March 25th,2019, Letter #72

The Elder who got sick is doing better now. But this week another Elder got sick with almost the same thing and we had to do a bunch more interviews so we basically repeated last week. 

The person in Vega had their interview with someone else, but I was there to set a goal for the baptismal date (she got baptized this weekend). 

One of the best parts of the week is that I saw the prayers of a lot of leaders in the mission get answered through the revelation of President Equihuas. On Tuesday we had a meeting with him and a specific plan about how to improve our efficacy as missionaries and Teachers of the Doctrine of Christ was presented to us. We've been putting it in action this week and supposedly the Mission Department is watching us to see if the plan should be applied in the entire Mexico area. Let's hope. 

The most challenging part of the week was a common struggle: finding time to work in our area. But if that is to be our grand struggle than that's fine by me because it means there are things to do. 

One tender mercy I saw happened on Sunday. We had lost a bunch of time in our area so we left the house early Sunday morning to invite the people that we'd been teaching. One by one we were coming to the sad conclusion that we simply weren't going to have anyone in church. The last family that we passed for was a family of 2 inactive members and one investigator (Grandma, Dad, and Mom) along with a young child. They were our last hope, and when the dad came to the door he informed us that the child was sick and that they wouldn't make it to church. But when Elder Lobo reminded him about priesthood blessings he invited us in to give a blessing to the little one and the grandma. Shortly afterwards we headed on out. The services started and we had empty hands. However, surely enough that same family came confidently through the door with about 15 minutes left before sacrament meeting ended. That made me happy. 

I don't know what'll happen in transfers, but I bet I'll stay put for a little while longer. Something that made me laugh was that one of the assistants visited this week and he has a funny laugh so he made me laugh whenever he would. Thanks for the support!

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

March 18,2019 Letter #71

I'm gonna give short answers for time´s sake. 

(Leadership conference)They were just small presentations so I was there for the others as well. I mostly taught about how a good attitude comes from confidence in God. I was chosen by the group. 

The gentleman did indeed get confirmed. We didn't have much time to work in our area this week either due to a need for us in other places again (10 Baptismal interviews, splits, and a hospital stay with a sick elder). 

Elder Shoemaker was a Zone Leader for a long time, but now he's back to being a District Leader and Elder Castillo is his companion. You're right about who they are. (Former companions of Connor) 

There are 16 Zone Leaders, 4 Sister Training Leaders, 3 (typically 2, but not this time) assistants, the President and his wife in the leadership meetings. It's always been in Xalapa except that one time with Elder Valenzuela. 

The best part of the week was just being able to work with a lot of different missionaries in the Zone. One cool miracle was that I did splits in Vega and met someone that they were teaching and realized that it was someone that I myself had taught over a year ago and now she is about to get baptized. 

I'm studying a lot about repentance right now and it's relation with godly sorrow. The week was pretty unusual yet very usual in that we were very busy (usual), but always with a variety of new things to do.

Love you!

Elder Finlinson

March 11th, 2019 Letter #70

The conferences were really good, I feel like my faith was greatly strengthened and that I truly benenfited a lot from what was discussed this week. My favorite part of the 4 zone conference was being able to talk more about how important it is to find new investigators and how we can do it. We talked about several other subjects as well, but the 4 outstanding subjects were brought back in the leadership counsel. The missionaries ourselves basically chose the topics of the entire meeting, Elder Valenzuela just guided us to make our own conclusions. The 4 topics that we as missionaries chose to discuss were 1. High Expectations 2. Attitude 3. The Prominence of Baptism in the Doctrine of Christ 4. Love. We were split into groups and asked to give presentations on the subjects. I was half chosen-half volunteered to give the presentation on Attitude. 

I didn't see any of the people that were in the accident in Vega because they live in another town outside of Vega. We do service projects every once in a while, but it's not as habitual as it perhaps should be. The planning is typically done by the missionaries from the area of the project and the zone leaders. 

We had very little time to teach in the week, but we ended up having a good number of people come to church so I'm alright with that. We weren't able to have the confirmation due to the Stake conference, but we'll have it next week. Stake conference was good. We have a new Stake President and one of his counselors was my Branch President in Vega. We ourselves weren't involved in much. 

In Mexico they used to do the time switch, but the new government just barely changed that so we didn't switch this time. 

One tender mercy was that even though we had very limited time to work, we were able to see positive results in our area. Something that made me smile was that when we went to Poza Rica we got to stay the night with some other missionaries. The lucky two happened to both be former companions of mine, Elder Shoemaker and Elder Castillo. It was fun to see them again and chat a little bit. The best part of the week was being able to have a meeting of relatively few people with the Area President, Elder Valenzuela. It really gave an extra boost to my testimony about the sacred mantle of a General Authority.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

This is a picture from his previous area.

