June 30th New Mission President Tomorrow!

WOW! It is sooooo weird, tomorrow we are going to have a new president! it's crazy... I sure am going to miss President and Sister Jordan.... they are the best :) I think they are great!  Sister Jordan is pretty funny :) We always just talk about random stuff with her and well she always tells some crazy stories from the mission... it's great :) and President is really great too. He always can help me with any problem I have and is always super patient with everybody, they are the best! I am sad they are leaving... but I am also excited to have a new President! But it's going to be really weird at first...

Anyways, today we went to the Temple!!!! It was super awesome!! I love going to the temple, it is like the best place on the whole planet! (and I don't need to go to all the places in the planet to know that ;) ) I love the peace and tranquility that I feel just being inside and all the things that I have learned just for the spirit that can be felt in that special place. I am so greatful for the opportunity I have had to go and experience such wonderful things and I know that the temples truely are Houses of God and that His Spirit dwells there and wants to teach us and help us understand the love He has for us :)

This week was a good one I would say, we had more lessons with members present than in past weeks and we were able to get Jesus to come to church again.  

 

This week our zone leaders gave us a challenge to give away Books of Mormon! We had to carry a BoM in hand each day and give it to someone and if one day we didn't give it away, the next day we would have to carry the one from the day before AND the other one for that new day so if you didn't give one away you would have to give two the next day! It was a little crazy... but it's all good, I have had some cool experiences with giving it away more and it also helps us to find new investigators! A win win :) 

Like... This week (yesterday) we went to the house of a contact we did once and we found his dad there so we started talking to his dad and we just taught him about the BoM and he was really interested. We gave him one and he wanted to read it and we invited him to get baptized and he accepted! It was great! His name  is Tomás! He is an older guy and is a carpenter. We hope he will progress because he seemed really excited to read.

Jesus... he's doing fine.  The biggest thing right now is that we have to change how he sees us because he sees us more as friends than missionaries so we are going to have to help him change his point of view towards us. Like... he sees us as friends, then missionaries instead of missionaries then friends... I hope that makes sense... but ya, right now those are the biggest things with him right now. He did go to church but only because we go by to wake him up... well he would go if he was already up, but he never is... so we have to try his faith a little...

But ya, that's a bit about this week :)  But, mom to answer some of your questions: It is a nicer area, it's in the city, kinda near downtown so it's not really poor or anything, there are some big stores all around our area but in our's there is only a store called Chedrauí which is rather large and has many

American products. By our area there are some big stores like Walmart, Office depot, and others so it is pretty nice I would say. 

My comp and I get along quite well and I (that's right, me) am always talking to him... like... I don't know, with him I am a talkative person and we talk about whatever so it's great. We joke around a lot and so it's fun :) We were talking on Sunday about what we can do to help the area and to improve as missionaries so we are going to make it a great week :)

Anyways.... I love you all and hope that you have an amazing week! BYE!

-Elder Sampson

June 22nd 4 Investigators at Church!

Hola! como están? :)

Bueno... esta semana fue buena! Pues por lo de la asistencia a la iglesia! :) Tuvimos 4!!! Oh right, We had 4 investigators at church! :) Jesus went! we had to go to his house and wake him up because he didn't go to bed until 3 in the morning! But he went and it was great.  Also, Alicia went to church, she lives with a member family and has listened to the missionaries before and all that but she doesn't always go to church and she had a while that she hadn't gone, but she went! And then the parents of some members that still can't get baptized because they aren't married because one of them still needs to get a divorce...  and it was good :)  

 

Crazy story... it was stake conference and they broadcasted the conference to the chapel from the stake center and... well I don't know why but one member thought the bishop wanted us to be separated into men and women and so every time someone got there, he told the men to go to one side and women to the other... it was weird... and nobody argued with him because the conference had already started when most of the people got there... :/ but ya, we had a segregated conference and we asked the bishop why he did that and he said that he never told anyone to do that and that he thought that everybody just decided to do that... it was super weird... but whatever, it was funny because the member that thought it should be like that (I think he might just be a little crazy... ;)  but yes, we did feel good about the fact that 4 went with us and I think they enjoyed it :)

With Jesus, things are going well, we had a lesson with him one day and his dad showed up and was kinda... drunk and he started going on about stories that he "knows" from the Bible and then he would ask us a question and the answer we would give always seemed to be quite delightful to him and that it supposedly supported his view on things and that we were proving ourselves wrong... it was rather interesting... but it was funny because he would always say "Tu lo has dicho!!!!"! so... ya, interesting experince haha :) 

 

Something else that happened was when a family called us one day and asked if we could pass by the house because they needed a favor and they didn't tell us what it was... so we got there and the husband was kinda waiting for us in the window I think and then his wife walks in and starts calling to her 20 year-old daughter to come downstairs because there was something that she had to tell us about... I kinda thought it was weird... 2 missionaries in a members house wanting their daughter that's twenty to talk with them... but anyways she gets downstairs and the mom starts telling us that she has a huge favor to ask us... and it has to do with her daughter... weird... and then they start talking about their daughter's love life.... and that they want the missionaries to ..... teach her boyfriend because he isn't a member but that they had put a goal (the daughter and her boyfriend) to get married in the temple in some future date. that's cool! So we agreed to teach the boyfriend and then pass the referral to the mission where he lives. So... yesterday we taught the boyfriend, Gamaliel the first half of lesson one and it was a pretty good lesson.  I am sure he felt the spirit and was able to recognize it at least a little.  I feel like he is going to be a great investigator and that he will get baptized soon :) it was a good experience and I hope something good comes out of it. 

