August 25th Pray for our Investigators

Hey everybody!                   

Guess what! we don't have any water :) the plumbing here isn't very reliable and normally we have a tank with water to hold  us over if there isn't any water in the system, but that is empty too :) ha ha it's great to be in Anahuac!

Anyways this week and people in the church... once again no investigators came... a little bit of a disappointment there... but we did go with one of the investigators and she told us she was going to come  but she didn't wake up until 10:30 she does have a pretty good excuse for that and I felt that she sincerely wanted to come and I am sure she will be there next week :)

We found an investigator with a lot of potential this week it was pretty great :) We were walking down the street and saw some people cleaning up some garbage in front of their house so we went and helped them and then we were talking to them afterwards and it went really well. Well the mom left when we started talking but we were talking to Alejandra and she had a lot of questions about doctrine and such and we were answering them all and she was really interested and she asked us what she needed to do to get baptized and so we are excited to see how things go with her :)

Well that is about all I have for this week I hope you are all doing great and that this week goes very well for you all.  Please pray for our investigators so they can progress and come to church :)

Love Y'all!! :)

-Elder Sampson

Here is a picture of my swollen finger and a street of oyster shells.  Oh and my finger is back to normal now, it only took like 4 days... :)

August 18th Staying in Anahuac

Hello everyone!

Just so you know... we had cambios this week and I will be spending another 6 weeks here in Anahuac with Elder Escobar. It's all good because the rain is about to start and instead of being blazing hot all the time it will be raining and muddy and just a ton of fun :) I just hope we will be able to have a little more success here with getting the people to church because we had another killer week with 0 investigators at church...

A word to the wise... if you notice a big flying bug and don't know what it is... don't grab it! haha sounds like common sense, I know, but this morning we were outside and I noticed a bug and I thought it was a mosquito and so I grabbed it out of reflex and well it turns out it was a wasp... it totally stung my finger and it's all swollen... This wasn't an ordinary wasp though, it was about an inch or so long... you can imagine how that felt... great! :)

Well anyways enough with that little story, I also made a mop out of a stick, some old pants and some rope because the other mop we had didn't work very well. :)

Well a little bit about the investigators. We have started teaching a family, but we teach each person separately because they are all grown ups and have their own houses and such but  they all live right next to each other. They all have desires to change because they have had problems with alcohol and stuff and even though they all live right there they don't talk because something happened between them a while back or something. We are going to teach them and help them change and resolve whatever problems they have between themselves :). and we are going to help them, well I mean the Gospel is going to help them because we are just two young men and alone we can't really do anything to help but the teachings of Jesus Christ have the power to change anyone and solve their problems if they let it, and we are really hoping they let it because that would be great to see the Lord start to work in their lives and help them find true happiness :)

Well that's all for now folks! Have a great week everyone! I love you all! :)

-Elder Sampson

August 11th They just don't get it:(

Hey everybody!

Guess what! none of the investigators came to church! again! I really don't know what the problem is... they tell us that they will come and then... they don't! Then we talk with them later and they tell us someone got sick or there was a sale on school supplies or something like that... it is kinda sad that they would rather buy school supplies than remember the Savior and the sacrifice He has made for them so they can be saved... I don't know how to get them to understand the importance of that... we teach them what it all means and testify about it and everything but they just don't get it or don't care enough about it to do anything... I want to help these people but they aren't really willing to make an effort.

 

Mom asked about teaching, contacts and referrals. Yes we teach a lot, about 30 or 40 lessons each week. I do about 1/2 the talking but sometimes a little less. The members don't really give us referrals very often, we do get some from them but mostly we get the referrals from investigators or people we talk to in the street. We do street contacts, Elder Escobar does them more often then I do but I do them as well.  This week we were teaching a new investigator about the restoration and then he told us of a cool experience when God answered his prayer to help him and some of his co-workers (they work on those ocean oil rigs) out of a tough situation and they all made it through and it has allowed him to see the hand of the Lord in his life. He was really receptive and I really hope he is willing to put in his part. His name is Miguel Guadalupe.

