December 29, 2013

 

Hey Family!!

It has been a really good week here! I loved Christmas! I hope that all of your Christmas' were good too! It has been a really good week to focus on our Savior Jesus Christ and make him the center of our holiday season. The week started off really well, I have been here in the offices working on a ton of crap trying to get all the information into Salt Lake before the end of the year! Plus we have been hit with a ton of the end of the year finance stuff!! haha Not what I thought a 20 year old missionary would be doing! But I have been learning a ton!! What I have been doing a lot of is, well here in the mission the missionaries receive a monthly amount of money to buy their basic needs and travel and things like that. And sometimes they have to buy more things than usual or have to travel more, and all of that money that they spend extra is reimbursable, so they have to send in their receipts to the offices and I have to go through all of them and make sure that they are somewhat reasonable and that they have a good reason to get their money back! The past week, I am not sure if I told you guys, but the mission bought microwaves for the whole mission!! 125! 1 per house! So the Presidents secretary was supposed to send the addresses for the drop off points along the mission so it would be easier to get them out to all the missionaries, but he did not do it on time. So we got 125 microwaves delivered here to the offices!!! Holy crap! There was a ton of microwaves!! It was crazy! and they're not little either! They're actually really nice! Stainless steel Whirlpool brand microwaves! So we had to unload them and try and fit them in here in the offices! Then my President just happen to put me in charge of writing down each serial number of the microwaves! So that has been pretty time consuming, 

Down here in Mexico they celebrate their Christmas on the 24th, so that night we got invited to go eat at 3 different houses in our ward here!! I was sooo full!!! I haven't eaten so much in a long time! But it was all really good! Then the next day was Christmas! So that morning I opened the presents that my family had sent to me! It was awesome! Then that whole day we just worked like normal and that night I got to talk to my family! It was so good to see everyone! I was so happy! Made me miss them a lot! But everything is good! The last couple of days we have been working in our area a little! It has been really nice! And we actually have been having somewhat a successful rest of the week! 

I cant believe that this year is already coming to a end! It probably has been the fastest year of my life! I am so grateful for the blessing that this mission has been in my life and all the great things that Our Heavenly Father has blessed us with! 

I love you all!

Elder Liljenquist

 

 

Merry Christmas!!

Talking with this Elder was amazing! He has grown so much, and we could not be more proud of him! Here is his testimony he bore in Spanish yesterday. Truly and amazing man and missionary!

December 23, 2013

Hey Family!!

Well its been a really good week here in Villa! We have been super busy here in the offices getting ready for Christmas to come! And it has been really good because I finally got to go out and work again! I have missed it so much! I miss having my own area, but its nice to be a part of the offices and still be able to have an area to work in too! Also this past week we had transfers! And in this transfer we had all the new American Sisters that were coming into the mission! We had 9 American sisters come in to the mission and 2 American Elders. The first time that this mission has seen American sisters. It was crazy! So we couldn't find a place for them to stay, so the President told us to clean up our house and they were going to be staying there! The next morning they were all walking to the offices the same time as us, and it was pouring rain.... haha. They had all their bags... haha. I felt pretty bad for them  but it was really funny too! haha. They had no idea what was waiting for them! Then we had to get all of their visa work planned out for them and we started filling out forms and documents! It took so long because everything was in spanish and we had to sit and help them with everything! Once we finished President took us all out to eat and then sent all of them off to their areas.

Wednesday we had our Christmas dinner with the 3 zones of the area. It went really good especially because the family that cooked our food was my Bishop from Parrilla!! And a bunch of members were there serving the food for us! I was so happy to be able to see all of them! I never got to go and say bye to anyone in Parilla. It was really nice to say bye to them and be able to give my email to them so they could give it out in church! The dinner went really good! Then that night we had a activity in a big Mall that is here in Villa. A couple weeks ago, the presidents secretary and I went to  this mall to ask them if us as missionaries could do an activity and sing Christmas hymns. So Wednesday night the zone Villahermosa went to the mall and we sang some Christmas hymns and were able to receive a bunch of references for the mission! It was a really busy day. We had to take all of the equipment for the singing to the mall really early and set it all up and make sure that everything was ready for when everyone showed up!

For the last couple of days I was able to go and work in the area that im in! It was really good! I was able to meet some of the investigators that we have here! They are really good! We have a pretty good investigator that is progressing really well and is ready to be baptized! But she doesnt want to be baptized in the font of the church, but in the ocean or a river like Jesus she says haha! She has good intentions! But the ocean is like 2 hours away! But the area here is really good and I am really excited to work in it!

So the last week I hit a year in the mission!! I cant believe it! The time has gone by so fast! I feel like I had just gotten here! The time really has flown by! I have learned so much in this time! And I am so thankful for all of the things that I have learned in this past year and I am really excited for all the things that wait for me in the year to come!

I love all of you guys and so thankful for every one of you! Way excited to be able to talk to my family on Christmas!!

Elder Liljenquist

One Year!!!!! December 19, 2013

  

Just a little video to highlight Elder Liljenquist's 

first year of his mission! 

(Again, if you click on the "Vimeo" button in the bottom right corner, you can watch it a little bit bigger:)

Hey Family!

Well it was another week here in Villa! Haha... We haven't really being doing much! I have been feeling a lot better! I feel like I have gotten all of my strength back and can finally go back and start working!  I have been working here in the offices ever since I got out of the hospital! Its not that bad, We actually help out here a lot! The president has us doing a ton of things here to help him and the mission! It kinda sucks though because we just had transfers today and the president told me that he is going to keep me here in the offices to help him. I wanted to go back to my area in Parilla and work there some more. I had only a little bit of time there but I loved every minute of it! The people there were amazing! and I had such a good experience there with my Son! Abraham is progressing really well! Already has a calling in the ward and they just told us that theyre going to have a baby!! Hopefully I will still be here in the mission when they go through the temple to be sealed as a family! That area has been one of my favorites in the mission! I am really happy that I had the chance to serve there!

I have a lot of time to do some extra studying. Since I have not been doing much, I have been reading in the book "Jesus the Christ." I have been learning about the life of our Savior. In this time of the year during Christmas and all the presents and everything, we sometimes forget why we have this holiday. I want everyone this Christmas, even just for a minute, to remember our Savior. Really having this time to study and reflect on who He really was for the world has opened up my eyes and helped me understand all that much more that Christ really is my Savior and the Savior of the world! I am so grateful for all of you guys and the support that you have given me in this year of my mission!

Elder Liljenquist

December 9, 2013

Hey Family! 