March 4th, 2019 Letter #69

We had a baptism this weekend. It was an older gentleman. The funny thing was their was a slight miscommunication. After he was baptized he went and changed clothes, then he left. He didn't know that we would end with a prayer and a hymn. He left his cell phone behind also so we went to visit him to return it. Unfortunately he was unable to get confirmed the next day because he was sick so he still hasn't been confirmed.I don't think it will happen this week either because we have stake conference. But hopefully in a couple of weeks we can do that.

This is going to be a very busy week. We won't have much time as zone leaders to get out and teach, except for a couple hours tonight, Tuesday morning and possibly a couple hours on Thursday morning. We have a 4 zone conference in Xalapa on Wednesday so we need to leave Tuesday evening for that. Then we leave Thursday evening to go to Poza Rica to a Leadership conference on Friday. Then we have Stake Conference Saturday and Sunday. We did just get a Bishop for the ward though so that is exciting. It is my understanding that they have not had a Bishop for the past 6 years. They have had a 1st counselor and a 2nd counselor. The first counselor has been in for 8 years now. The 2nd counselor moved into the ward within the last year. He is now the Bishop. He is a great guy and has been our go to guy. He is around 26 years old. The new 2nd counselor is someone they asked if he could become active again and get his life in order so he could serve as 2nd counselor. He said he could. One thing I have learned while serving here in Mexico is the importance of doing the little things, like ministering to your neighbors and the people around you. It really does make a difference. 

Unfortunately there was a reason that the dad couldn't baptize Dylan, but he's a solid dude and he's doing his best to be a good example for his kids. 

The zone is looking really good right now, but we're going to have to stay on our toes to make sure that everything turns out right. Elder Korth from Arizona and Elder Leon from Texas are the other two in the ward. I was Elder Korth's district leader in Xalapa when he got to the mission. 

The missionary who had a visa issue was a special case, because he has been living in México for years already, but isn't a citizen so his visa is different. So he had to go to México City instead of Xalapa. 

This week we lost a bit of time as well because we ended up doing a service project in Vega all of Friday (we painted a bridge). I didn't have my camera, but other missionaries will pass me pictures for next week. It was fun to go back to Vega though. I had a free minute where I stopped by the house of some members and the youngest daughter came out (11 or 12 years old). She was happy to see me haha. 

One miracle this week is that almost all of the investigators in the zone that had baptismal goals went to church so their goals are still standing. Sorry I didn't get to all the questions as I'm in a bit of a hurry.

 Love you! Elder Finlinson

Feb. 25th, 2019 Letter #68

The first week (of the changes) was full of action, that's for sure. A home has indeed been found for the new missionaries. The conference for leaders will be next week with Elder Valenzuela from the México area presidency. Elder Lobo and I have a good start to the plan with church attendance, but we'll likely finalize it tonight or tomorrow morning to talk to the zone about it in the classes. 

I was asked by the father to baptize Dylan this week and was assigned by Elder Lobo to speak.  The girl that we talked to behaved well, her mom gave her permission, everything looked good, but at the last second the dad changed his mind and said that he no longer gave his daughter permission. The girl is a little discouraged right now so perhaps you could pray for her (I don't have permission to use her name, so I won't). 

We had a few people come to church this week and the other elders in our ward had a miracle family of 4 show up out of nowhere so that was cool to see. They're good missionaries, but hadn't had much luck lately so that made me happy. 

Elder Lobo is really good at that "last ditch effort" kind of persistence and that helped us a ton this week in our area, so that was good for us. I'll learn a lot from him. This week we did a somewhat urgent split to another area in a trio with Elder Lobo, another Elder and I. We stayed two nights in the other Elder's house and to be honest it's kind of a spooky house. It's got stories and the whole deal. But the other Elder took advantage because Elder Lobo is easy to scare and so at 4:00am the other Elder slammed a door in the house and Elder Lobo half-woke up to a mini heart attack. It was pretty funny haha. The other Elder had to go to Mexico City for something with his visa.

This coming week I'm excited to get to work because for the first time in a while I'm expecting to have a fairly free week to work. One tender mercy for us is that the zone seems super motivated to work right now and there is a high level of excitement. And I know that attitude makes a big difference so I'm certain that we'll be able to see even more miracles now than normal. 

I'm trying now to focus on my testimony of Christ and so I'm studying the book of John and 3 Nephi right now. I've been able to strengthen my testimony in a lot of little things in this week thanks to the study and I'm excited to continue. Nothing crazy with food this week. The biggest challenge is just trying to keep up with all of the responsibility, but it's good to be pushed so I don't mind.

Love you!

Elder Finlinson

Dylan and his family at his baptism with the missionaries.

Feb.18, 2019 Letter #67

*Because of the changes that were made this past week that now allow missionaries to call or video home each week, I received a call from Connor. I think originally he was going to email but after reading all the emails someone asked them for help and so the email I received said, "Something just happened I will email in a couple hours." But he didn't think he was going to make it back to the internet place so he used his neighbor's cell phone to call me. Thankfully he had an international plan. So I kept notes and here is some of our conversation:

Feelings regarding the new change in communication: First thought was it makes it less exciting to come home. Because you see and can hear your families voices. But he also thinks it is cool because it will make for better communication. Because it is hard to remember and write everything in an email. He also sees it as a sign of trust from our Heavenly Father to see who will be faithful. He isn't worried about the missionaries losing focus. 

