Prayers for Elder Liljenquist

Please keep Elder Liljenquist in your prayers!

April 14, 2014

Hey Family

Well it was a interesting week here in Grijalva, We had a pretty good week here. Tuesday we had a special conference with our mission President, it was really good! We learned a lot more things that I think everyone needed to hear. Something interesting happened after the conference, my President wanted to talk to my companion so he pulled him off to the side and told him that he was going to have special transfers this next week and was going to be put into another area! Haha of course that would happen..right! So Wednesday night we got the call to where he was going and who was coming here with me! So my new comp is Elder Chajon, he is from Guatamala, he is a pretty cool elder! We have gotten along really well this past week! 

So with the 3 weeks that I have in this area me and my new comp this past week pretty much went around and got to know the area a little bit better! We have gotten to know our investigators pretty well and we put 2 more baptismal dates this past week! Miguel that I have talked about with you guys is doing really well, he has found a lot of friends in the church and is coming to all of the activities every week! We have another investigator Jorge who went to the church when he was younger but stopped going, he has always had the desire to be baptized but just has never come back to church! So we went and taught him for the first time and he accepted a date for the 3 of may! 

As you all know I said that we were going to be baptizing this past week. There were a lot of things that happened this past week! Haha first this family you guys need to understand they don't even have money to eat, he goes around all day selling remotes for tv.s and other little electronics like that. And every night he goes to the bridge and sets up his public stand to sell. His wife has diabetes and she got really sick this past week and he needs to send her to another state so she can get taken care of! And he has been getting himself in some pretty bad debt! he keeps going to the bank and loan companies to take out money but just keeps falling more and more behind! I have been praying so hard for him and his family, the other night he asked me for money so that he could go and eat...so me and my comp went and bought him some food from the gas station that was close by. He says they have no gas in his house so all the money he makes he has to buy food that's already made and that is always more expensive. And he always tells me, don't worry everything is going to turn around! Its so crazy the faith that this man has! So we are gong to continue to work with him and help in any way that we can! 

I hope that we can all be grateful for how much we have, seeing this all happen and being apart of it has made me see just how blessed we all are! I miss all of you sooo much! I have been baking here in the Mexican heat haha! but time is always going! I love all you so much!

Elder Liljenquist

April 7, 2014

Hey family!!

Well it was another good week here in Grijalva!! We have had some success with our investigators! And the best news is that this weekend Roberto is going to be baptized! We are really excited for him! We have been working with him a lot and have seen such a big change in this guy! He has a pretty ruff situation right now and its so cool to see him trust so much in our Heavenly Father! Him and his family do not have very much money! but he is confident that the blessings will come! It has really been a faith building experience to see him work through! He has asked me and my comp for money for gas for his house so they can cook a lot of times, but he has been really acceptable with trusting in the lord and praying for the help that he needs. He told us what happened to him yesterday when he went out to work, he got assaulted by some punk kid, and he started to talk about it with us and he says he knows why it happened, haha because were not supposed to work on Sundays!! haha it was the coolest thing! He is so ready and I am so happy that he will be able to take this step and be able to receive the blessings that are waiting for him.

During the Hottest week of my life! haha we have also been working with another investigator named Jorge, he has been doing really well! The other day he asked us when we could plan his baptismal date!! haha just out of no where! it was kinda of weird, but he is progressing pretty well, he did not come to conference but he has a date for the end of this month.

We are also working with another investigator named Miguel, he is a great investigator, he is like 22 and loves to listen to us! He has come to church and even goes to all other activities during the week! and the best is that he goes to institute alone every week! We are working with him to get him a baptismal date!

Conference was unreal! I hope that all of you were able to see it! All of the sessions were sooo good! I loved the talk from our Prophet, The true love of our Savior is what is going to take us back in the presence of our Heavenly Father. It was such a good talk, especially because I can do so much better at having more charity for everyone.

I miss all of you soo much! Time is flying here though! The weeks just get faster and faster I could really relate the talk about the 4 minutes that we have here! It really made me see that this time that I have here in the mission is so short and I have heard more than once that its an 1 time thing, that's want to do it the best that I can! I hope all of you can do things to the fullest and make the best of our 4 minutes here! I love all of you!!