  

Sorry that I was not able to write to you guys in the last week! It has been a crazy last couple of weeks! There has been a lot of stuff that has happened! SO we are gonna start in the last 2 weeks on Tuesday! So it was just another Tuesday and we had a zone meeting. So we went to our meeting in our stake center with all our zone and there I was just not feeling good at all! I had a pretty bad fever and I just felt pretty bad. During the meeting felt like I got hit by a baseball bat in the stomach! It was one of the worst pains that I have had ever! and then out of nowhere, I had to go to the bathroom to throw up! It was pretty bad! After the meeting, I called our mission Presidents wife and she told me to go to the doctors and get looked at. So we called the mission doctor and he told me that he was full until the next day! So I went back home and just laid on my bed! Finally my bishop came over and took me to another doctor, and there they gave me an ultrasound and saw that my appendix was pretty swollen!! From there, our mission president called me and told me to go the Hospital and get checked in. So at the hospital, they started doing all these tests and they took me to do a cat scan. Once I got put into a room, the doctor came in and told me that they had to operate now to take out my appendix. So at this point I was pretty freaked out!! My mission president got to the hospital right as they were about to take me in for the surgery. We called my parents and got permission and they took me in! Haha.. It was pretty scary! They didn't put me under for a while, and so I was awake in the operating room! Keep in mind that we are in the south of Mexico!! haha... I was pretty freaked out when they took out the operating tools right in front of me!

 So when I woke up I was being wheeled back into my room and I guess I was still pretty out of it and all I saw was my mission presidents face and he said that everything went good. So the next day I was pretty sore! They had done 3 incisions, pretty small so it wasn't that bad! So they had told me that I would be fasting and not able to eat, so from Monday night to Thursday I did not eat a thing! I have lost so much weight! Its pretty bad! I am eating a ton right now to try and gain it back!, but anyway I was in the hospital for 5 days after my surgery! Still not sure why I was in there for so long but all we did was watch the same movies over and over again! It was terrible! But every now and then we got some visits from our investigators and members that came to see me. And our mission president came in almost everyday. It was a pretty nice hospital. From what they told me, the nicest one that was here in Villa. So that Saturday, I was allowed to leave. Walking was so hard! It was like I was 90 years old! haha, So the president put me with the assistants. For the past week I have been living with them and working in the mission offices everyday with our President and doing things there. Then after the office closes, I go back home and basically do nothing! It has been alright working in the offices, but going back home and just resting has been awful! 

I am feeling a lot better now, I am able to eat pretty good just have to watch the fats;) and walking has come along way! Still not at full strength but almost there! I have been kind of worried because of my area! We had just started doing really good and then I got taken out! But Abraham had a baptism date for the 7th of December! So luckily yesterday I was able to go the baptism for him! I was pretty sad that I couldn't do the ordinance but it was so good to see him take this step! And what was even better was the look on his families face! Then having them say,thank you was the best part of the whole thing!:) I was so happy that I was able to go! He said that he didn't want to do the baptism unless I was there! So grateful for that family! 

So it has been a pretty crazy last couple of weeks! with a lot of things that I am never going to forget! The hardest was finding myself down and feeling like there was no going back up, no matter what I did. Satan attacked. He can work emotionally and even sometimes physically. Being so weak, it was easy for me to get down on myself and take the easy way out and be done with it. I could feel it so strong that I should just stop. Then I remembered why I am here, and what I am here for. Then someone shared a scripture with me in Mosiah 24 13-15. This scripture really helped me! I just know I didn't come to do a half way job. All the sacrifices that this church is built on,  I should be able to do the same! I love all of you guys so much, I said in my farewell talk that I would work as hard as I could and I intend on doing so.

Love,

Elder Liljenquist

 

The Purpose of Missionary Work

Elder Holland's powerful testimony of the Book of Mormon.  This is why missionaries do what they're doing. 

Prayers for Elder Liljenquist - Mosiah 24:13-15

Friends,

   Bryton wanted me to send a quick update on him. He did not have time to write due to having to answer a million questions from me. Last Tuesday, we got a call from Bryton's mission president. He was in the hospital. He needed emergency surgery to remove his appendix (little scary being in Mexico). He remained in the hospital until Saturday night due to some complications. He has had a rough time but is slowing improving. We still don't know why he was in the hospital SO long. Needless to say,we have spent most of the past week on our knees. We have had a few opportunities to speak with him. He is so brave and completely determined to finish his mission. He loves the people and loves the work....and he is super bugged that he has lost so much weight:) Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. He sends his love as always. 

xo

-Ashli

Mosiah 24:13-15

"And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.  And I will also ease the burdens which are put upon your shoulders, that even you cannot feel them upon your backs, even while you are in bondage; and this will I do that ye may stand as witnesses for me hereafter, and that ye may know of a surety that I, the Lord God, do visit my people in their afflictions.  And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were mad light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

November 25, 2013

Well it has been a really good week this week! We have been having some pretty good success with the investigators that we do have! It has been pretty good! The weather has been a lot better here! The sun finally came out and we went right back up into the high 90s, it was so good!

The last Monday in the night we had another lesson with Jessica and her family. It was the first time that we has met her family and because she is only 17 we have to have permission from her parents to be able to teach her. So it turns out that her mom is Catholic and her dad is Ateo (Doesn't believe in the Bible or in God) So I was like great, how in the world am I supposed to teach someone that doesn't believe in the Bible or in God. He told me from the beginning to be ready to answer his questions that he is going to have! So as we got started I was a little nervous! We taught the Restoration, and I'm not even gonna tell you how long it took us to get through the lesson! We sat there for 2 hours!! I have never been pounded with so many random questions in my life! Luckily I'm pretty sure that we answered him well! At the end of the lesson her mom was actually really interested! It all went really well! The dad is still really nice to us and everything just haha... I'm not sure what he thinks of us! 

Tuesday we had a Zone conference in Villa with our mission president. It went really good! We learned a lot more things that we could do better and things that we definitely need to work on! He changed on rule of the mission though. I guess that its a rule for all of the missions in Mexico that we have to have our investigators come 5 times to church before we can baptize them! That's gonna be rough! it is hard enough to get our investigators to come to church but now they have to have come 5 times before baptism. That next day right as we were ending the day and walking to our last appointment. I got a call from our mission President and he said that he was in my area in front of  my church waiting for us, he wanted to come and see our house!! Haha.... luckily the house was clean! Haha but he and all of his family came and talked with us for a bit and then we went around to get to know our area. He told us to find a nicer house to buy!! Haha and he gave us money to buy new mattresses!! It was sweet!!

Saturday in the morning we had an activity in the Stake center with the whole zone! We had to help teach the youth with an activity called a day in the mission. We taught them the First lesson and then we went out and started teaching all the less actives in the area. We left them to do all of the teachings! We just lead them around to the houses! It was pretty fun. 

That night we had a lesson with Abraham. It went really good! He is living the Word of Wisdom and he told me that he feels really good about his decision for the 7 of December! We are really excited about that! The next day in Church another one of our investigators showed up! Felix! The old man that we have been teaching for a while! After church we had a lesson with him and our ward mission leader, he accepted a date for the 21 of December! It was really cool to be able to see him there! The only bad part is that Jessica and her family didn't show up! So we had to move back her date a week! But hopefully everything will work out! 