Anyways... those are some of the experiences we had this week teaching :) I hope you all have an amazing week. I love y'all! bye! :)

love,

-Elder Sampson

June 15th Getting adjusted to my new Area

Helllllllllo!

Sorry if my email last week was lame... I had a lot going on in my head and very little time.... I don't know, maybe I can prepare a little bit before I get here so I don't have to think so much about what to tell you... but... anyways... some crazy news... My mission president is goin' home!!!! We are all getting ready to meet the new president. He gets here July 1st! that is just a few weeks away! It's kinda crazy for me... I don't even really think I am taking it in right now... but anyways, the new president is from Monterrey and is going to come with kids and everything, it's going to be strange.... But this week we had the good-bye president conference and it was pretty good and sad and happy and weird and a whole bunch of other things at the same time... so ya... but anyways something that is going on around here in my area....

Well, right now there are some problems in the ward I feel like... some conflicts between members that have been going on for a long time... but we are trying to get them to leave it all behind so the ward can progress ... it is quite a daunting task but we are going to try to help so pray for us! :) The area here is kinda struggling... we don't have many investigators and we hardly found any new ones this week, we are going to turn everything around! We are even going to clean up the house!!! It was a mess when I got there and it has definitely improved a little throughout this week but I am going to keep working on it so that it isn't a gross place to live...

 

Right now we have an investigator whose name is Jesus and he is 20. He doesn't really do anything really... he is living with his family (I believe his parents but I am not actually sure...) and has a really strange sleep schedule, like yesterday he slept in and didn't go to church but... the thing is that he didn't get up until 6 in the evening! So it was kinda sad but he did go to a family home evening that we had in the house of a part member family and I think he enjoyed it.  

 

There is also a really great recent convert that got baptized the Saturday before I got here... how sad... but not really, it would have just been cool to be at his baptism but he is doing great, he is 25 and understands everything really well, he was an atheist before and now he's a Mormon! He actually gave like a 10 minute talk in sacrament yesterday and it was really good :) he nailed it! 

 

And also yesterday we found 2 new investigators!!! They are good, we are going to visit them on Tuesday.

This week was kinda hot and hard and there are a ton of mosquitos but it's good. We are going to have a much better week :)

My comp and I get along quite well and we tend to talk in English a little more than I am used to... I want to talk more in Spanish so I don't lose my accent... so ya, he actually speaks spanish well, we just start talking in English sometimes and I do remember Mountain Green now and he does know that lady... her kids are his age... or one of them I believe.... but ya, I believe it is going to be a fun change!

I love you all! have an amazing week! bye.

-Elder Samsung/Simpson/Panasonic/Sansón and all the other names that one hears when he gets to a new area... ;) hahaha

June 8th I got Transfered!

Hey everyone, I got transfered, I am back in Tampico, or maybe I'm in Madero, I am not really sure but the funny thing is that I am on the other side of  La Laguna Del Carpintero from where my first área was... haha so when I look across the wáter I can see where I started out.  It's crazy! 

 

My new comp is Elder Marsden from Mountain Green, UT it is by Ogden for those of you who have never Heard of it (like me). He seems like a great guy, he has like 9 months in the misión and it's going to good :)

The last week went by really fast... we didn't have anyone at church with us but it was a pretty good week. Elder Mendez and I... well, he is a good guy but his time is almost done here in the mission and and I think he is ready to go home.  

 

 I am excited to be here and I think this is going to be a great change :)  I love you all and I am low on time so I gotta go... BYE!!! :)

-Elder Sampson

June 1st Investigators showed up to church:)

We've been having lots of rain:)

Wow... the time flies by! JUNE!!!! haha weird....

Well...  great news about the week is that.... Marta, Matilde, Sofia, and Martín all went to church!!!! it was awesome! when I saw them there walking in the front gate(there is a fence around the church) I just felt so good! :) the thing was that we thought we wouldn't see Matilde there with us because she has work (she only works on Saturdays,  Sundays and holidays... worst work schedule ever right?) but the day before... she told us that she was feeling a little sick... so she said she would use that as an excuse to not go to work and go get a check-up from the doctor and swing by the church for an hour to be there with us... :) it was great! and she totally showed up so that was the best part! Marta is Matilde's mom and Sofia and Martín are Matilde´s kids.  They are doing really great :) they understand really well what we teach them and all that so it's perfect.

So... the rest of the week... well one day I was working in a different area with an elder from Hawaii but that went to Bingham, Elder Tueller. I don't know if you know him but it turns out that he met Sister Walker in the MTC... what a small world right? Well they had actually seen each other before at Bingham but they hadn't actually met... but anyways, I worked with him and we had a cool experience with a contact in the street that we did.  There was a lady just sitting there on the street and we started talking to her about the BOM and she totally wanted one! The only bad thing was that we didn't happen to have one at the time, I had already given away the one I had... but she was really excited about it and I hope they will give a good follow up.  Something cool that happened this week... the referral that we got from the offices a while ago that was actually from a different area got baptized on Saturday! It was great to hear that :) even though I couldn't be there to teach him and all that it was great to hear that he got baptized :)

Something else cool from this week was the Movie Night! We had a lot of investigators that showed up and they all really liked it :) We were making popcorn and filling up water cups so I didn't get to see very much of the movie... :( but it's all good :) I will get to see it later on :) but a bunch were able to show up and it was awesome!

hmmmm... other than that I think that is about it... we are going to see how this week goes :) Hopefully we can get the members to work with us more because we are going to need them even more now... The mission leader before wasn't very into the work but now he is doing pretty well and wants to help us so it's great :)

That's all for now! Have a great week and I love you all!

-Elder Sampson