April 1st, 2019 Letter #73

In and of itself there aren't a crazy amount of changes with the new plan. It's more of a way to focus our efforts in our finding, teaching, and fellowshipping of new members. We are also reminded that although Preach My Gospel gives us the freedom to use our own words and experiences while we teach, we still are asked to teach simply, clearly, and directly all of the various points of doctrine listed in Preach My Gospel and that we should do it in order unless there is a justified reason to teach the lessons in some other order. The model of teaching now also helps us ensure that the investigators understand what we teach. I feel like it's helping us a lot to teach the doctrine how it is, instead of relying on our own wisdom. It allows us to spend less time thinking about what to say and more time feeling what we should say. 

I'm going to be moving on to San Juan Xiutetelco, Puebla in the Teziutlán zone. Elder Romero from the state of Guerrero will be my companion and I'll continue being a zone leader. Teziutlán has been having quite a bit of success lately so it will be fun to learn from what they're doing.

 My favorite parts of the week and the miracles of the week are that 1. The mission has had a goal since a little after I got here to reach 100 baptisms in a month and we had never reached it until this month when we passed the mark by quite a bit with 118 (something that hasn't been done in ~5 years) 2. The Martínez Zone finished with 21 baptisms (Something that hasn't been done in ~3 years). It was really cool to finally see it done. I would say it has been both humbling and encouraging to see what the Lord has done with the mission. He is at the helm. 

The most challenging part of the week was trying to get a good amount of studying in. It seemed like everyday something happened that pulled us out of the house early (splits, a 3rd hospitalized missionary in 3 weeks, etc.) One funny thing was just letting people know about the transfers this week. There were a lot of silly reactions thanks to several unexpected (but certainly inspired) transfers. There are a couple areas that I wouldn't mind serving in before going home, but I'm not too concerned about the areas. I just hope to train at some point. 

This week we were able to teach more and we saw a lot of miracles and found some great people. I expect the elders that stay here to have plenty of things to do now. 

 Good to hear that the family is doing well and that you saw Darin. He told me that the family is "so awesome."

Love you,

Elder Finlinson 

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