Dec.31st,2018 Letter #60

The pajama meeting was indeed on Christmas day. We did a gift exchange there. I gave away a battleship set (good for two players #missionlife) and received a tie and a T-shirt. While I was waiting for other missionaries to talk to families Elder Lobo and I went to the bus station to pick up another Elder that was visiting our zone. 

I think one gift that I've been developing a lot is that of leadership. I'm still figuring it out, but I feel like the change is notable. I think the gift of tongues has accompanied me as well.

My favorite part of the week was that there were 8 baptisms in my district this weekend! That was exciting. The challenging part of that was that we were the only companionship that didn't directly contribute to the 8. But we're getting over it by keeping our eyes on what's coming rather than what already passed.

My favorite Christmas gift was that on the 24th and 25th we had to stop by a member's house to do a couple things and while we were there one of the girls in the family (she's 15) openly expressed to us some of her doubts regarding the church (this on the 24th). We took time to address each one and she was reasonably satisfied. But I know what happens when people live according to doubts so afterwards I bore testimony of the need to live by faith over doubts and left her a few conference talks to read. We came back and verified every few days and she is now really excited about the church and is reading the Book of Mormon for the first time and says that she actually really enjoys it. So that was neat to see her get pointed in the right direction. 

This week I studied chastity and virtue quite a bit. I would venture to say that when we think about the law of chastity we typically think about the really big concepts that it covers and all too often forget about the importance of the little things. These kinds of things almost always involve the domino effect. So two important things to do to stay on track are 1. Always fight to have clean thoughts. 2. Repent and ask for more strength daily. We shouldn't wait to get a sunburn before putting on sunscreen. Likewise we shouldn't wait until we have major problems before asking for strength to avoid them.

One goal I have for the coming year is to not get tired of trying to improve. I'd also like to impact more individual missions/lives of missionaries. I'd like to be able to eat healthier. I know that's not a specific thing, but that'd be nice. Perhaps more salad wouldn't hurt the Veracruz diet. 

I think the spiritual highlight would also just be what happened with the girl that had doubts. It's incredibly crucial that we believe the gospel message by faith instead of letting doubt run our lives. I would suggest the following talk by Elder Uchtdorf: "Be Not Afraid, Only Believe".

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

Dec. 24th,2018 Letter #59

The people that are still on date for the 5th are Dana, Karen, and Ariadne. Karen and Ariadne are cousins (22 and 13 years old). They're relatives of another member in the ward. Karen teaches English and Ariadne is chugging along in school. 

The area that we teach in was frustratingly small until this week. The Zone Leaders share the ward with us and they realized that the boundaries were really unfair so they offered to change them and we accepted. So now we have a lot more to work with. It's hard to say how big it is though. 

Mostly I just see that Elder Jimenez is making big strides in obedience and and see now in him a stronger desire to improve. The fruits of the increased desire are just getting started, but the important thing is that we're going in the right direction. I don't know exactly what has him motivated to be doing better. Perhaps I should ask him. 

Something I've reflected on quite a bit recently is the importance of living by faith over doubt. It's a simple decision that we all need to make. I would make a small example: In elementary school exists (existed?) the D.A.R.E. program which essentially gets kids to decide not to drink, smoke, or do drugs. They're just kids, but they make a simple decision to say no. As they grow up and see the effects of that decision their conviction grows stronger and stronger. That's how it is when we decide to live by faith. I saw that change my own life and I can personally testify that a decision to "doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" will determine your destiny (I just totally worked sayings from Pres. Monson and Elder Uchtdorf into the same sentence). I suggest this talk from then-President Uchtdorf: "Be Not Afraid, Only Believe" Oct. 2015. 

Elder Jimenez and I had a pretty rough day as a companionship on Thursday. But we had a no-more-beating-around-the-bush kind of conversation and set some new goals to get back on track. My favorite part of the week was probably the ward Christmas party. It wasn't anything huge, but it was good to see all the members in one place just trying to have a little bit of fun. 

Bro. Boring would have seen my email because I sent it to his address. I don't know why, but the emails from Pres. Price come through Bro. Boring. It's cool though haha. I didn't say much, I just thanked him for helping me make sure I was ready before coming on a mission. 

Merry Christmas!

Elder Finlinson

This is Olga. She is our biggest fan and requested this picture.

Dec. 17th, 2018 Letter #58

After lunch today the staff of the little joint gave us mints that had little inspirational quotes on them and mine said something along the lines of: "No matter how long the storm is, the sun always shines again." It was cool because this week the sun came out again in our area. We have 4 people who have accepted baptism for January 5th. There's a lot left to do with them before that day, but we're on the right track. 

The other missionaries weren't exactly excited when we took Viridiana back, but they didn't make a huge deal of it so I'm content. She has the desire to get baptized, but has a few things she needs to get in order first. We'll try to help her get things done by the 5th, but we didn't count her as one of the 4 that accepted baptism for lack of certainty on that part. 