That night we had a special meeting in Villa with the area President Elder Johnson from the Seventy. He wanted all the ward council and missionaries to be there. He spoke to us about how we could be so much better, I guess that our numbers as a mission are not where they should be. And he talked about what we are doing as a ward and as missionaries to be finding news and reactivation. Mexico has the most baptisms but also has the most less and inactive members in the world!. 

It was really cool because the stake from my first area here in Mexico was there!! So all the members from Paraiso were there!!! It was way cool to be able to see them! and to be able to talk to them!!! Haha I couldn't speak at all when I was there and they were all so surprised at my Spanish and how I have changed.... supposedly!! Haha.

Everything is going good here! We are going to be changing some things here in the mission! I love and miss all of you!!

 Elder Liljenquist

November 18, 2013 - 11 Months!!

Hey Family!

Another week down here in Parrilla, Tabasco! It was a pretty good week this week! We had a lot of rain and it actually got cold!! Some of you might laugh but I have been here for almost a year now and have kinda gotten used to the 100 and 110s! haha.... So when we dropped down into the 60s, I was frezzing my butt off!!! It wasnt that bad.. but haha I was really cold! and the shower!! It was the worst! Pure ice!

It has been a really good week in the work! We have been having a hard time finding new people to teach and to work with! We have been praying really hard that we could be able to find some new people to begin teaching! There is a family of recent converts that we have been working with alot! Family Figaroa. They are a really awesome family and have helped us this week with a lot of references with people to start teaching! One of the families daughter has a friend that is really interested in listening to us! So they invited her over to their house Saturday night and we had a little family night together. It went really well! We taught her the Restoration and the Book of Mormon. At the end, she asked us how we baptize. Because she was baptized in the Catholic church was she was just a baby. So we explained to her how Jesus Christ was baptized, and then explained that if we dont get baptized in the same way as Christ, we cant have a baptism that is valid. Then we invited her to be baptized and she accepted!! Her name is Jessica. I know that Heavenly Father is listening to our prayers!

We have another lesson with Abraham! He is doing really well! and progressing a ton! He just doesnt see it. We taught him the Plan of Salvation. It went really well! And in the plan, we explained the Word of Wisdom as well! Turns out he is clean! haha! and at the end of the lesson, we put a date for him for the 7 of December! He says that he will prepare to be baptized this day haha so not really much we can do there! 

We have had some really good lessons this past week with new investigators and new things happening. It has been really good! We had another lesson with the less active family that I told you about the last week. We caught them with all of their family and we had not really planned anything to share with them. I felt that we should share something about Jesus. I shared a scripture about the life of Jesus and his purpose for you and me (Mosiah 3) It went really good, this family has been trying to reactivate themselves for a long time! I could see the look on their faces that it was time to start changing!

I have been learning so much here in the mission, more than I have in my whole life! I have learned how much I love each and every one of you and how important this Gospel is in our lives. That Change is apart of life, and we need to roll with the punches and let our faith and love for God pick us back up. Humility is something that has been the biggest change for me. Being humble is the hardest attribute that we can learn in this life, but when we do, all the others come with it. I know that this Gospel is true, and I am so thankful for each and everyone of you. I love you all.

Elder Liljenquist

November 11, 2013

Hey Family!

 Well it has been another good week here in Parilla! We have had a lot of rain here the last couple of days! It has been crazy! We have no idea what rain is in Utah!! So Wednesday me and my companion were leaving the house and we have to walk a huge stretch of road, like at least a mile or mile and a half. So we were just walking like normal and the sky was dark as dark! It had like that Greenish look to it when you know its gonna get bad quick! Haha... I told my comp that we had a good five minutes to get some cover! And we were a good mile out of our área still!! And in this strech of road there is nothing! So we started to pick up our pace! And right as we did we stopped and like 50 yards ahead of me rain was falling!! It was the craziest thing ever! I turned to my comp and and pointed ahead of us at the rain, as we stood completly dry! Haha then....We were soaked!!!!! The rain drops were the biggest things ever!  We looked like we had just jumped into a pool! It has rained like this for the past couple of days!

We had a pretty good week in the work! Our área is unreal! Monday was my Birthday so the Bishop and his family invited us to his house for a family night! The family night went really good and after they surprised me with a cake and stuff! It was really nice of them! They are a really good family! This week we have really been working on our less actives in our Ward! We seem to have a ton of them! The bishop had asked us if we can spend some more time working with them, so we have dedicated a lot of the time that we had this week on that. It has been going really good. We have found a lot of lost members and been able to help them get back into the church! We have been working really hard on finding new investigators to start teaching! We have been doing alright at getting references from our Ward, but we can do better! We have planned to have a family night with the members of our Ward to be able get more references from them! and we have planned more activities with our Ward to be able to get people more involved!

 Sunday was a really good day! We had a ton of people at church! We had 133 people there! Us and the Bishop were really happy with the assistance! Sunday in the afternoon we had a family night with a less active family in our Ward. The dad is a Ex missionary and he had two daughters just a Little older than me. So we had our lesson set on the The Family, A Proclamation to the World. It was a really powerful lesson! You could tell that the family really needed it! After they all bore there testimonies! It felt really good to say that I know ill be with my family again! and someday have my own family forever! One of the daughters asked her parents if they could be better in going to church and being a more close family. That was a really cool thing to be able to hear. After we had a lesson with Abrham and Marbella. Their family is really cool and we all get along really well! We had a really good lesson with Abraham. He had the question of how is he going to feel when he receives his answer?? We focused our lesson on the Holy Ghost. It went really well. He has some big problems in his life right now. He has not talked to his family in over a month and they wont let him in at his house. Every since he married Marbella, his family has pretty much kicked him out. Its really hard for him and you can see it. We just hope he will be able to put his trust in Heavenly Father and make the right choices!

It has been a really good week! I miss all of you sooo much!! Time is flyin! feels so weird to tell people that I will be at a year in my misión in the next month! I love all of you!

Elder Liljenquist

Food for Thought....

After recently being reminded of the power Atonement, I thought of this video I first listened to awhile back. Elder Liljenquist and his group of friends listened to it the night before four of them left to the MTC. SO powerful and worth sharing:) Love our missionaries!!

November 4, 2013 - 20th Birthday!!!

Hey Fammmilllyyy!!!

Well it was another really good week here!! We have had some miracles happen this past week! I have loved every minute of it! Except the part of throwing up food...haha it has been good! I am feeling alot better! I havent thrown up for the past 2 days so thats good. We have been workin pretty hard this past week! We have also been able to find some more new investigators to start teaching! Really the end of the week was the best. So we always go and visit an older lady in our Ward. She is less active but loves the church, She is like 80 years old and has to take care of her handicapped son that lives with her and still do all of the things around her house.  We try and visit with her as much as we can. She loves the missionaries and loves to talk with us and tell us her stories and things! Haha... usually just complains about all the weird sicknesses that she has because she is so old!.

