May 27th, 2019 Letter #81

The couple didn't end up getting everything figured out with the papers and there wasn't much we could do while we were in Xalapa (which was the crucial time) so things didn't work out this week. The good news is that some members are starting to get antsy because they've seen them plenty of times at church and want them to get baptized, so they're starting to take some initiative and I expect that soon everything will be resolved. There are 5 in the family. The kids are 6, 8, and 10 years old respectively. 

I really liked a couple things from the leadership conference. One of my favorite topics was about conversion. "1 And now I speak concerning baptism. Behold, elders, priests, and teachers were baptized; and they were not baptized save they brought forth fruit meet that they were worthy of it. 2 Neither did they receive any unto baptism save they came forth with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, and witnessed unto the church that they truly repented of all their sins. 3 And none were received unto baptism save they took upon them the name of Christ, having a determination to serve him to the end." Moroni 6:1-3 .A lot of missionaries lately have been focusing too much on numbers so in the conference we talked about how if somebody is going to get baptized they should also be ready and converted. Our retention efforts should also be increased greatly. I expect to see a lot of improvement in the integrity of the work if we can successfully get this message through to the missionaries. Apart from that I mostly just participated with comments. 

One miracle this week was something that happened on Sunday after church. For several weeks we have been teaching a particular woman. She knows a lot of members, she has gone to church every week since we first met her, she always accepts invitations to read and to pray, she has even started to study "Come, Follow Me" every week, but every time we had invited her to get baptized she had said that she wasn't ready and that she would let us know when. We were running out of ideas about what to do with her, because we had run out of lessons to teach her and felt like she was more than ready, but we kept visiting her 1-2 a week just to make sure she didn't lose interest. Now to Sunday: Typically we have baptismal services on Sunday after church so that as many members as possible can attend and support. This woman has been to one or two services already so she knows the drill. After church she asked me, "Is there going to be a baptism today?" And I told her that most likely there wouldn't be one until the 9th of June. So she asked me, "And when are you going to baptize me?" I stood there for a second surprised then basically said, "Whenever you want." And she requested that we baptize her next Sunday. So we will. That made me pretty happy. 

My companion is really good about serving others and bearing testimony whenever he gets the chance. 

Another little miracle that brought the Spirit was that on Saturday we had a couple of free minutes so I said to my companion, "Let's go reactivate." We headed to the house of a family where the mom and sometimes the dad are the only ones I see in church in order to invite their kids to church. The kids were pretty surprised when they called their mom and we told them that we had come not for her, but for them. We proceeded to talk to them and long story short the son, daughter, and son-in-law were all in church the next day. 

One last thing that was pretty cool this week: There's an Elder who's a secretary that I saw when we went to the Leader's conference who was in my district when I was district leader in Xalapa and in my zone when I was Zone Leader in Martinez. He sent me an email today saying the following: 

Hey! Elder Finlinson!

It was really awesome to see you this week!   Super quick I just felt inspired to say you are just an awesome missionary and still such a great example to me. I am really grateful for our friendship and I really cherish some of the memories that were made in Martinez in Ejidal. Thanks for being such a good leader and always helping out and doing the right thing. I am profoundly grateful for all you have taught me, and always remember you have such a strong spirit about you.

Always remember you are always worthy, especially know of God´s help and love! Know you are doing better than you think you are and know you are doing great!

I love ya tons! Remember if you ever need anything, I´m always ready to chat on Lunes (Monday)! Have an amazing week!

That was nice of him. I suppose that should be more than enough for you to read this week so I'll sign off.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

May 20th, 2019 Letter #80

At the end of the day I don't think I'll have much time to write this week, but as I read through the email I noticed that we already talked about a couple of those things. 

Elder Merrill is from Idaho Falls. 

I have actually listened to that very talk several times during my mission including once this week. It's definitely a good message for me as a missionary, but also for anyone and everyone. (Then Jesus Beholding Him, Loved Him by S. Mark Palmer Conference talk from 2017)

One of our investigator families will hopefully be getting married this coming Saturday. So that will help them progress towards baptism. 

All of the District Leaders in the zone are on their last transfer so hopefully they will be of a mind set to finish strong. There is a lot of energy in the missionaries with this change and Connor is hoping that he and Elder Merrill will be able to help them channel it for good. There are 3 white washed areas and he is hoping that that will also be a good thing for those particular missionaries working in them. 

Connor and Elder Merrill are headed to Leadership Conference in Xalapa and have left some important things for the missionaries to do while they are away. 

Thanks for the support!