The Primary Program was actually pretty calm. They would sing a song, have 4 or 5 kids share a short scripture, then sing again. They didn't do any Christmas songs or scriptures, which was weird to me, but it was fun. That same Sunday though, the ward after us had their program as well and I had to stay in order to do a baptismal interview with an investigator in that ward so I figured I would sneak in and watch their program as well. That program wasn't so uneventful haha. They had the typical child in the choir that shouted everything at the top of their lungs, several kids that got very confused about their turns for reading scriptures and the whole deal. They also started every song with a small solo and some of the soloists were very lost, while others sang rather well. The elderly lady, that led the songs, was also super into it. She has to be an ex-member of another, more wild, church or something because she was leading with just about every part of her little body and left the children with no way to excuse themselves by saying that they couldn't see the director. It was kind of funny though because I could tell she wasn't doing it to be irreverent, she just simply had a LOT of dedication to leading those songs. 

We had a few investigators in church, but still haven't had much time to visit with them since the program. 

I pretty much just listen to talks, but I listened to a bit of the tabernacle choir and a touch of EFY this week in the moments I felt like humming a tune. 

To help explain the number thing I'll give you a bit of background info. Nowadays in the mission field there are only 4 key indicators that we report each week: 1. New investigators, 2. Investigators with a planned baptismal date, 3. Investigators in church, 4. Investigators baptized and confirmed. Our problem with the new investigators was that in our mission specifically they just tightened up the rules for what counts as a new investigator, and we found them the old way last week so they didn't count. We fixed our strategy up this week though. We had a couple of people with planned dates, but they were more than 3 weeks away so they didn't count either. In church we kind of just had a bad week. We had Dana come, who will get baptized on the 5th as well, but she didn't count because she's still 7 years old until the 5th. Reactivating members doesn't count as any key indicator now so some particular leaders sometimes get mad when we "use our time ineffectively" and reactivate, but in Preach My Gospel we're told to do it so Elder Jimenez and I do it one way or another. It worked out for us though because one of the inactive members wants us to baptize her nephews now and is going to work with us to do it. So that was the deal there, but we're back on top of things now. Elder Jimenez has been doing really well lately. I think this was perhaps the most impressive week I've seen from him while we've been together. He's really making some key changes.

The best thing I ate this week was a Mexican take on Chinese food. There's a sister in our ward that always tries to give us something out of the ordinary and it's always fun to eat with her. The Sister just made fried rice and some chicken that was prepared differently then it usually is in Mexico, but it was different enough to stand out and I liked it. 

One thing I did this week that I liked was that I just read a random chapter from the Book of Mormon each day to see what would happen. It helped me a lot to focus on what was being taught in each individual chapter in stead of focusing purely on the "plot development" of the book. It was neat to see how much you can learn from any chapter in the Book of Mormon if you're willing to really focus on the message in each verse. 

Something that has made me laugh all week has been a running joke that we have between the zone leaders and us. The four of us were talking to an old dude last week about basketball and he did something iconic. But now that we're close to the video call it'd be better to wait until then to explain it in full measure. Just remind me. 

Zone Conference was cool, but it was also kind of odd. I found that I enjoyed the spiritual side of it a lot, but then just felt like the "fun" part dragged on. I hope I'm not becoming a boring person haha. But I felt a renewed desire to bring people to Christ this Christmas as a present to He who has given us everything. 

There hasn't been anything too crazy about Christmas in Mexico, but one carol they have here is catchy. I think it's called "La Rama" or something like that, La Rama means, 'the branch'. I just like hearing people sing it. 

For P-day we tried to play a game with flour, but it basically just turned into a flour fight.

Love, Elder Finlinson

 Christmas Zone Conference

 Connor with Pres. & Sis. Esquihaus

 Tuxpan Zone

Dec.10th,2018 Letter #57

We've got an odd situation going on with Viridiana. It's a long story, but basically we told other missionaries to teach her because of a doubt we had. Now the doubt has been cleared and once again President got involved (I feel like I have more communication with him now for the weird situations we've had than I did as secretary) and he told us to teach her again. But the other missionaries were obviously really excited because they see it as a potential baptism so we don't know how to tell them (we just got the news recently and therefore haven't had the conversation yet). It'll be rough because we were the ones that said to teach her and now we'll be taking her back. We'll do it though. But for that reason I'm not 100% sure about how she is progressing. I'm confident that she'll get baptized though. 

With Chucho we're also counting on other Elders. His dad lives in another area so we have to send them to try to teach him about the Gospel and hopefully convince him that way. 

The Primary program is going to be next Sunday. I'll put up the nativity set this week. I actually didn't know you sent me a white tie haha. The one I wore in the baptism was Elder Lobo´s. Now I know. I'm good on shirts and pants. I didn't get the music yet, but we actually have a new rule in the mission that says we can't listen to anything that doesn't have the church's seal on it. That means EFY and the Tabernacle Choir pretty much. Not even Vocal Point is approved. I just listen to talks now while I'm in the shower and whatnot. 