 So Friday and Saturday here is something called dia de muertos ( day of the dead) It is really a huge catholic holiday. What they do is Friday is for all the kids that have passed away when they were little. The families will go visit them and bring flowers and things to their tombs. The graveyards are packed with people these two days of the year. So Thursday night we got a call from our zone leaders asking us to go to the cemetaries and do some service and help clean the tombs and then we can talk with some people about the Plan of Salvation. Such a good idea! I gues it came straight from the President. So the whole misión Friday and Saturday we went to the cemetaries in the morning to do service and contact people. It went really good! We were able to find alot of people! It was cool to be able to talk to families that have lost loved ones and to be able to tell them that they can see their child or mom or dad again. We are so blessed to be able to know abou this plan that Heavenly Father has prepared for all of us! It helped out my companion alot to! He got to learn how to do some quick teaching! All in all we were able to find 1 new person to start teaching and 1 reference to pass to some other elders.... haha just shows you how Heavenly Father Works!

 Later that day Friday we went and visited some less actives. We went with a girl named Karen. She was baptized like 1 year ago but has fallen away because her mom is not a member and its hard for her to figure out what to do. We started talking about the things that have been going on and I remembered a quote from Elder Eyring, Something like- when we are in the góspel it will always be an uphill climb, and if we catch ourselves in the decline and things get easy, its because we have left the path of the straight and narrow. This is what I explained to this girl, that even though things are hard, if we do what we are supposed to, Heavenly Father will always make up for the rest!

 Saturday we went back to the graveyard and did some more contacting and got to talk to a bunch of people that wanted to hear about our message! It was kinda cool! haha People usually always stare at me just because Im not from here, but when I got in the cemetary and were talking with a group of people, more and more just kept stopping and listening! It was kinda of cool!

That afternoon our Ward had their 5 year aniversery, It was really fun! We got there and they were all playing basketball. We got to play with them for a Little bit! That was the best! I loved it! Then after they... hahha had killed a cow a day before and had done barbacoa!! Anything that your have eaten in the states will never compare to what this was!! It was unreal!!! 

That night we went with our investigator Abrabam. He and his wife Marbella had just gotten married like a month ago. We havent had any chances to meet with him because he worked all of the time. So Saturday night we went to the house and had our first lesson with him. It went really well! I dont know, from the begining teaching with this family was easy, and it was like they were already prepared to hear us. We taught the Restoration and out of all the times in my misión that I have taught this lesson, that night I felt was the best that I have ever taught it. I felt the spirit with us. One of those times where after I got done talking, I had no clue how I said that or how I said it. We invited him to be baptized and he accepted. Everyone was all so happy, especially his wife. They are close to the same age as us, she is 19 and he is 21. We started talking after the lesson and we talked about sports. I guess he played american football here in mexico, and played outside linebacker. We played the same position and both played football, American football here really doesnt exist! so when he told me that I knew that Heavenly Father had prepared this family for us!

Everything here is going so good! Well today is kinda a big day, haha... so weird that i am 20!! This morning we went into Villa with some ex missionaries that took us to Fuddruckers!! It was sooo good!! I was so surprised that there was one here! I miss and love all of you guys soo much, My testimony has grown this past week , and I could not be more grateful for this góspel and all of you.

Love,

Elder Liljenquist

Happy Birthday Elder Liljenquist!!!

We are all SO proud of you and love you SO much!!! Have the best day!!!
(Click on the Vimeo link in the bottom right corner to watch the video a little bit bigger:)

October 28, 2013

Hey Everyone!

Sorry! I don't have much time to write very much but we had a pretty good week! The only crappy thing is that I have been a little bit sick to the stomach the past couple of days! It sucks! But other than that we have had somewhat of a good week! Friday, because Saturday was stake conference, we had our baptism for Yareli! She was so excited and couldn't wait for it to happen! It was really cool to because it was my companions first baptism of his mission! I was happy that he was able to baptize her. Everything went really well! The service was really good and this week we are going to go buy her a hymn book for a present! I am feeling better and excited to get back to work! We should be seeing more baptisms for the next month of November! So weird that I am going to be 20 the next week! I love and miss all of you soo much!

 Elder Liljenquist

 

 

October 21, 2103

Hey Everyone!

Well another week down! Seems like just yesterday that I was here writing you guys! Time is flying here! Were already in the last couple weeks of October! Where has this year gone?? It was overall another pretty good week! Really hot and a lot of walking! haha.. We have worked so hard the past couple of weeks! We have been able to contact a ton of new investigators and have found a bunch more less active families to start teaching too!  So the last Monday after got done writing we went to this store called Big City. So its basically a Costco with a different name! And it is packed with anything american that you could ever want!! It was the best!! I found skippy peanut butter haha... and I even found toaster strudles!!! Best day ever! Then we went and had a family night with a family that are recent converts of about 4 months! They are such a good family! Family Figaroa. We sat and talked with them abouth the importance of having your family night and being together with your family and being able to leave everything else behind! It went really well! They are a super excited family and love to tell stories and share experiences and things! 

We have still be visiting Hermana Yarelli, The little girl that we are going to be baptizing this week and we have been working on reactivating her family! It has been going really good with all of them! They all came to church this past week! The little girl is super excited about her baptism and haha is such a good influence for her mom and her whole family! Shes the reason why they all came to church that day! Later that day I got a call from a sister in our ward asking me if I could come and help her with her english homework that she had! haha ...We had an appointment in that area so me and my companion went and helped her out! Pretty funny! She had to read from a magazine and translate it to a piece of paper! So I sat there fixing her translations!

For the past couple of weeks we have been working with a guy called Felix. He is a Grandpa of a girl in our ward. He has been kind of hard to teach! haha ..All he wants to talk about is work and things like that! We have been helping him fix his lawn mower that he has. haha.. Lucky for him Ive been around those for a while and kind of have an idea of what to do! We have taught him lesson number 1 like 50 times! I just think he is too old to really understand all this stuff! But he loves to listen to us he says!

We have also been working with another recent convert, Marbella. She is 24 and just got baptized like a month ago! But she has a boyfriend that is not a member of the church! But he has been coming with here to church for the past little while!  He is super interested in the church and wants to learn more before we do anything with him! So this past weekend they got married!! The ward threw them a huge party in the church for their wedding! haha... It was so fun! My first marriage as a Missionary!!! So we got them married now! He is ready for baptism! We just have to convince him that!!

Everything here is going good! Just working!! This week it is going to pay off! My companion is still learning every single second!! haha.. but he is doing the best he can! I need everyone to be prayin for one of my best friends, Elder Berry will be having surgery this week and I need him back in shape to get back down here to Mexico! Thank you all for your help!! I love and miss all of you!!

Elder Liljenquist

Skippy Peanut Butter and Toaster Strudels make for a VERY happy Elder:)

October 12, 2013 - 10 Months!!!