I would probably write more about the people we teach and what we teach if they would come to church, when they say they will come and don't I get a little disappointed and don't really want to write about them because I don't feel like we have helped them because they haven't taken any steps to progress.

That's about all I have for now although I have some cool pictures to send :)

Oh and Mom if you want to send me some more pages for my journal that would be nice, I'm starting to run out of room...

 

Oh!  I got the package from Ashley's mom and it was really 

cool :) Thank you so much!

 

Love you all! Have a great week! :)

-Elder Sampson

August 4th Why won't they come to church?!?!?

Hello!!!

wow it is crazy to me that it is already August...

 Well with Giovani, we aren't teaching him anymore... we don't know what happened but the last time we went he told us he didn't want us to teach him anymore. He wouldn't say why but we haven't gone back because he said he didn't want us to. It made us pretty sad because we thought he was going along great and learning a bunch but then ya, BAM! nada... I don't know but I had to be really positive about the whole situation because Elder Escobar was pretty down after that. Some of the other people we have been teaching... Julio Antonio. He worked in a pharmacy for like twenty years but right now I don't know what he does. He is pretty great and friendly and likes to listen and asks questions and stuff like that so it is good when we teach him but the only problem is that he never shows up to church... he is always so sure he will be there and stuff but then Sunday shows up and he doesn't... I don't know what it is, one week his dog was sick then the other his grandson and this week we haven't heard the excuse yet but I don't know, he is always promising he will be there but then he isn't. We also have been teaching Mari, She likes to listen as well but she doesn't like going to churches because they make her cry. She said she would come this week and last week but wasn't there for either of them.

We didn't have anyone in the sacrament meeting this week either... I honestly don't know what the  deal is with these people, but they just don't come... I am going to be honest, but we haven't been having much success and honestly it is hot here all the time... I feel like this would get most people's spirit at least a little down... But honestly I am happy and enjoying myself :) I don't know what is wrong with me, but I am happy so don't worry about me :)

One of the experiences I have had that has helped my faith grow is that you can always find the answer to a question you have in the scriptures. Maybe you won't find it right off but it is always there and if you don't find it at first it always shows up if you don't give up :) And something more, the promise of the Lord is that if you have the Spirit you won't be confounded before men. We get asked lots of questions and some of them I haven't even thought of before but when the people ask I can answer them just fine and give the correct answer, that is completely true even if I didn't know before they asked, and I know that answer couldn't be from my brain so I know it is from Someone else. Sometimes we may not think about these things but really it is a sign that He is there for us and wants to help :)

We have found some nice opportunities to serve here, the most common one is to help people open oyster shells, because that is what everyone here does, in fact there is an area here that is called the Conchero which basically means like area of shells. Some of the houses here are built on shells and some of the streets are shell instead of dirt and it is just crazy how many shells there are here. We help people with that sometimes and sometimes we cut down trees with machetes of what ever, just what ever the people need we will do it :)

Well that's about all I've got for this week, I hope you all enjoy it :)

Love Y'all! :)

-Elder Sampson

July 21 Giovani accepted!

Well just to answer some of the questions from Mom. I am still close to Tampico, although we have to cross the River Panaco to get here and we are actually in a different state here, we are in Vera Cruz. I get along really well with Elder Escobar and we try to get a lot done. We are in a branch and well there are a bunch of members but most of them are inactive, you could say the branch is kinda struggling but we are doing what we can, we are going to have an activity this Friday and we will see how that goes. Elder Escobar has been out the same amount of time I have left and in case you didn't realize... I have been a missionary for 6 months now! It is so crazy right? I only have a year and a half left to serve the Lord like this, it is just flying by! Well for me at least... we are pretty close to other missionaries because there are 4 here in the branch so we see them a lot.

