Final Letter from Elder Tucker

Hey Mom! Sorry it´s taken me so long to write today, but I was traveling to Cuernavaca. So excited to see you guys tomorrow. 

It feels amazing to finally be done with this process that I started more than two and a half years ago, it almost doesn't feel real.  I'm proud of myself and I know that in the future when I have other trials or hard times I'll be able to look back at all that I went through and say "I can do this".  I now know without a doubt that it was all worth it. 

I know that that the Church is true. I know that Joseph Smith was a true prophet and that he really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know that the BOM is the word of God and that if we take the time to read it everyday, we will have a different spirit with us during the day and it will help us make better decisions. I know that everyone of us is a child of God and have a lot more potential than we realize to overcome hard things. I know that our Heavenly Father knows us perfectly, loves us perfectly, and has a perfect plan for everyone of us. He wants to bless us and for us to be happy. 

And I share these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.


Élder Tucker

T Minus 7 Days!

Hola Familia,

Wow it's been a fun last couple of days here in Acapulco, can`t believe it`s really coming to an end next week.

Saturday was probably the highlight of the week because in the morning, we visited our convert Jazmín and Elder Jensen and I made some french toast. It was my first time making it but it turned out really good! Then in the evening, we had a stake priesthood activity with all the other missionaries in the zone. We played soccer, basketball, volleyball, and chess (lol) and then had a barbecue. Everyone invited investigators and we got our friend Nacho to go! Super fun.

Other than that, it`s been kinda the same old stuff in our area. Hopefully Gregorio and Olivia will be able to get baptized before I go. So excited to introduce my parents next week to all the people I've come to love these two years.

Love you all,

Élder Tucker

¡Último cumpleaños en la Misión! 21 años

Hola Familia,

It was a great week out here in Acapulco with Elder Jensen! Elder Herrera was transferred to Chilpancingo last week so we´re not in a trio anymore. Wednesday was my birthday and it was awesome!!! Our recent convert, Jazmín invited us over for dinner and even got me a birthday cake!

We also had zone conference this week which was cool. Especially because the Pinotepa zone gotta come and do it with us. Talking to those guys brought me back to more than two years ago when I started my mission en Jamiltepec!

Sunday was my last fast Sunday in Vista Alegre so I got up and shared my testimony which was a very special experience.

Other than that, we´re still working hard to have a couple more baptisms before I leave! It´s getting real, only 3 weeks left. Love you guys so much.

Élder Tucker

Short and Sweet

Heres some pics of the week, its going well out here. I´m still in a trio with Elder Jensen and Elder Herrera. Should have a baptism this week! 

¡Último cambio!

Hola Familia!

Well today is the first day of my last transfer in the mission! My new companion just got here, his name is Elder Jensen, and his a newer elder from Sandy, UT. Super excited! It looks like Elder Herrera will still be chilling with us too at least for the first week of the transfer.

Anyway, this Friday we had mission leadership counsel in Cuernavaca and it was awesome. Lot of good trainings and spiritual motivators. Can´t wait to finish this last transfer strong!

Other than that not much more to say except that we´re searching for new people that can accept baptism so if you could pray with us so that we could find em, that would be great.

Love you all, have a good week!

Elder Tucker 

Conference Weekend

Hola Familia!

How bout that conference, eh?! Wow, what a powerful weekend of listening to what our church leaders and the prophet had to say to us. President Nelson kind of reprimanded us men in the priesthood sesh, but it was definitely what we needed. Time is running out, he said. But my favorite talk had to Tad R. Callister´s talk about the Atonement. So powerful.

Anyway, things have been going well out here in Acapulco with Elder Herrera and next week I start my last transfer in the mission!!!! The countdown is on!

Love you all, have a great week!!!

Élder Tucker

¡El bautismo de Jazmín!

Hola Familia!