Hey Fammmilyyy!!

Well it was another good week here in Parrilla! So we have been working really hard this past week just on getting to know the área and finding all of the less active members and old investigators that are in the área book! So basically, we have walked our freaking butts of this past week! We have a huge área! but its an área with a lot of potential! there are so many people that are ready to get baptized and hear about the church! This past week we have been walking around with a Ward directory and basically walkin from neighborhood to neighborhood finding people and contacting! It has been ok! Not my favorite thing to do but someone has to do it! Haha. My Companion asks me all the time "why do we walk so much" and says haha  "its so hot". Well this heat that we have right now is NOTHING compared to what is to come! And well we do walk a lot. I do feel kind of bad about that but its all about learning haha.

Well we have found some pretty good investigators this past week! Our first one is Yarelli. She is 10 years old and her family is an inactive family. We have been visiting them the past week and Yarelli has done nothing but say how much she wants to get baptized! So we talked with her mom and the bishop and the first thing that has to happen is they all need to come back to church! So we have been putting goals and things with them so they can have something to work towards! Yarelli has a baptizm date for the 26th of October!

We have another investigator, David. His wife just got baptized and he has been coming to our church I guess for a long time! Im not reallly sure why he has not been baptized. He is a good guy. I have only talked with him a couple of times at church activites and yesterday during church, but the Bishop told me that he is really prepared and is ready to be baptized!!

This área has so much more too! Just a Little bit more time and I think we will be seeing some real progress! Something that I have noticed the past week here working, is that our diligence and obedience is everything! We have been so exhausted lately! It has been so hard to get out of bed sometimes! But we have noticed a difference in the days that we do everything in the right time and the days that we get up late or do something else. It is something so small but it can have the biggest difference! The Ward that we are in are all really good people! We had a really good Sunday turnout. We had 140 people at church! Thats the most that I have had since I left Utah!! When people ask me how many do I have in my Ward! haha.. they about have a heart attack! If you have more than 100 here, you are massive!

Everything is going good! We are gettin there! Just got to work a Little bit more each day and we will start to see results! I love and miss you all!

Elder Liljenquist

October 7, 2013 - Reunited!!

 Hey everyone!

Well, it has been a really good week! So last Monday, we went around and said bye to everyone that was in my last area! I was up until like 12 at night packing and then had to be up again that next morning ready to leave by 5:30!  So we get to the bus station around 5:15 in the morning and end up waiting for an hour before we can go. The plan was to meet the other elders in the other bus station and basically do a drop off and pick up on the way to Villa. But my bus decided to go to the wrong bus station!! So we had to get off really fast and get all of our luggage out from the bus. I had the bus driver screaming spanish at me and I had to help my travel comp because he could not speak the language!!  So we get everything off and we were going to just take a taxi to the right bus station! Then I go to grab my back pack and it's not there! I left it on the freaking bus! So I ran to the front desk and told her to look the bus up and tell me where it was going. Luckily it was going to Coatza. So I called the elders there and gave them the bus number and they were able to pick up the bags!  So glad that I took out my wallett and everything before! Haha... may have dropped some none missionary words during all this stuff! 

We finally got to Villa after a 5 hour bus ride! It was actually really good. I got to sleep the whole way! We stopped in Coatza too, so I picked up my bag there. After waiting at the bus station in Villa for someone to come with me to the offices, we got there pretty late in the day. So Elder Berry told me last week that he had gone home because of his sickness, so I was kind of bummed that he wasn't going to be there. Haha... but one of the first things that an elder said to me when we got there is that my buddy was inside! So I ran in the church building and started lookin around, haha ..The butt was sitting with some sister missionaries trying to speak spanish!! Haha. Same old Brody! It was sooo good to see him! Felt like so long! He is doing good. I shouldn't say so good because he is pretty sick! He says that he can't keep any of his food down and his whole body hurts! But it was really good! We spend that whole afternoon together! After, I got introduced to my new companion, Elder Gonzales. He is from up Northern Mexico. He is a pretty cool elder! haha... just has that "have no clue whats going on" look on his face always! But he tells me that he is ready to work! haha. So thats good! That night we got to our area and its like 10 minutes outside of Villahermosa. The ward that we are in is really good! The area is called Parrila. We have a ward attendance of like 150 every Sunday! That is unreal for down here. The next day, we went back to the offices and spent pretty much the whole day there! I spent the whole day with Brody and the President! It was so good! He took us out to lunch with all the new elders that had just gotten here. Then, me and the President started to talk about some things and he told me that for sure me and Elder Berry would be companions before we end our missions. He just sat and talked to us 3 for an hour or so! It was so good. Me and President sat there and tried to convince Elder Berry to go and get some shots so he can keep some food down! He told me I can go and hold him down while he does it! But after being all day with them, we went back to our area around 7 that night. 

 So this new area that we are in is absolutley blank. There is nothing. That night I went to talk to the ward mission leader and he told me that the elders that were here did not work. The area book that was there was full of garbage and they didn't leave me even a sheet of paper of what was going on in the area. So once again, we will be starting from the very beginning of everything! So for the past couple of days, we have been walking around with a ward directory and contacting members. There are a few old investigators in the area book that we went and contacted. It's hard!!.. Not that it's hard, it's just things that should be already done! But the ward that we have is really good! Our Bishop is unreal and works alot. So I'm sure this week we will have at least a base to work off of! Saturday and Sunday were really good! It was nice to be able to watch conference. All the talks were really good! Made me miss being able to watch it in my living room! 

Today me and my companion went into town and went to the mall that is there! Haha Felt so good to walk into a mall!! I sound like my mom... we ate at subway too!! haha. But everything is going good! I love and miss all of you!

Elder Liljenquist

September 30, 2013 - Transferred!

Hey Everyone!

Well we had somewhat of a better week this past week! We have been working so hard to try and find people to teach in this dang area! Not gonna lie, but the people here are really tough. I'm not sure why! I think it's just becuase the area that we have is super small! And everyone is just used to us walking the same roads everyday! So Tuesday, we were walking the same old roads again when we got a call from some other elders in the area next to ours. They passed along a reference for us and we just happened to be right in front of the house of the reference. So we went and contacted the house. The dad of the family was sitting outside, almost like he was waiting for us. He told us to come in and sit down. We started to talk with him and he said that he came to our stake conference that we had a couple weeks ago, and that he loved it. Then we asked if he had any more family that he lived with. He responded with "his whole family"! So we asked him if he could bring them out and introduce us to them! We met all 8 of them! As we were there, we explained what it is that we do as missionaries and asked them if they were interested in taking our lessons and they all accepted! It felt so good as we walked out of that lesson with them!