Love, Elder Finlinson

May 13th, 2019 Letter #79

When it comes to missionaries that I'm excited to see come into the zone I would have to take my daily vitamins and go ahead and say all of them. I'm going to trust in the Lord a lot this change in knowing that He does everything with a purpose. It will be a zone almost full of missionaries with questionable reputations, but what I'm most grateful for is that my companion is a missionary with a rock-solid reputation. When I heard about the changes my mind drifted to a movie I watched in a teaching class that I took. The movie was a true story about a teacher who took over a class of struggling students, but treated them with patience and talked to them as if they had the highest of potentials (Now that I think about it I believe that their are several movies with this same story). In short, the class turned out finishing the year as a top class. Basically what I'm getting at is that I'm hoping that these missionaries just need someone to believe in them. 

The best part of the week was hearing Elder Valenzuela talk about the gathering of Israel. It got me motivated and helped me understand much better the purpose of what we as members need to be doing to further the work. 

The most challenging thing was not getting a little let down with the fact that the girl who was going to get baptized last weekend disappeared suddenly and doesn't answer our calls. 

One tender mercy is that a family that we're teaching has taken several steps and is now close to being ready for baptism. They'll need to get married, but almost all of the paperwork is already done. 

Something that made me laugh was a little toddler who was quietly walking around during stake conference trying to give money to all of the members seated nearby. Elder Romero leaned over to me and paraphrased the Savior's statement: “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these" Elder Valenzuela later talked about tithes and fast offerings. It was a neat little moment of reflection. 

This change I'm excited to be with Elder Merrill and because I feel like we have a handful of people that will be baptized soon.

Thanks for the support! Love you,

Elder Finlinson

 From the hike a couple weeks ago.

 During a leadership training

 Leadership Training or Conference

 More leadership training classes

May 6th, 2019 Letter #78

The mountain is in the zone, if that weren't the case then we wouldn't have gone. I feel like we had a good time, but I don't know how much it did or didn't change in the zone. Some of the missionaries right now are hitting their stride while others are waiting for changes already or passing through other trials. There's been a wide variety of attitudes in the zone. 

We battled a little this week to find time to teach people, but I was impressed and encouraged when almost all of our progressing investigators went to church even without having had frequent visits. Many of them are progressing well and I expect that many will be baptized. 

I haven't stayed very well in touch with people I taught in different areas to be honest. I'd like to, but I don't have a lot of time to communicate with them. 

One thing that I'm hoping to accomplish in the next 6 months is use the experience I've been given to raise the bar and baptize significantly more people. For a time I battled a little with thoughts that leaders in the mission focused too much on baptizing, thinking that it was a game of numbers. But as I've matured a little more in my vision and understanding of our missionary purpose I've come to understand better the importance of baptism and therefore my personal desire has grown to help other people make that step.

One miracle this week is that one of the district leaders in the zone who had been struggling found a family of 5 who accepted a baptismal date and went to church. I'm happy for him because he's one of the most honest guys I've met and it was high time for him to see some success. 

One thing that was kind of funny is that we organized a soccer tournament for members and investigators and we made a team of missionaries as well. We bought the trophy and ended up winning the tournament. So now we don't know what to do with the trophy that we bought. They were 8 minute games on a small court to not lose much time and one of the investigators that showed up accepted our visit and a baptismal date so we'll see what happens. 

One thing that I love about the area is that the church is in a convenient location so I feel like that's made it easier for the investigators to make the trip.

Something I battled with this last week was a feeling of detachment. I worked, but I kind of felt like a machine going through the motions. That being said, today I feel normal again so I think I'm good to go. One thing that you could pray for is that in these 6 months I can be a better missionary than in the first 18. 

For p-day we cleaned the house. It was time. In grand part I felt President's love more during the conference and the activity for little things that he did or said, but I also felt a witness from the Holy Ghost that he really does care about us and at the end of the day he just wants us to be the best we can be. Thanks for the support!

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

Natali is a 9 year old who has gone to church since she was little. Her story is pretty cool. She was always waiting for her dad to come back from the US so he could see her get baptized. When the prophet said that time is running out Elder Romero and I felt the need to go talk to the famliy. We conversed about what the prophet had said and Natali and her mom felt like it was indeed time so they called dad and told him that Natali was thinking about getting baptized already. He made the decision to come back immediately to see it. Now he's back with the family for good and they're looking at the possibility of getting sealed as a family in the temple. 

April 29th,2019 Letter #77

I pray to love anyone I need to love. Other missionaries, my companion, investigators, members, leaders, etc. (Everyone in short). 

I enjoyed the zone conference. I feel like I understand the love that President has for us much more clearly now. The class went alright. It wasn't super special, but it didn't go poorly either. The zone conferences are always between two zones. What I have mentioned as a zone class is for one zone. It was good to see the Martinez zone again. There are some special missionaries there (here as well). 

My favorite part of the week was probably the zone conference or the activity today. Today we went to the top of a nearby mountain to a statue of Christ that looks over the city. Several pictures were taken and will surely be put on Facebook because President and Hermana Equihuas and the assistants came to the activity as well. Afterwards we grilled some steak and hotdogs and played sports. 