Well I am going to tell y'all about Giovani :) He is an investigator that they had before I got here and he went to the church and stuff several times but he never accepted a bautismal date because he still hadn't received an answer and he doesn't want to mess around with God and just go with whatever church you know? He is like 19 I think and is very serious about stuff related to God. Well we were talking to him and well teaching him of course and we were teaching about the priesthood and stuff like that. He was going to a baptist church before I think and was baptized with them and well he was telling us about how he was talking to some of the people from his church and they were talking about Los Mormones and were saying stuff that wasn't true or whatever and he totally defended our beliefs and what we teach and I thought that was pretty cool. and well, since we were talking about the priesthood I asked him, "do you believe that Joseph Smith received the proper authority of God and that we have that authority in this church?" and he said "From what I have seen... yes" so then we asked if he would follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized and he accepted and was excited about it so that was pretty awesome. We are pretty sure he is going to get baptized and be a strong member of the branch so we are pretty excited :)

Well that was the cool experience for the week :) I just want to let you know that it is super hot here :) we recently started the 40 hottest days of the year here and like three days ago some guy died from the heat in Tampico just to give you all a taste of how hot it is, I don't know what degree it gets to but the sun with the heat and the humidity is just killer... But don't worry, we will make it just fine :) I love you all and here are some pics :)

-Elder Sampson

July 14 Anahuac, my new area

Hola todos!

Como están? todo bien? que bueno :) debería escribir este correo en español? nah... no quiero hacerlo :) 

Well, here I am in Anahuac, there are TONS of mosquitoes here but don't worry mom, I don't have any repellent so I can't use any and I don't know where to buy some so ya... I am getting used to having large itchy lumps all over my body ;) don't worry it's not that bad :)

Well there is a lot of stuff going on here in this little branch and we have a lot of work to do but it is great, walking through the lodo (swampy areas, or in other words, all the streets) and dodging charcos (puddles). There are some really great people here, a recent convert who reminds me of Gomer from the Andy Griffith Show and the Branch President and his family are great :) I get along really well with Elder Escobar and we are working here but he does like to spend a little time more than necessary in the houses of members so I'm going to see if I can get that little habit out of him, but he likes to work and is a good teacher and all is going well. I already gave a talk here in the branch and I didn't feel like it went very well but like a good companion he told me it wasn't too bad so I guess it was alright, I had a list of scriptures I was going to share but I left it at the house so that might have been part of why it didn't go so well but whatever I will be fine :) I have some pictures I want to send you all but this cyber doesn't have a place to put and sd card so I  can't send them right now.

We had a couple run ins with some JW's or testigos as they are called here, we were teaching one and he basically said to us "well you guys are still young, you can still be forgiven and join the true church" ha ha it was pretty funny to me :)

Some things that I have eaten here that are interesting, Moronga and Ceviche. I ate Moronga in the other area but I forgot to tell you about it, want to know what it is? :) well even if you don't I am going to tell you :) it's cooked pig blood! how crazy is that? who even came up with that is my question... it really isn't that bad, with a little salsa and a tortilla it is quite enjoyable :) and the Ceviche is just raw fish in lime juice I think they had that in Charles' mission too...

Hey Lauren I forgot to tell you something, I met an Elder Guzman, well he isn't Elder anymore but he was in your mission and knows you :) He is the grandson of the landlady from my first area, I was going to tell you earlier but I kept forgetting... but isn't that crazy!? :)

Well I love you all and I hope you have a good week :)

-Elder Sampson

July 7 Transfers! Short post

Hey!

Sorry but this is going to be kinda short because we had changes today and the cyber is kinda full so we don't have time.

I got transferred! but I'm still in the same Zone/Stake so it is kinda weird huh? I am now in Anahuac with Elder Escobar. he is from El Salvador. I will tell you more next week when I have time but here it is a branch and we are on a peninsula that is basically an island and it is definitely not the city so I am excited, but there are like a billion mosquitoes here. I have some pictures to send but I will do that next week. Sorry it is so short but we really just don't have much time... I love you all and hope you have a great week! :)

-Elder Sampson