 

So Wednesday I went and did splits with a nelder that is in my district, Elder Rivas. He has like 4 months in the mission but he is a really good Elder! It went really good! The area that we were in is famous in all of Mexico for their Memellas!! They were unreal!!! Not only that, but there house is soo nice!! They even have Hot water!!!!!! I think that might have been the highlight of the week!! haha .Having a hot shower was the greatest thing in the world!!! I actaully felt clean when I got out! I took one that night and another one in the morning!! The next day it was back to sleeping on the floor and cold showers! 

 

The weekend went pretty well. We went back and met that family of 8 and had a really good lesson with the Bishop of our ward! The dad of the family told us that he wants to be baptized! Now that we have won over the dad,  the rest of the family should be right behind him! So the whole week everyone has been stressing about the transfers that are happening today!! Haha... Well It looks like I won't be here to see this family get baptized! I am headed to Villahermosa! I will be training a new missionary!!!! Im gonna be a DAD! But I guess that I am getting" white washed" into my area! That just means they take out both the elders that were there and put two new elders in! So I will be training and having to redo a new area.

I'm kinda nervous but I know that everything will be alright! I need everyone to be praying for my Best friend, Elder Berry. He has been really sick the past couple of weeks and is doing his best to fight and stick it out! 

I Love all of you soo much

Elder Liljenquist

September 23, 2013

 Hey Everyone!

   

     Well it has been somewhat of a better week than the last! Well we started of the week in the our district class. It went pretty good. We have been watching the Work of Salvation and how we can change the way we are doing this work to the way the Prophets want it to be! It has been something that our mission President wants us to study really hard and put it into practice in the field.

So we have heard there that there has been a lot of hurricanes going around Mexico and the Carribean. One hit part of our mission. Luckily I was clear on the other side. But later that day, Tuesday, I got a call from our Zone leaders sayin that they just talked to the President and we have a Hurricane headed right in our direction!! He said to call your district and tell them to go buy food for at least 2 days and get more water! haha. I got kind of freaked out! haha. When in reality, we had one of the hottest weeks I have had in the mission in a long time! haha! It came no where close to us! Turns out that they were all around us but nothin too bad!

     The past week was a really hard week in the work. As we started this week off, I was ready to start to see some changes! So Tuesday, we went and ate with the family that gives us food and as we were leaving we asked if there was anyone that she knew of that we could go and visit. She said the family that lives right in front of them. So we went and knocked on there door and their kid that is 16 answered and told us that his dad is sick. Then the mom came and talked to us for a minute. We explained to her that we could give her husband what we call a blessing, like a prayer. She invited us right in. So we went and gave the dad a blessing and talked to him for a second. Turns out they actually have family that are members and a nephew that is a ex missionary. They are a family of 5. Surper nice and have accepted us to come back and start teaching them! We have also been going through the Area book and looking at the old teaching records of people that we could go back and start teaching! We went and found this girl named Nitza. She is 18 and was listening to the missionaries about 2 years ago. So we went and contacted her and she stopped listening to the missionaries the first time because she didnt have any support from anyone or really know anyone in the our ward! We had a really good first lesson with her and got to know her really well! We have an appoinment to come back to see her tommorrow! We also found another new family to teach this week. Well they were new, haha, but they weren't really interested! So we went and taught this mom and her 19 year old daughter for the first time and it went really well! They accepted everything really well and we said we would come back the next day to see them but they werent there. So we kept trying and tryin but we couldn't find them! So we went back yesterday and tried to see if they were there! We found them, so we went in  talked to the daughter and turns out that her husband doesn't want her to listen to us and said that we cant' come back!! Well ....there isn't much we can do there!!

     Overall it has been a little better week! We still have so much that we can do to be better! I talked to a returned missionary that is here in the ward. We talked about his mission and how we are here to work. He said the last night of his mission, he went out and knocked doors instead of getting ready to go home!! It was cool to hear that Made me think about how much harder I can be working right now!!

      Love all of you guys!

Elder Liljenquist

 

Clearly he still has his sense of humor.....;)

 

Central!

September 16, 2013

(His English isn't very good anymore;) Truly converted!!)

 

Hey Family!!

  

  Another week down here! Time feels to be going so fast! We only have two more weeks in the transfer! Feels like that I just got here! But it was somewhat of a good week. We have really had a hard time with the investigators that we have. It's hard to get them to continue to progress! It has been kind of frustrating! But we just need to keep in mind that what we are here to do is to invite and we can' force this upon anyone. So some of our investigators have gotten in a bad rhythm of not keeping there commitments and not wanting to progress. So we have had to talk with them to varify everything to make sure they still understand this process.

     Thursday I went and did my first divisions with the other elder that lives with us. We went to his area and we actually had a pretty good day! We had some pretty good lessons and we went and taught this family that has a kid that is a member and everyone else is not. We had a really good lesson. We taught them about how the gospel blesses the family and at the end we commited them to be baptized and they accepted! Its such a good feeling to have people accept this invitation! Even though they're not my investigators! It was still really good!

    Wednesday here, the skies went dark as ever and it poured rain!! I have never seen it rain so hard! We have been soaking wet all week! The rain here is really on and off though. It will pour rain for like 10 minutes and stop, then come back and do it over and over again. We put our scriptures and things we dont want to get wet, in a plastic bag from like the grosccrie store and then in our backpacks cause everything just gets soaked! 

  Saturday we had somewhat of a better day! When we went to visit people and they were actually in there houses/ haha, We have a investigator named Norma. She is progressing really well and from what I can see, doing really well. We went and saw her and taught here about the Book Of Mormon. It was really good! We had a good time explaining it to her strong cathlolic family!! haha but it went really good! 

  So we live in a house that has two levels. A big family lives below us and we live on the top floor! Saturday night, we show up to our house and one of the teenage daughters is out there with a group of her friends. She stops us and says to us before we go in, that they are  sorry for the noise that there's going to be! They had planned a party that night! So around 10:20 ish the stereos just get blasted with this electronic music! Our floor was shaking!! So we go out on the balcony of our house and down below the beer man is making his drop off at this house!!! haha. You can order your beer for delivery here! 3 carts! I look at the other american that lives with us and tell him we are not going to sleep tonight! haha. Sure enough we did not go to bed untill 1:30 in the morning!!  haha. o we had to use our time wisley! ...So me and Elder Urbina went and spied. Peeking through the windows! haha. It was ridiculous!! A solid 12 people there! haha. The kind of party you walk in and walk right back out! Made our house smell like beer and cigarettes though!! I was so exhausted the next day! Sunday nigh,t was the night that they celebrate their Independence Day here too! So there was a huge party going on in Central! I got a call from our zone leaders telling us that we had to be in the house at 8:00 that night because it was going to be so crazy!

  Everything is going good here! Having patience with me had really been a test! I have taken a lot of time this past week to just think,  "how we can be better so we start to see more success?" When I dont want to, I still do it. When I'm tired and want to rest, I'll still go....just pushing and not letting disappoinment bring me down has been the biggest help for me! I love you guys and thank you for all your help with everything! Especially the Elder Holland talks! 