The most challenging thing about the week was likely trying to stay on top of the teaching that our investigators need. One little miracle happened on Sunday. We passed by the house of an investigator to see if she would come, but nobody answered the door. We had come from the church building and hadn't seen her in route, but even so we decided to believe that someway or somehow she would get there. Sure enough as the sacrament meeting finished and people started filing out towards the classes we found her up in the front corner of the chapel. We simply hadn't seen her until afterwards, but she'd been there all along haha. 

One thing that made me smile big was hearing that the formerly inactive member and his investigating wife from Martinez finally were able to get married and he baptized her. The ward also threw a party for there wedding. I would have liked to be there, but hearing that it happened is good enough for me. 

Today's activity should leave a clear answer for any question about good food this week. 

One thing you could pray for is that the district leaders in the zone can have success in their areas so that their missionaries can be motivated by their examples. 

On Mother's day I can work with your schedule (as long as it's not really early because I intend to go to church). Just let me know. 

Love you!

Elder Finlinson

 Tezuitlan Zone

April 22nd, 2019 Letter #76

Easter here is not a one day event. Look up the holy week on internet and I bet you'll find an idea. We personally didn't do anything to celebrate, but I talked in church about faith and how we receive a testimony of Christ and the gospel.

We've run into some little issues with a few of the people that we're teaching, but there are also several people who are progressing well. The best part of the week was seeing the progress of a particular family that we're teaching. There are 3 fairly young kids in the family that always keep us entertained. 

Something that made me laugh was when we brought a recent convert to a stake youth activity. He was set on not going, but we convinced him and he ended up really liking it. The funny part was that he went back the second day just because he had liked a girl from another ward. He was pretty bashful about it so I got a kick out of it. 

One tender mercy of the Lord has been that he has helped me to love others. It's something I've been asking for specifically lately and I've seen once again that the Lord answers honest prayers. 

I reread the talk by Elder Oaks about repentance. I liked his statement from the beginning when he compared the pure justice of legal courts with the ever-accessible mercy of a heavenly judgment. 

Zone conference is this week and I'll be talking about the importance of inviting people to be baptized in the first visit. 

Love you,

Elder Finlinson

 Baptism of Jose

Picture during Holy Week

April 15th, 2019 Letter #75

Leadership conference was good. It was reasonably uneventful because we had several meetings last transfer, but we basically talked about how to verify the plan of the mission in our zones. One of the new leaders is Elder Garity, who was secretary at the same time as me. It was really good to see him, he's a man "without guile or hypocrisy." I didn't have a special assignment, but of course participated in the council. In a typical conference we present the monthly results of our zone, we hear announcements/brief talks from the President, his wife, and the assistants and we have a council about the new announcements, strengths and weaknesses of the zones/etc. 

There are a lot of newer missionaries in the zone. There are a few that I had bumped into in other zones as well, but it was a pretty big change at first. I'm already pretty used to the missionaries though. I still haven't studied one of the talks from the conference because I had downloaded talks from other conferences and wanted to finish them first. I should be able to start this week with the recent talks. 

My favorite part of the week was that we had a baptism. I forgot to ask his permission to send the picture and his name, but I'll ask this week. There are several promising investigators right now as we had 12 people come to church, but I'll update you with more specifics as we go with them. 

The biggest challenge right now has been knowing how to help the zone to care about the little things. The zone is somewhat disobedient for the moment and although there is some respect for the bigger details there is a frank disregard for the little things. When you want to help people to be more obedient it is always a delicate process because if you say too much then people take offense and if you say too little than nothing changes. We had the same problem when I got to Martinez and things changed so I'm hoping that with some patience and diligence things with be resolved. 

It was a real miracle that so many people got to church because typically around 25% of the people that say they'll go to church actually go, but this time we had a good 75-80% (these aren't real statistics, but that's the idea). 

I've had the opportunity to laugh quite a bit lately, Elder Romero is one of those people that knows how to make people laugh. One thing that happened was that he cleaned the bathroom on Monday and opened the window to let some air in. Afterward I went to shower and realized that the window was open so I tried to close it. After struggling a bit and realizing that it was jammed I gave up and decided that I would simply have to shower as close to the wall as possible so that the neighbors wouldn't see. Elder Romero showered next and then we were off to the conference. We didn't say a word to each other about it until we realized while chatting in the bus that we had both fought and lost the same fight with the window and then proceeded to shower glued to the wall. It was funny in the moment.

I'm sad to hear about the struggles that the family has had, but I know it's for a purpose and that the Lord is merciful. Try to stay calm about everything and it will turn out alright. Did you already have the conference with Elder Costa? Remember that every night when you pray for me, I pray for you all too.

Love you,

Elder Finlinson