It was a great week out here in Acapulco with Elder Herrera. Jazmín was baptized and confirmed!!! It was very special and not something we were sure was gonna happen this week, but when we visited her on Thursday she said she was ready so we taught her the final principles, got her interviewed, and programmed the baptismal service! I got to baptize her on Saturday and Elder Herrera confirmed her yesterday. Almost the whole ward came out to support her and you could tell Jazmín was feeling the Spirit because she was crying hahahah. You know you´re doin your job as a missionary when they cry. jk jk

Anyway other than that, I´m in Cuernavaca right now to make my final immigration appearance and it feels so weird to be back. It feels so much cooler than I remembered and the hills I thought were big and steep before look like nothing now, but I think it´s all because I´ve gotten used to Acapulco.

Have a great week everyone, I love you all! 8 weeks left!!!!

btw thanks for the SICK package you sent!!!

Love,

Élder Tucker

Quehubo

Hola Familia!

Well, today is transfers and I´ll be staying in Vista Alegre for at least another 6 weeks! Hopefully, I´ll get to finish here. Elder Oñate got shipped off to Chilpancingo and my new companion will be Elder Hererra from the Dominican Republic! Should be dope.

This week was pretty good, Jazmin is progressing awesomely! Yesterday she had her baby boy blessed in sacrament meeting and says she loves going to church and listening to us. Hopefully this week, we´ll finally get her to accept a baptismal date. Please pray for her!

We also were able to have two other investigators at church yesterday that I thought maybe never would come: an old lady named Olivia, and a separate old man named Nicolas. That was a nice surprise!

We´re finally figuring out how to work with some of the families of a group of teenage boys that play soccer at the church building everyday, so hopefully we´ll be able to get some fruits out of that.

As far as my personal studies, I'm in the middle of Helaman right now. It's amazing how fast you can read the BOM if you just take the time everyday. Anyway, I've been extremely impressed how the preachings of Nephi, son of Helaman in this case, change the entire atmosphere between the Nephites and Lamanites. He literally brought peace into the entire land. No manner of war was as powerful nor as effective as his preaching.

Hope you all have a good week! Love you!

Élder Tucker

La párobola de la semilla

Hola familia!

It was another great week out here in Acapulco with Élder Oñate, man it´s nice having an obedient, hardworking companion, it makes it so much less difficult to be punctual and get work done! Something I've learned in the mission is that the area doesn't determine how difficult it´s going to be nearly as much as the companion determines how difficult it´s going to be. It´s taught me the importance of choosing right with the eternal companion hahah.

Anyway, the heat and the hills of Acapulco are good. We´ve been working with various people here in Vista Alegre lately, but the investigator that´s progressing the most for the moment is Jazmin. She´s 25 years-old and she just got made a widow for the second time. But she´s actually a positive, nice person and she´s very interested in our message. So far, we´ve just had the chance to teach her about the restoration and the LDM (BOM), but she´s attended church the last two weeks and hopefully will accept baptism soon! Please pray for her!

I've continued to really enjoy my studies lately, especially in the Book of Mormon. There´s so much doctrine and wisdom that we can learn and apply in those pages. Yesterday, I read Alma 32 and was reminded how sometimes we can get negligent in nurturing our ´faith tree´. Any tree that goes without proper watering, sunshine, and nourishment will not be sufficiently strong to last the winds/storms/disasters of mother nature and neither will our testimony be able to last the attacks of the adversary if we are not doing all the things we should be doing like studying the scriptures, praying, fulfilling our callings/duties, etc.

Hope you all have a good week! Love you.

Élder Tucker

Primera semana en Vista Alegre con Élder Oñate

Hola Familia!

Wow, what a great week! Élder Oñate is my most obedient companion since my trainer Elder Noh so it´s been dope. I've been really enjoying my studies lately and I want to be to keep it going when I go home in a few months. It helps me to have the spirit with me throughout the day and it inspires me and teaches me wisdom. This week Alma 5 really hit me because it made me think that a lot of times as members, we just worry about looking good in front of others when we really should be worried about what God thinks of us. God knows if we say our prayers. God knows if we read the scriptures. God knows and sees everything that we do. I also realized that Mosiah 4 is one of the best chapters in the BOM.

Anyway, my new area in Acapulco, Vista Alegre is beautiful. It's super hot all day everyday and the hills are crazy, but I love it! Really come to realize how much I prefer the heat than the cold #ArizonaBoy. The members are so loving to us, just like they are everywhere, and there´s a ton of work to be done here.