Elder Liljenquist

September 9, 2013

Hey Family!

How is everything going there at home? Not gonna lie, this past week, I  got a little Mexico'd out!! Haha. I miss the states!! But everything is going good down here! We have had a little better week! So we started off our week visiting a ton of people! In this area, there is work to be done! The only hard thing is to get people to keep there commitments! So, I have been studying really hard to try and find a way to help these people that we are teaching to keep progressing. I have studied and studied and I think that I have found a way that should help. haha! So, we have an investigator named Ontoniel. He is 23 and just working and going to school. He loves the missionaries and loves to joke around and have a good time! His family is from another church and don't really support him listening to us, but haha, he doesn't really care that much! His girlfriend is actually a member, but inactive! So we have been teaching him for the past couple of weeks and he actually had a baptism date but he has yet to come to church with us! He likes to listen to us but likes more to just hang out and talk to us more than anything. ( were coming back to this) So we had a zone class this past week and we talked about how we need to change the way we teach so that the investigator can understand better. We talked about how everyone is different, and we need to adapt our teachings more to the investigator and less in the order of the lessons. So I have been thinking of a new way that we can teach him, Thanks to the Best Mom in the world, I have some Mormon messages that I have just watched in the house but we took them and put them to work. It went really well! Being able to be taught from the Prophet's voices themselves doesn't get much better! It went really well. We showed some videos of Christ and really refocused our teaching on him. After the video, we reexplained our purpose as missionaries and recommitted him to be baptized for the 28th.

 We have two other investigators that are moving really well and progressing! In our Zone class, our goal for this month of baptisms is 43 for our zone!!! We were all kind of shocked when they told us this number! But I know that we can do it. As a goal for me and my companion, we have a goal of 5! I know that we can get it! We just need to be more persistent with these people!
So.... we are still sleeping on the floor and sharing one fan for all of us! Haha. But it's not really that bad! I have kind of gotten used to it. One of the other Elders is from  Arizona. Elder Urbina, haha.. he is pretty cool. I am glad that there is another American there in the house. haha. It's just nice to be able to talk in english sometimes! So  at nights, we call this place that delivers the best tacos! haha and we sit out on our porch and just chill! I miss and love all of you guys!

Elder Liljenquist

September 2, 2013

Now that everything is caught up....we can FINALLY go week by week:)

September!!

Well it was another really good week here in Acauycan! The weather is so much better here! I actually get cold at night! I love it! Haha I would be fine if I stayed here for the rest of my mission! Just in the months of May and June!! Pray that I'm not back in Tabasco in those months! Well I think that I have finally learned the area well enough that I don't need anyone to show me around anymore. Tuesday I taught my first District class to the Elders in my District! I was kind of freaking out a little bit, but everything went really well. We focused the class on a talk from Elder Holland called "The Divine Companionship" haha I think that's how you would translate that! But it focused in on how us as missionaries should have more that one companion with us at all times. The Holy Ghost. It showed us how we can start working better and more effectively when we have the spirit with us always. Because in all honesty, it is the only way that we can do this work! When we forget that and we start to do in in our own way, it will never work. There is one way to do this work, and it's the Lord's way.

Two Elders in my District have been having a hard time getting along and seem to be always fighting! I was about ready to just beat the both of them after an hour talk and still nothing had changed!! haha. I felt like a dang marriage counselor!! But as of now, they seem to be going good.  Our area seems to be full of people that are super prepared to hear the Gospel and are actually really receptive! We are actually doing pretty good with our investigators. We have put some more people on date for baptism, but they keep falling through because we can't get any of them to come to church with us! They keep all their commitments until Sunday and then they decide to be lazy! haha. We are teaching this family and the mom is really interested. Her husband Juan is having a hard time moving along! We have really been focusing our lessons on the Book of Mormon! I asked her if she thinks that she has received an answer yet.  She said that she feels something different when she is reading and then she told us YES! She and her family are there! We just need them to come to church!
Saturday I had to go to an area in the middle of no where to give my first baptism interview for a couple of Elders in my District! haha. Luckily the lady that was getting baptized was just as nervous as I was!! But everything went really well! Later that day, we had our interviews with our President. He is such a cool guy! He told me that me and Elder Berry will have the opportunity to serve together before we end our missions!! SO Pumped! yesterday we had our Stake Conference! We had such a good turn out! Over 600 people!! Things are starting to pick up in this area! Just pray and help us get these people to church! Love you all so much!

Elder Liljenquist

Good News in August!

August was filled with so many great things for Elder Liljenquist including becoming the new District Leader!! He is doing so great and we are all so proud of him!

August 5, 2013

Hey Guys!

Well another week down and we're in another month! Weeks have been flying by! Well we started off this week pretty good! We have had a lot of contacts that we have needed to contact! So that is pretty much what we did all of Tuesday and Wednesday! It went pretty good! Some of the contacts were alright and others just didn't want anything at all! But out of like 8 people, we were able to keep 3 of them progressing! So one of them is named Roeglio. He lives alone and is pretty poor. The contact was a Book of Mormon contact but later in the lesson we realized that he couldn't read! haha. So we have gone back a couple times this past week to read from the Book of Mormon with him. He is doing pretty well... just that his family are really strong Catholics (like everyone else here!!) and they don't really approve of us teaching him! Its alright! We'll just see how it goes!

      Having been here for 4 months now I have gotten to know pretty much the whole town!! haha. It feels pretty cool to walk down central and know people haha!! I have become pretty close with all of the people in our branch too! It's really cool to be able to see the leaders in this branch start to hold up their callings and do some missionary work in their branch! So this past week we were just doing some contacting by our house and we found a kid that is around 10 years old and it turns out that he is a member! He took us back to his house and showed us his family. It turns out most of them are members! This kid is unreal! haha. He just started talking to us about the church and how he wanted to come back but his dad is a drunk and won't take him! So during the week he came with us and taught lessons all day! haha. He is soo funny! When we would leave a lesson, he would talk about what he thinks that persone needs and stuff! Then Sunday morning we went by his house to bring him to church and he had 1 one his friends with him to bring! He's10 and he is doin missionary work!! Such a good example for some of the other members that don't want to do anything!!;) haha. Things are moving here. We should be having a baptism this Saturday if we can get this couple married!! haha. And there should be another the next week! Pray that we can keep finding people to teach! We need to find some more! Other than that everything is going good here! My Great Grandma Faye Marsden passed away this weekend. Please remember my family in your prayers. It makes me soo grateful for this gospel and the blessing that we have to have our families forever. I love you all and I love my Grandma!

Elder Liljenquist

August 12, 2013

Hey Everyone!!