Elder Liljenquist

March 31, 2014

Hey family!!

How is everyone doing?? Things here are going pretty good! We have been working pretty good here! I have been getting to know the area! But the ward and the investigators are really good! We still need to find some more, but we have 2 or 3 that are progressing really well! This past week was the beginning of the heat wave that's going to come in! Holy cow! I know that I complain to you guys about the heat all of the time, but if any of you need to lose some weight, come down here to Villa and just walk! haha …You'll be in unreal shape in a week!!! The heat really is not that bad. It's the humidity that kills you! 

 

Our investigator Roberto, is doing really well. He is having some struggles with work. He and his family do not have very much. For work, he buys and resells T.V remotes and little electronic things and goes out to the streets and sells them. There is a big river that divides Villa and Gaviotas (my area) and he is always up on the bridge selling. He is a really cool guy and has a lot of faith! He knows that all the blessings will come if he just keeps working hard! We explained to him about prayer and how he can be sure about his answer. We talked about the fruits of the spirit and how he would feel when he receives his answer. He did not end up attending church this week, but that night we went up to the bridge to see him and it turns out that he was sick and to top it off, he and his wife had not eaten since the day before because they did not have any money to buy food. It was weird because like 5 minutes later, a lady and some guy walked passed us and she dropped an envelope all wadded up. I did not think anything of it. But something told me to go and get it. So I went and got it and opened it up and there inside there was two 500 peso bills!! I thought for a second that this could help Roberto out soo much! But it just wouldn't be right, so me and my comp went bookin it after this lady! We finally caught her and at first, haha.. I think that we scared her because she started to like run away from us!! haha.. But then I asked her if the envelope was hers and then she actually got really mad and grabbed it right out of my hand and didn't even say thank you!! haha. Well at least I know I did it right! 

 

The family that we have been teaching is doing pretty good. There are just some problems. The husband likes to drink....a lot!! And they got kicked out of there house this week so they have been looking for another place to live, The wife is pretty tired of the husband coming home drunk all of the time. She says she wants to get away from him for her kids. She is really great, just its hard with her husband! We are going to focus in more on him! 

 

I am really excited to be able to see conference this week! I can't believe its time again! The clock is flying by! I miss all of you soo much!!

 Elder Liljenquist

March 24, 2014

Hey Family!!

  

The first week down here in my new area, Grijalva! The area is pretty nice and the ward seems to be pretty good! Not as good as the last ward that I was in, but it's up there! My comp, Elder Nevitt is a pretty cool guy and we seem to get along pretty well! Haha.. They didn't send me far at all from my area in Parrilla, like 5 minutes down the road! The day of the transfer, I went to the bus station to meet the leaders and they told me to go back where I came from just stop before you get to Parrilla and you'll be in your area! Haha. So me and my comp got my things and went to the house. Umm.. when we got to the house, you guys need to understand that it's not a house. It's a room. And well, if any of you have seen the size of my mom's closet, that's about the size of the dang place! Our dang suit cases don't even fit in the house. I sleep in my hammok across the room and my comp sleeps in a bed in the corner of the room. Luckily the President told me before I got there to find a new house! Pray that I'm only there for the next week! Oh and we only have 1 fan that works!! haha! It sucks so bad at night!! It has been so hot here! We have been in the high 90s and 100s all week! sS you can only imagine how hot it is at night in that room!

 

In the area the work seems to be pretty good. They had some investigators that they had just found and that were progressing, but there was not much movement in the area. We have some investigators that are pretty good! A family that they had just found before I had gotten there is really great. It's a family of 6 people and 4 of them can be baptized. We get along great with the family, The only problem is that the couple are not married and we will have to marry them before we can baptize them! 

 

There is another investigator named Roberto, I guess he found the missionaries and told them that he wanted to be taught. He has a good desire to progress. We invited him to be baptized this past week and he accepted! We put a date with him for the 12 of April. He came to church on Sunday and said that he is doing good!

 Everything is going good here. We are going to start soccer tournaments here in the ward to start to try and find more investigators, and we are going to get these members to work! I am excited to be working here! I love and miss all of you!!

Elder Liljenquist