Sorry if this was a short one, but here´s some pics!

#FinishingStrong

Love,

Élder Tucker

Vamos pa' la playa

Hola Familia!

It was another good week out here in San Andres with Elder Laredo, but some of the Visa waiters in the mission are headed out this week so I'm getting special changed to Acapulco! It's a little bit of a bummer because I'm leaving one of my favorite companions and a baptism we got planned for March 2nd, but it'll be cool because I'll finally get to know Acapulco and at least I got to be in San Andres for Leticia and Florentino's baptism.

I'll be in the Vista Alegre area with Elder Oñate from Colombia.

I've been staying diligent with my workouts, but I can't wait until the day I can work out in a real gym again hahaha!

Other than that, not much to share this week except for a couple funny stories I heard: one time Elder Laredo´s uncle had his car bumper stolen, so he went to this sketchy place called Tepito where a bunch of stolen stuff is sold so he could find a cheap new bumper for his car... Well, he ended up finding the one they had stolen from him but he was too scared to confront anyone about it so he ended up buying it back from them lol.

Also, this week there was a quinceñera (party for a girl turning 15) in our pueblo and a member was telling us that they asked him to help pay for the mariachi band because it was so expensive.  And then he goes on by saying that normally, the rest of the party is so expensive that families get loans from the bank just to pay for it all! Hahaha I love Mexico. The party did look lit tho.

Love you all, and have a great week! And shoutout to my big sister Abby for turning 25 yesterday!

Love,

Élder Tucker

January 28, 2019

Hahaha not too much to report on this week either other than Leticia and Florentino´s baptism on Saturday!!! Such a miracle that it could happen. The whole ward was there! Heres some pics of the service and an iguana that lives outside our house

January 21, 2019

Hola Familia!

Another good week out here! Transfers are today and I´m staying in San Andres with Elder Laredo!! Only 18 weeks left!

I was thinking about random things to write about that I haven´t mentioned before and a couple things came to mind:

In every city, town, village in Mexico and all of latin america really, there´s a catholic church. As we know, a little over a year ago some earthquakes happened in this part of the country and literally all of the catholic churches have been damaged, some severly. Meanwhile, our church´s chapels are all just fine lol. #catolicos #iglesiagrandeyabominable

Also, the mission has taught me just how much a missionary can effect the life of his own family even though he´s far from it. Particularly here in San Andres, eveyone knows about the local kids that are out serving the Lord right now, Elder Castillo and Elder Peralta. And it´s crazy to see how much they talk and appreciate what they´re doing. Many are inspired to be better more obedient members of the church and others who arent members are more willing to listen to us and learn more about what their brother, cousin, son, or friend is doing. It all makes me remember my family back home and it motivates me to be the missionary they think I am.

Pueblos/Villages in Mexico are all so unique. Every one of them has their own traditions, stories, or beliefs. Just this week, Elder Laredo´s eye was swelling up and hurting and some members told us that it was because how covered up an ant hill and the ants sent some bad energy towards him. So they had their nonmember brother come on over to light a cigarette and blow smoke in Elder Laredo´s eye to make it feel better and put the swelling down and it actually worked!! haha.

The traditions/beliefs in each pueblo in Mexico can cause some contention sometimes though because we´ve also heard of members getting sick and asking for a blessing and when that doesn´t work, they instead go to the local witches or the elves that live  by the rivers for a healing.

Our investigators who are getting baptized on saturday, Leticia and Florentino, have also received a lot of opposition from their catholic family members who don´t want them to join the church. It´s so cool to hear Leticia say ´no me importa lo que ustedes digan, esta es mi vida y mi familia y nosotros nos vamos a bautizar.´ Every active member in San Andres has had to face some type of opposition for being a member of the Church. It´s inspiring really, but also makes me grateful to come from a place where I´m so loved and supported by my friends and family for being a member of the Church.

Anyway, hope you all are well. Love you all so much.

Élder Tucker

heres a pic of me with the pancakes and bacon I made this morning for the zone leaders, elder belknap, elder laredo, and I

January 7, 2019

Hola Familia!