  It was another good week! We started off the week really excited to start working with some of these new people that we have! So Tuesday we spent most of our day in this area called La Ceiba. It is a part of our area, just on the other side of the freeway! It's actually where we have found some of these new people that we are teaching! We started to teach this one family that is there. They are really good people, just the dad has to work 5 days away from home and then 5 days at home so we only had the oppurtunity to teach the mom, but it went really well! She is super interested... haha and a good listener! So much easier to teach when someone actually listens to you! But we taught the book of Mormon and the Resturation and after we invited her to be baptized! It went really good! And whats even better is that her husband is more interested than she is!

     We had a couple more over there in that area that we thought were going to be really good! haha but turns out they didn't really want anything! sucks when you can see just how good they could progress! and then it just doesnt work out!! But its alright! haha... All in time! Friday we had to go to the area of our Zone leaders for a Zone meeting! So this was the first meeting where we were going to see what changes our new President had for us! So it looks like we are going to put our attention and our focus not only in just teaching, but reactivating less actives. Teaching recent converts and really looking after our wards and branchs and working with them more than just working just by ourselves! Not really a huge change.. haha but they said that that was far from the end of things to come! Haha. So the bus ride to the zone meeting is like 2 hours. We were on the bus on the way home and these two guys sitting in front of me started arguing and fighting over something until one of the guys threw a punch at the other one!! Then they just started going at it!! Swinging at eachother with everything they had!! hahaha!!! The bus driver stopped the bus and told both of them to get off! haha... and we were in the middle of no where!  So ridiculous!! So after we had gotten back from the zone meeting, we went and met with one of our new investigators. She is like 18 and works in this resturaunt that we eat in every Saturday. We started to talk to her and she had been having a really hard time trusting us and really opening up and talking. But that day she finally broke. She has had a really rough life. Her dad died when she was like 11 and  she had dropped out of school a year later. Her mom is a drunk and she works for her family basically. She just had the question, why me? why my dad? We started to talk to her and asked her if she would like to know where her dad is? And first it wasn't something she wanted to talk about so I gave a small explanation of the Plan of Salvation. We left her the pamphlet and were goin to go back and talk to her! We are so blessed to be able to know all the things that we do! The rest of the day we had been helping our Branch President go around and invite everyone to our branch conference that we had yesterday! We had to have more than just 25 people there like we usally have! So Sunday morning we left early and invited people to come! We got to the church and we saw a freaking miracle!!! There were not enough seats for some of the people! So they were standing in the windows and outside the door of the little church that we had!!!! We had a attendance of 67 people!!! And 6 of them were investigators!!! It was so cool to be able to be apart of that!! We just need to keep that number growing every week!! Then soon enough there will be a big chapel here! So overall, it was a good week!

The rainy season has started and it poured rain last night and today! haha. Last night we were at a investigators house and the clouds moved in within like 5 minutes!! Told my comp that had like 5 minutes before it starts to down pour! So we started back to our house and like 3/4s the way there it started!! HOLY COW!! We just started sprinting!! haha ...Along with anyone else that was in the roads! The streets were flooded in like 5 minutes! So this Saturday we have a challenge from our zone leaders that everyone in the zone baptizes!! So you should read about a baptism next week!! Pray that we can find someone who is ready!! Love and miss you all!

Elder Liljenquist

August 19, 2013

8 Months!!

  Hey everyone! Holy cow. It feels like that everytime that I get on, I am talking about having another month in the mission! Time has gone so fast! Well we have had a pretty good week this past week! Well... our baptism didn't work out!! But we were able to put a few dates for the future! So all in all, we are progressing! That is all that matters! But we have had a few pretty interesting lessons this past week. I have learned a lot of different things!

      So we went to go and visit a investigator that has been investigating our church for a little over a year now. Our branch president has wanted us to continue to visit her and not drop her just because we all know how prepared and ready she is! So we get to her house and started into talking about the Atonment and all the blessings that we recieve from it! She then asked us the question,"how can I know if I truly have repented and if I have repented, why are the same thoughts and temptations still in my mind?" Wow. That one kind of threw me back up against the wall and cornered me! It really made me think. How can we know if we have recieved forgivness and why do we have the same thoughts and temptations even after we have repented? 

So first how can we know...I feel that it is different for everyone. There is not a basic feeling or knowing that we truly have, like everything else about this Gospel, it starts with the faith that we have. If we truly have faith that we can recieve forgivness for those things that we do wrong. But if we have truly repented of the things we have done, why do we still have the same temptations and things that we think about? It is to protect us. The temptaions will always be there and I think that if we have the same thoughts or feel the same way, its to protect us from making the same mistakes again.

     We had a meeting a with our mission leader of the branch and we started talking about how faith is principle in everything that we do. Just as it is the first principle of the gospel, it is key in everything that we do. Faith isn't faith unless we do something with it. It is an action. Taking what we have and put it into something! What I have learned is that this the hardest part for investigators to do. Take the faith that they have and put it into action. You can ask anyone and they will tell you that they have faith but how do we use it? That is something that I have been thinking about! When we go and see these investigators that have been being taught for months and months, if I dont walk into that lesson with faith that they can change, they're not going to! 

 Well the time here in La Venta has been good! haha... But I got my phone call this morning and I'll be being transfered tomorrow! My new area is Acauycan, and a haha... I'll be the District Leader!!! I am freaking out a little bit! haha. I have no idea what to do! Please pray for me! haha. I'm going to need your help! I love all of you and so thankful for all of your help! 

Elder Liljenquist

 Won't be gutting any deer this year...so a chicken will have to be good for now!

 August 26, 2013

Hey Family!!

  Well there was some big changes this past week! So I got my transfer and my new companion! My new comp is Elder Castillo. He is from some part in Mexico! haha. He is a pretty good Elder. Just I've ben told he is a little bit of a trouble maker!! haha. We'll see how that goes! So I am in the area Acauycan,Veracruz. It is a really nice area! So what they did here is that it used to be  one whole area, but they decided to cut it and make it into two! Once we got here, I met the other companionship that is in the other part of the area that was split. One of the other Elders was there. He had just gotten done with his training and haha, the first thing he did when he saw me was hug me and asked me if I spoke English! Well we have 4 Elders sharing one house! It is terrible! I sleep on a mattress on the floor in the middle of where we study. Same with my companion!.We are looking for a different house right now but there is really nothing for us to buy!

  So the whole past week we have been just going around and learning the area. I had no clue what to do ,so all 4 of us stayed together until we could get ourselves along! The area here is unreal! There is so much work here going on and so many people ready to hear the message! The ward that we have is unreal too. Even though it was our first week here and we didn't know anyone, we were able to put someone on date!! I am really excited to see this area change!

 It has also been a kind of stressful week. I have had some problems with companions in the district already! haha...  and have had to go and talk to them and see what they can do to better everything! Including the other two Elders that we are living with.Geez! My patience has been tried  the past week! Haha but I am prety sure that everything will work out! So tomorrow I have to teach my fisrt District Class! haha Pray for me! haha and also that we can find a house to live in! I love you all!

(Keep going and cheering on My Bro and Lone Peak!)

Love Elder Liljenquist