He is receiving a new companion to be a fellow zone leader. Elder Marines (his former companion) has been a zone leader for about 6 months and they wanted to give him a break. He will be going to Poza Rica to be a District Leader. Connor's new companion will be Elder Lobo. He really likes Elder Lobo and has served in the same areas with him for at least 5 or 6 transfers. They were both District Leaders in Xalapa at the same time (not companions) and between the two companionships they raised the baptismal rate significantly, so he is really excited to work with him and see what they can do with their zone. He loves that Elder Lobo is extra obedient. He says some don't get along with him very well because of it but Connor welcomes it and is excited that they will be companions. He says Elder Lobo is strong in organization and verification which has been a weakness in the zone. He thinks they will compliment each other well. They are opening a new area in their zone and need to find a house for the new companionship. They are hoping for some help from the other companionship in the area. But basically they have to walk around and look for rental signs. They found one but it had no electricity or water. So that was a no. So that will be one of the focuses of this week. There are 18 Elders and 2 sisters in their zone. When asked he said they didn't have very many sisters in the mission because I guess it is considered a more dangerous mission. But he said he really hasn't experienced or heard of others experiencing anything too awfully scary or bad. 

Tomorrow he will spend the day at the bus stop with a few other missionaries waiting for the new arrivals to come before they send them off to their areas. 

He was sick on his birthday. He woke up in the middle of the night with a dual problem of things coming from both ends. He said he was pretty weak but they still went to work and got things accomplished. He only had some crackers and water to celebrate. He did get sung to that was nice. The assistants came that night and they did splits the next day. Connor and Elder Goodman went to lots of areas to visit with baptismal candidates that didn't have dates yet. They were able to talk with a Mother who had not given her permission. The outcome was she would watch her daughter throughout the week and if she was well behaved she could be baptized. 

He said they are struggling with church attendance in the zone. They had 17 scheduled for baptism in March but 14 have dropped off because of church attendance. So they will be working to strengthen that area. 

He sends his love to all. 

Feb. 11th, 2019 Letter #66

Normally Hermana Equihuas calls us for our birthday and gives us socks in the following conference. I don't have the package yet, but the assistants are coming on Wednesday for splits so maybe they'll bring it right on time. 

Ezequiel and Yamilet couldn't come to church this week. Elder Marines taught them in splits this week, but we never got the chance to teach them together.

The advice Pres. Equihaus gave me was specific for the needs of the zone, but in a broad aspect I suppose it was concerning the importance of correcting missionaries and knowing even though a lot of people don't like being corrected, often times it's necessary. 

The best part of the week is that we found a couple people who are willing and ready to be baptized very soon. One's name is Dilan and he's 10 years old. He's the son of a semi-recent convert who has already been to church several times with his dad. His sister Meredith is also going to be baptized, but she's 8 and her dad is a member so she'll count for the ward instead of the mission. It's the same work though I suppose. But the ward will be in charge of the interview and everything for Meredith. The hardest part is that I feel like we're not doing a good job of having an exemplary area right now, which is a large part of the job of the leaders in the mission. We were blessed to find Dilan and Meredith, but we're really battling to find more people. But today I talked with Elder Griffin (one of our district leaders) about what he's doing in his area to have so much success and he reminded me of a few of the things we used to do when I was in Xalapa. I don't know why I haven't done them here. I'll do them this week and I believe we'll see more success soon. 

Something that made me laugh was a drunk fellow that approached us while we were talking outside with the mom of Ezequiel. He decided to "teach us how to dance." We just watched him for a bit to be nice then sent him on his way with some compliments about the techniques he had shown us. 

The tender mercy/miracle in our area was Dilan. But we also saw a huge blessing in the zone because if everything goes right this week and the next then every area in the zone will baptize this month. And just a week ago things were looking rather poor. So that was good. 

Something I like about Elder Marines is that he is really good about recognizing his weaknesses. He doesn't blind himself in pride like many of us tend to do. And as he recognizes them he tries to improve. I can see that he's improved a lot personally since last time we were together and I know that it's because he asks God to help him be better. 

Something fun that I tried this week was pig foot. It's basically pure fat. The flavor is fine, but I didn't want too much because I don't expect that eating pure fat is a great idea. It's sunny and warm right now. This week we had a little bit of everything. Sun, rain, clouds, cold, hot, etc. For P-day we played basketball and soccer. In your prayers you could mention Agustin and Irineo so that they can stop drinking and Dilan so he can understand what we teach him. There are other people, but those names come to mind more powerfully for now.

Love you!

Elder Finlinson

This is the baptismal font in Misantla. I think it'd be fun to baptize here. This is in one of the area's in Connor's current zone.