also sick so he stayed with Elder Breinholt). In those two days we were able to get a lot done and we got a reference for a family of 7! (6 that are old enough to get baptized). I hope that things go well there. 

One thing I studied in Preach My Gospel was the importance of studying/teaching with/understanding the scriptures. There's a lot that we can learn from them and a lot of power that is found therein. We sometimes undervalue that power. 

Something that made me smile was just that we were able to have a successful week even with a serious lack of time. 

Love, 

Elder Finlinson

 Xalapa Zone/District

  A park they went to for P-day

August 20th,2018 Letter #41

Lili and Alfredo got baptized this weekend, but I don't have pictures of either of them. I'll get a picture of Lili's later on, but I didn't even get to go to Alfredo's baptism (I'll explain in a sec). Sasha will hopefully get baptized this weekend, but the plan is shaky right now. Lili and Alfredo were found within the last month or so, but Sasha has been around for a good while. Lili is 14 years old and is the neighbour of a member. She was pretty bold in pushing forward towards baptism because there was very very little family support, but she did it. Her family said that she will not be having a party for her 15th birthday (which in México is the most important of all birthdays for a girl). But she said it just made her sad for them that they would react that way and that she would still get baptized anyway. I had the privilege of baptizing her and it was a neat experience.

Alfredo is the boyfriend of a member and he's the most humble dude I've ever met. He's 16 and completely independent. He technically lives with his Grandma, but has responsibility for all of his costs. He accepted the Gospel extremely quickly and he trusts us a lot. He seems significantly happier now than when we first met him. 

Sasha is married to a member but comes from a Christian church background. She loved her old church and doesn't want to change, but feels that she should be at her husband's side so she's making the effort. But every week when she's goes to church she gets upset all over again and doesn't like the idea of joining. So we'll see what happens with her. 

We went to IHOP for Pday just to chill for a second because yesterday/last night was another one of those days. Around 4:30pm Elder Breinholt got a sharp and sudden pain in his abdomen that wouldn't go away so we went to the hospital and long story short he's doing better, but we're still not 100% sure what's wrong with him. The insurance that we have couldn't agree with the hospital staff so we didn't get a real room last night. I was therefore left with a metal stool to "sleep" on. Needless to say I think I managed about an hour of total time asleep last night. We had been on our way to Alfredo's baptism when it happened so that's why we missed it. I called the Zone Leaders and put them in charge of the baptismal service. It was much easier to help the medical staff with their questions this time than it was with Elder Marquez because now I actually communicate in Spanish so that was a blessing. We ended up in the same hospital as last time. 

When I said I was reading the headings in the Book of Mormon I meant to say that it was only the headings. That way I could get a good grasp of the story of the book without reading all of it in one go. 

You can surely send these emails on to a group if you'd like. I live with the assistants and therefore have the privilege of a washing machine in the house so... ha. I've been to Walmart. It's pretty much the same except you're supposed to tip the baggers. 

One tender mercy was just seeing the baptisms come through this week. It's stressful waiting to see if problems will arise because they so often do. One thing that made me smile was just how excited Lili was after her baptism. It was a simple thing, but fun to see. I'm a big fan of all the music I got in the package (it did arrive this week).

Love, 

Elder Finlinson

August 13, 2018 Letter #40

Elizabeth isn't showing a lot of promise anymore so we're kinda focusing on others right now. She'd still let us in, but we're looking for people with more desire so, unfortunately, we had to move on. People on date for baptism now are Lili, Alfredo, and Sasha. I don't have a ton of time to explain their stories right now, but all 3 stories are incredible.

My favorite part of the week was hearing that Sasha accepted a baptismal date finally because she's been a difficult one to get there (I wasn't actually there when she said yes).

Most challenging part of the week was having to stay home for a day because Elder Lovaas got sick. I felt like a sinner for being at home, but I figure there wasn't much I could do about the situation.

Lately I've been between studying the headings of the Book of Mormon to understand the setting and story better and also studying for other questions that come to me and/or are posed to me.

*I asked him what he has learned from each of his companions since he arrived in his mission. This was his answer:

Elder Márquez taught me to care about investigators as individuals. Elder Alor taught me hard work and sacrifice. Elder Marines taught me how to be my own agent. Elder Shoemaker taught me how to enjoy working. Elder Breinholt is teaching me how to effectively improvise. I feel like I could definitely mention Elder Ahumada and Elder Lovaas on here but I'm kinda short on time. Elder Alor would be cool to serve with again. 

I haven't seen the package, but thanks for sending it ha.

Love Elder Finlinson

August 6th 2018 Letter #39

We know what areas are opening. The zone leaders are in charge of finding housing in each new area. We need to get every material that is typical of a mission apartment (bed frames, mattresses, cooking stuff, tables, chairs, shower curtains, etc.). *They will have 17 new missionaries coming in the next change that they are busy getting ready for.

I didn't change areas so I'm still in the Zone of Xalapa and the Zone Leaders didn't change either so they're still Elder Heaton and Elder Goodman. 

The President and Assistants split up the conferences and interviews normally, but this change we're not having any zone conferences because Elder David A. Bednar is coming at the end of the month and we'll have to figure out how to get every missionary in the mission to Xalapa and find places for them to stay a night. It'll be hectic, but I'm confident it'll be worth it as well. 

The secretaries weren't invited to the leadership conference this time around, the only reason we were in the picture is because we stopped by to drop off materials and ask the Zone Leaders for baptismal forms.

*This is a continuation of last weeks letter: In brief details that I remember: 1.We taught the deacon because I had to be in Coatepec (another area) for a baptismal interview and then our lunch appointment got cancelled so we stayed with hopes of eating in Coatepec with the other missionaries so in the meantime a counselor from the stake presidency put us to work teaching a new deacon. 2. The meeting with the relatives is a continuation from this same story. We weren't actually able to eat in Coatepec, but we got back to our area later for having waited. We had no appointment for food and it was Sunday so we couldn't buy anything. We decided to go with a member that we have a good relationship with and it turns out that one of the kids was having their birthday that day so we ate there with the whole extended family. 3. The baptism was simply the right place at the right time. We had just finished a meeting in the church when 2 other missionaries popped around the corner and asked us to help them out with their baptismal service that was just about to go down. So we did.

 

The best part of the week was that we had a baptism and 3 more people that came to church that have a baptismal date on the schedule so things are looking up.

In my studies I wrote 3 little steps that came to mind to help a person have success. 1.Pray always 2. Be patient and humble 3. Know that miracles will come.

I also had an interesting thought about how since everyone is going to be resurrected you could almost think about the Plan of Salvation like this: The reward for keeping the first estate is the rescue from physical death. The reward for keeping the second estate is the rescue from spiritual death. It seems a lot simpler to me when it's put that way.

Love, Elder Finlinson 

Pati's baptism

Leadership conference