Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo

Hola Familia!

I had such an amazing time talking to you guys through Skype yesterday. I feel extremely motivated and happy!!!

This whole week I had been praying that the computers that I and all other missionaries in the world were going to use would work for when we Skype our families on Christmas. Well I received an answer to my prayers! Right after I got done talking with you guys, the member whose house we were at to borrow her computer to Skype said that before Elder Noh and I had gotten there, she had been working on the computer for a while. The internet hadn't been working and she was super worried that we wouldn't be able to talk with our families for Christmas! She went on to say that as soon as she heard Elder Noh and I arriving to her house, the internet started working! It worked the whole time for both me and Elder Noh. To make things even crazier, we saw that the internet stopped working again right after we finished Skyping our families. We witnessed a real Christmas miracle yesterday.

I've been thinking a lot about the year 2016. 2016 was a big year for the Tucker Family. Some sad things happened but a lot of great things happened too! It makes me think that you really don't know what might happen to you in this life until it happens. So all we can really do is live life in the moment and try to be prepared for anything. Something that I'm learning on my mission is how to adapt to things quickly. Out here, you have a lot of time to think for yourself. You have to learn to self motivate and remember who you are so you can always be ready to find someone reading to accept your message, because it can literally be anybody. There´s so many things that I don't know right now, but I know that I will learn soon. Heavenly Father is always watching over us and preparing us in ways we may not understand right now, but in the end we will thank Him for everything. It´s like that talk by D. Todd Christofferson about the currant bush. I invite you guys to listen to that.

I´m so excited for 2017! For all of 2017 I will be in México preaching the Gospel that I am so blessed to have. I will learn and grow so much. I know that I will learn the language and that I will bring many people unto Christ this year.

Gracias por todo. Estoy muy agradecido por su amor y su apoyo. Yo puedo sentir sus oraciones cada dia. Recuerden quien ustedes son y quien ustedes pueden son si seguien Jesucristo y perseverar hasta el fin.


Sinceramente,
Elder Tucker

We went to La Playa Corelero today with all the other missionaries in the Pinotepa Districto and it was so sweet

The computers super slow today so thats all I have time to send, sorry. Until next week!

La Semana de Preparaciòn

¡Hola Familia!

Sorry that I couldn't write yesterday, but this week was another very busy, but great week. Wednesday we had a capacitaciòn interina in Cuernavaca which is training with everyone in my generation, or the missionaries who got to the mission the same time as me. And then yesterday, we had a conferencia navideña with all the misioneros in the Pinotepa y Acapulco zones. Presidente y Hermana Àvila truly are inspired and they love the missionaries. In this Christmas conference, we talked about the Christmas Initiative, watched videos that we made and that the Church made, and we had a White Elephant gift exchange! I got a new scripture case which is nice! Because of travel, Elder Noh and I only had a day and half in Jamiltepec, but I had so much fun this week talking with the other missionaries. My Spanish is getting a whole lot better.

Also this week, I opened my Christmas package from Mom. I was so surprised to see how much stuff she sent me! I felt like Christmas morning with all the candy and decorations and the little basketball hoop haha. I wish you could've seen Elder Noh's face when we found out that Mom had sent a bunch of stuff for him too! He was so happy, especially with the nice CTR ring.

I'm so happy right now! It actually feels like Christmas even though I,m not with the Fam. I loved all the emails I received this week! Glad to hear how things are going. Also, super pumped to Skype Sunday!

Remember to keep the Savior in your everyday life, especially at this time. He is the Light of the World. He is our Redeemer, our Brother, and our Friend and He is always there waiting for us to come unto Him.

Share His message!

¡Ilumina el Mundo!


Sinceramente,
Elder Tucker

Elder Noh and I with the Christmas Package from Mom

Sammy, the son of Presidente y Hermana Avila, and I at the Christmas conference

One of my favorite Elders in the mission, Elder Martinez and I at the Christmas conference

Me and the awesome Zone Leaders of Pinotepa

Chillin in Jami

Semana Cuatro en Jamiltepec

¡Hola Familia!

Another great week for me as a missionary!

To start, I wanna share a crazy experience we had this week:

So Elder Noh and I had just gotten home from a long day of missionary work when we heard a loud BOOM and the building started to shake! We ran out to our balcony and saw a bunch of people celebrating in the street. Fireworks! As we kept watching, a couple men ran out from the crowd to set up the next round in the street right outside our balcony. I grabbed my camera just in time and I'm not kidding when I say it was like a grenade went off hahaha! There was a bunch of parked cars in the street and all of their alarms started to go off! Then we heard a hailstorm of bits of the fireworks coming down on the roofs of cars and buildings and in the street. Unfortunately, I can't send the video, but something I learned is not to mess around with the fireworks in México. This month there has been a ton of celebrations and fireworks for Navidad and I guess the birthday of Mary too but idk.