This week was worse than last week in terms of results. Elder Heaton (as assistant he sees the results) called me to ask me if I was alright because our numbers tanked out of nowhere. That being said, we have several people that, for one reason or another, don't count as new investigators, investigators in church, or investigators with a baptismal date but will count if they're baptized. It's hard to explain, but I'm pretty sure that we're on track for more baptisms. It'll just be a surprise for those who don't know the situation this time. I've felt a mix of emotions about the whole deal, but I'm primarily calm. "Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, let us cheerfully do all things that lie in our power; and then may we stand still, with the utmost assurance, to see the salvation of God, and for his arm to be revealed." 

I don't know what's up with the Skype yet. I'll try to find out this week. The best part of the week was that we did see some cool little miracles in reactivating inactive members. I'll give you more details as we go. The challenge was dealing with the disappointment of the results this week, but one thing that helped was the conversation that I had with Elder Heaton. It was nice to have a chance to tell him that I'm not out here losing my motivation, it just simply hasn't been the best two weeks of results. 

Something that made me laugh was that today in the morning Elder Jimenez spanked Elder Lobo really hard on the bum and the both of them made rather silly faces of pain and started saying ouch, ouch, ouch, over and over because it hurt both of them (Elder Jiminez - hand, Elder Lobo - Bum). It probably seems immature, but it made me laugh haha. 

A tender mercy: On Friday I had to leave my area to do a baptismal interview for the Sisters. We got to the right house and the guy wasn't there. Elder Jimenez and one of the sisters was already rather frustrated when we arrived for something else that had happened so when he wasn't there people got a bit on edge. We waited a couple minutes trying to call the dude, but had no luck. So we left. But as we were walking back to where we would take the bus we found the guy and were able to do the interview. That helped ease the situation quite a bit.

 One gospel principle that I feel strongly about is that God has a perfect plan and knows what trials to give us, what blessings to give us, and when to give them to us. He knows what we need. I know that we can and must "believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." Humility is required of us as we place our trust and confidence in His superiority. We cannot afford to doubt him. I know that although difficulties seem endless, "all these things shall give (us) experience, and shall be for (our) good." So my invitation for anyone in times of trouble would be to hold on. Pray for support, comfort, and understanding. Realize that this life is preparation for the next and that each of us has a unique learning process that we must endure, and even perhaps enjoy. Our Heavenly Father knows how to prepare us. 

One thing I love about the people that I serve with is that, regarding the missionaries, we have each made the decision to sacrifice important years of our lives in service to the Lord. As difficult as each individual missionary may or may not be to work with, they can always be respected for that one simple truth. Love you!

Elder Finlinson

Dec.3rd, 2018 Letter #56

Viridiana didn't make it to church, but had an excuse that's reasonable for now seeing as we need to teach her more about the doctrine of the Sabbath Day. Her kids all made it though. If the two of them get baptized it would indeed be right before the next change. Chucho's mom is pretty much cool with us now, but his dad is still a ways away. 

Elder Pearl was changed and Elder Gutierrez arrived in his place as zone leader. He and Hermana Aristega are the new missionaries in my district. Everyone else is the same. I know both of them fairly well and neither one is hard to get along with. 

I wasn't given time to teach a district class this week due to the fact that we took 19 years to have every missionary in the zone present him or herself the day of the classes, and there won't be classes this week or the next due to the zone class (where the zone leaders will talk about what they learned in the leadership council of the mission) and zone conference the week after. 

I don't know what's happening on the 23rd, they haven't said anything in church. 

When we play games on p-day we usually get together in the church and most of the time somebody has a game so they bring it. There's a Mexican-Cuban museum here somewhere. 

I did get to see the Christmas Devotional. I liked the music a lot. Something I started this morning that I'll continue for a few days is that I'm dissecting Mosiah 3:19 and studying each thing mentioned in the verse in order to essentially find how I can more fully "put off the natural man." 

One challenge in this week was that Elder Gutierrez got sick and couldn't work so Elder Jimenez and I put ourselves in charge of the investigators of the Zone Leaders as well as our own. We were able to maintain the investigators in place, but we found only 2 new people in our own area and didn't have time to visit them again so we went from a stellar week last week to a horrible week of results this time around and that kind of hurt my pride haha. But I'm just going to brush it off and work hard this week. The Zone Leaders should be able to work this time around and I think we'll get things turned around. 

This week I probably had the funniest/most embarrassing moment of my mission so far, but you'll have to ask me about it when I get back so that I can explain it better. (*He guarantees he will remember it but I am still going to ask him when we Skype at Christmas.)

One tender mercy this week was that the other two areas in my district had some miracles happen and have a number of baptisms coming up so we're seeing things move in the right direction with them. One thing I really like about Tuxpan is that it's big enough to have some cool things, but it's not too much.

Love,

Elder Finlinson

 Baptism of Elvira

 Baptism of Gael and Ariana by their cousin Miguel

Baptism of Karla

Check it. This showed up in the announcements of the mission that only the missionaries see. We took this picture a few weeks ago and ever since then I've been known as Joseph Smith in the zone.