Well this new year has just gotten off to a great start, mostly because Elder Laredo is already my best friend and my favorite companion so far in the mission! We've been working so hard and so in synch lately, but we also have a bunch of fun.

The investigators that we've been working the most with lately are a middle-aged couple named Leticia and Florentino. Their sons were baptized a couple months ago, but when I first got here to San Andres, I thought that the parents, Leticia and Florentino, didn't seem very interested. But the hermana that gave us the reference for them told us to be consistent and very direct with them, so this week, Elder Laredo and I visited them together every single day, teaching, reading chapters in the BOM wih them, and leaving assignments to read each night and guess what? They did it! They read every single thing we left for them this week, so we topped it off with a movie night on Saturday (Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration) and they all went to church on Sunday as a family. Leticia and Florentino´s baptismal date is for the 26th of January and the Lord is makin' it happen!!

There´s also a young adult sister in the ward named Betsabé which is Bethsheba in Spanish.... her family thought the name sounded pretty but forgot about her story in the Bible lol #KingDavid #Adultery. Anyway, she´s been whipping my comp and I into shape in the mornings by training us and giving us workouts to do on a court by her house. But its been a little more exciting way to get up and work out in the morning before studies.

But the last thing I wanted to talk about was how awesome the new Come, Follow Me program is! I've been studying it a little as well and its powerful. It reminds me of how great and revelatory the New Testament is. I encourage you all to study it everyday this year and I promise it will strengthen your families tremendously as well as your own testimony. It will also, like the Prophet says, make our sabbath day more of a delight!

Love,

Élder Tucker

Nuevo año y ya no estoy en las oficinas: San Andres de la Cal

Hola Familia!

Well its been great! Tuesday I got to Skype call you guys then on Thursday, President finally took me out of the offices and assigned me to a new area, San Andres de la Cal, with a new companion, Elder Laredo.

San Andres is this small pueblo in the state of Morelos. It kinda reminds me of my first area in the mission Jamiltepec hahaha. The weather is pretty cool all day and cold at night. They say theres only about 1500 that live in the whole village, and a ton are already members. I was happily surprised to see about 100 people at church yesterday! I think the key to have success here is to work a lot with the less actives, render service, and have a lot of activities with the ward. Its what my companion and i have been doing.

Elder Laredo is from Mexico City and has about 8 months in the mission and is awesome, already one of my best companions. It feels so good to be proselyting all day again.

Hope everyone is well, I'll try to write a little more next week and send some pictures!


Love,
Élder Tucker

Casi Navidad

Hola Familia!

Well this week was pretty dope because Friday we had our christmas conference and on Sunday Samanta was baptized and confirmed!!!

Earlier in the week though, there were transfers in the mission and my executive secretary trainee Elder Tingey and I went to the airport to pick up a new missionary, Elder Fullmer. Then on Wednesday we headed back to drop off the valiants (missionaries finishing the mission). Among the group was Elder Tilley, who I trained in Jamiltepec, and Elder Schmitz, the guy that trained me to be the exec sec. It was kinda like a fulfillment of that scripture that says ´and the first shall be last and the last shall be first´ lol.

The christmas conference on friday was almost the whole day! We had a short talent show, played some games, ate food, watched videos that each zone made especially for the conference, and we had a gift exchange!! I ended up with a nice new tshirt from an sister named Hermana Guzman hahaha.

Saturday, we had our ward christmas activity and some of us missionaries planned a sketch that turned out great. There´s a cool new video on the church website called ´Samuel and the Star´ and our sketch was pretty much based on that. Speaking of which, I´ve seen a couple really good spiritual christmas videos lately, especially the Light the World videos. The Church is just so awesome and so true!!! The ward elders quorum showed us one about the time in the trenches of WW2 when german and British soldiers sang silent night together and even played a soccer match on christmas day! I suggest you all check it out.