We got a lot of new investigators this week! One in particular Elder Noh called "investigador de oro," or golden investigator, but we will see. Her name is Mariana. Also, we have this one investigator named Diana who is awesome. She has met with a bunch of other missionaries before but could never commit to baptism because she lives with her boyfriend who doesn't wanna get married. BUT this week we taught one lesson with her and her boyfriend José together for the first time about families and now they both wanna get married and baptized in two weeks!!! This just shows how the Lord prepares the people we teach before we even meet them and that prayers can be answered.

The Spanish is getting a lot better. I can contact people on my own now and people can understand me! The only problem is I'm still slow at understanding, but poco a poco, little by little. Oh and I never knew how hard it was gonna be to teach the Plan of Salvation. Wow, hahaha.

I spoke in sacrament meeting this week. It was only for about 7 minutes and I had it all written out, but it went really well and some members told me that it was good! I'm feeling really well mentally, spiritually, and physically. Whenever I feel discouraged or annoyed with myself, it's only for a short time. Elder Noh and I work really well together. No problems so far. I'm very grateful that I haven't had any of the problems that some missionaries have with bugs or sickness, and it actually really hasn't been that hot here. Or maybe I'm just getting used to it. The most interesting thing I ate this week was pig blood and I gotta say, not bad! Oh and something you should know about tortillas, they are not only a food, but a utensil and sometimes a napkin as well here in México. Also, there are these motorcycle riders called tortilleros. And if you stand out in the street anywhere in México and wait 5 minutes, a tortillero will come by and you can buy hot tortillas from him in the cooler on the back of his motorcycle.

Love you guys, hope you're having a good Christmas season and remembering Ilumina al Mundo! Send me Christmas cards! And keep sending me emails, por favor!


Love,
Elder Tucker, or Too-ked in México

Pics:

The huge catholic church in the middle of Jamiltepec, have I mentioned that so many people are Catholic here?

 Me with this cool tree in Jamiltepec that is growing on a wall somehowAdd caption

Semana Tres en el Campo

¡Hola Familia!

Another good week for me in La Gran Misión. These are exciting times! I just passed 2 months of being a missionary and it's almost Christmas. Which means I get to Skype home soon. Can't believe it's already that time!

We had a great zone conference in Acapulco this week! It was hard to understand, but I felt the spirit of the meeting and still learned a lot. I'm so thankful for Presidente y Hermana Ávila. I'm also grateful for this year's Christmas Initiative, Ilumina el Mundo, or Light the World. On mormon.org, there is a wonderful video and great ideas for us to do each day this Christmas Season. If you haven't yet, I invite you you check it out. Jesus Christ is the Light of the World and we can follow His example.

On our way back from the zone conference this week, our bus was stopped because of a strike in the road. I guess this isn't an uncommon occurrence in México. After a couple hours of waiting we just had to take our bags and walk for a while to a different bus. By then it was so late that we decided to stay the night with the Elders in Cuajinicuilapa. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that Elder Noh and I got back to Jamiltepec so it was a short week in our area. Fortunately, Friday evening, we had a fantastic lesson with one of our investigators, Reynaldo. Hermano Reynaldo is un profesor. He's very smart and he is fluent in Spanish and Mixteco. He has a wife and son that we hope will join him in the missionary discussions soon. Elder Noh taught with great power and understanding like always and I did my best to add to the spirit of the lesson. I could tell Hermano Reynaldo felt the truth of our message and he accepted the invitation to be baptized! He also committed to continue studying the scriptures, praying, and attend church with us! Unfortunately, his brother-in-law was killed Saturday and he didn't come to church Sunday, but we still have a ton a hope for him.

I hope you all had a great fast Sunday yesterday because I sure did! I bore my testimony in sacrament meeting. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to fast because I know that we are blessed because of it.

This week I finally felt a little homesick because it can be so frustrating not understanding someone when you're trying as hard as you can. Easy to feel lonely. But I know so many other missionaries have gone through and are going through what I am going through right now, so that helps. It also makes me respect all the people I know that have served missions so much more. It's truly humbling. I know the language will come. I'm so excited for what's ahead!

I finally had tacos al pastor  this week in Acapulco and people weren't lying when they said they are some of the best food in the world! I also had armadillo in Cuajinicuilapa which was very good. And vuishi! Oh my gosh, this was very authentic to say the least and very tasty/crispy!

I love you all and hope you are having a great Christmas Season! This is a time to think of the Savior and what he has done for us. I have felt closer to Him now more than any other time in my life and it's wonderful.

No cambia, solo aprendí

Juan 8:12, Mateo 5:14-16


Love,
Elder Tucker

Pics of the week:

View in Jamiltepec

Tacos al pastor...I had about 12 of these

Viushi

The head of a pig getting prepped for viuishi

Elder Noh and I made some pancakes last night because I miss having Dad make me some every Sunday