Now for the baptism... we had to plan it early for Sunday morning at 8am, but it turned out great because a ton of members showed up and it was honestly one of the most powerful baptisms of my mission so far. Samanta was a reference from a device we sometimes use online called referral manager. It organizes all the referrals we get from anyone and anywhere in the world. Samanta is a 23 year-old single girl who lived in Canada for a while, knows english, and investigated the church a little bit. The first time we met her was actually at church about a month and a half ago because we called and invited her and she showed up. From there she immediately progressed, reading everything we left with her, praying, attending church, learning and understanding, asking questions, and even participating in a ton of young single adult activities. We actually got a lot of the YSA to participate in the baptismal program which i think was perfect. Elder Vakapuna baptized her and I confirmed her shortly after in sacrament meeting. She was so happy and is going to make a great member of the church!!!

This is the best time of year. The Cuernavaca weather cant be beat right now. And I´m so excited to Skype you guys on Tuesday! Can´t wait to hear more about whats goin down back home. Countdown is a little more that 5 months baby, woohoo!

Love,

Élder Tucker

Photos of the Missionaries in the Mision Cuernavaca

Quick Note This Week

Hey mom! Sounds like a fun thanksgiving, I LOVED that video of Wes driving the toy car and almost crashing into the palm tree! I had a good Thanksgiving, we just ordered some tacos hahaha. I´m so excited to talk to you guys soon! Love you

I enter into the 4th quarter of my mission this week!!!! Here´s some pics of me rn.

Élder Tucker

Photos and a quick letter

I asked Scott about his favorite memories of Youth Conferences:

"I always loved all the youth conferences I went to. The best part was always the classes given by couples in the ward or stake. So spiritual. Like one time Chris and Karen Zaharis gave a class at a youth conference and they talked about their heli skiing trip in Alaska! Another youth conference at the Bawdens cabin, The Allreds, The Stratfords, and The Bawdens all gave great classes as well about various topics. And there´s always gotta be a dance. My biggest advice would be to get the oldest youth as involved as possible because they get everyone else excited to do stuff if they are. Also making sure they all share their testimony at some point. You have a great calling!

Love you so much mom! Oscar looks like a good pup. 

CDMX, Acapulco y La Conferencia de Área

Hola Familia!

Sorry for not writing for a while, but it´s been pretty good out here in good ol´ Mexico.

Last Monday I had to travel to Acapulco and Iguala to get some pictures and signatures of missionaries that are renewing their temporal residencies and it was awesome! I took some sweet pictures at this tourist place called ´La Quebrada´ and got to hang with some ZL homies. I gotta convince Presi to send me there once I get out of the offices. I LOVE Acapulco. Its burning hot and nothing but stares, perfect for losing some lbs., and its got the costera buses that just blast regatón music all day, AND its got the beach and the best tacos of the mish, what more could an elder ask for? 

Also, a couple weeks ago, I had to go to CDMX to drop off the missionaries going home and we made a quick stop by El Ángel de Independencia which is this famous statue in the middle of a ton of skyscrapers in the middle of Mexico City. It was during Día de Muertos celebrations so there were this cool, decorated skulls everywhere in the streets between the Zócalo and a big cemetery. Mexico has some of the coolest traditions.

Yesterday for church we had an area conference with the entire country, there was a huge turnout in the stake center, overflowing with gente. The area president spake, some setentas, and Élder Rasband. It was interesting listening to white general authorities speak with worse spanish than my own, but their talks were very good. My favorite was about the importance of having a vigente recomendacion para el templo. The speaker shared the story of this one member that was about to die in the hospital who asked to be interviewed by her priesthood leaders one last time to renew her temple recommend. Not because she thought she would need it or use it, sino because she wanted that extra self confirmation that she was lista to return to Padre Celestial. Temple recommends really are they best way of showing if we are worthy to return to God´s presence. It´s kinda like the parable of the ten virgins, our lamp is a current temple recommend and the oil comes from diligently spending time in the Lord´s house.

The works been kinda slow and hard lately because we´ve been so busy in the office. I´m getting kinda excited to get outta here soon and return to being a normal missionary again, but it´s all good. I still like it and am happy out here. Can´t believe christmas is coming up!

Love you all so much! Keep writin´! I love reading emails.

Love,

Élder Tucker