Los Cocos, La Diligencia y La Conferencia General

¡Hola Amada Familia Mia!

This week was another very good week for me in my mission and my life. It´s difficult out here, I don´t think any mission is easy, but the mission is always filled with so many little tender mercies that are always enough to keep me esforzando.

Thursday we visited the Hernández Hernández Family and showed them the video The Lamb of God which I downloaded on my USB. Afterwards, their cousin, Ricardo, came over with his machete to climb their 30 foot palm tree and cut down some coconuts. I was so impressed how easily and quickly he could climb it without ropes or anything to help him. This all happened when it was getting dark outside so I couldn´t even see when I was almost taken out by one of the coconuts that fell right between my legs! Thankfully, that´s probably the most dangerous thing that`s happened to me since I´ve been en México. Also, the coconuts were SO good! I`m a little confused how there´s so many good coconuts, mangos, etc. here right now when it hasn´t rained once during in my time in Jamiltepec, but oh well, I´m cool with it.

Friday, Elder Tilley and I taught our english class in La Casa de Oración. 4 members and one non-member showed up. We didn´t have time to contact the non-member as she had to leave right after the lesson but we will continue teaching the classes and hope that she and more people will come!

Saturday and Sunday we watched all sessions of General Conference in the chapel in Pinotepa. So many great messages were shared and I hope you all had the opportunity to hear them. Something I didn´t know before was that the translators for all of the speakers don´t have the script, but have to listen and translate every word live. Talk about the gift of the interpretation of tongues! It was also powerful listening because sometimes the Spirit hits the translators at different points of the talk than the speakers and you can hear them getting emotional. Also Sunday, I did my first baptismal interviews as district leader for America and Nereida Mendoza Valentin. They probably were the easiest baptismal interviews for someone doing their first interviews because America and Nereida are sisters of 10 and 11 years old. Anyways, they passed and will be baptized this Saturday!

As of right now, the closest investigator Elder Tilley and I have to baptism is Diana. If you remember, Diana is an investigator of Elder Noh and I and other missionaries, but she could never get baptized because she wasn´t married to her boyfriend that lives with her. Elder Noh and I taught them the importance of marriage and families and they were finally about to get married when José, the boyfriend, started having a ton of drinking problems. Diana has been progressing ever since the first missionaries met with her and wants to be baptized. Elder Tilley and I have continued to meet with her and she made the decision that she will find more temporal and eternal hapiness if she splits up with him and is baptized. Long story short, they´re splitting up now and it´s sad, but the good news is Diana will be ready for her baptism when he actually leaves, which should be this week.

Tomorrow, I complete 6 months as a missionary! I´ll be honest, these 6 months didn´t feel like they were going by that fast, but when I think about already being one-fourth of the way done with these two years, I start thinking wow, I really gotta keep doing everything I can with the time I have because this is my only opportunity to give everything I have to the Lord and the people of México!

Thank you for all the love and support! I know the Jesus Christ lives, I know that this is His Church, and that Thomas S. Monson is His Prophet.

¡Tenga una buena semana!

Remember that Conference isn´t just something we listen to every 6 months, but something we should study throughout the whole year!

 La Rama de Jamiltepec en Pinotepa para la Conferencia General

Another member´s new puppy

Carne Asada that we had with the Elder's Quorum 

Hermana Dalia´s baby, chillin in a hammock

A dog and her puppies napping in Jami

Los Guapos de Jamiltepec, Hermano Victor y yo

La Canchita, a restraurant in Pino that sells the biggest tortas I´ve ever seen

¡Muchas responsabilidades!

Hola Familia!

This week was going pretty good until all of our investigators, like my fellow Mexican missionary Elder Trender would say, choked in the 4th quarter and didn´t make it to church. I felt pretty lousy because I felt like it was because I haven´t been a good enough missionary, but it´s all good. All I can do is keep working hard and keep my hopes up. We had some great lessons this week nonetheless.

Friday, I gave my first training as district leader in the Pinotepa zone training meeting and I was a little nervous but it went well! I really like my zone and district. Everyone´s working hard and building their branches out here and I think we´re going to have a lot of success this change!

Saturday, interviews with Presidente y Hermana Ávila again. I always love my interviews with them! But I realized that I need to be doing more to help Elder Tilley. We get along fine but I need to teach him more and include him in everything. Sometimes I get too focused on things and I realize I´m not fulfilling my job as trainer by including him. These next weeks will be better. It´s all part of the learning process as a missionary. Learning from your mistakes and staying motivated!

As we approach General Conference weekend, I invite you all to prepare yourselves mentally and spiritualy to listen to the living prophets of today! What an amazing opportunity we have to be lovingly counseled and directed by men who literally speak the words of the Lord. Also, remember when I was in the CCM and heard a talk from Elder Bednar about how we should take notes in Conference? Well he said that we should divide our notes into three sections: one for doctrine and principles that are shared; another for the invitations to act; and another for the promised blessings. I know that if we take notes like this during conference, we can better analyze what is being said to us and why.

Sorry, but I don´t have any more time to talk about investigators or send pics, but have a great week and enjoy Conference!

Love,

Elder Tucker

El Patriarca de Pinotepa

Hola Familia!

So we had changes and it´s all been great! Elder Tilley and I are staying in Jamiltepec which is good because we should be able to make a lot of progress in these next six weeks. Also, Elder Murrane got made zone leader in Pinotepa so I´m pumped that I`ll still be seeing and working with him. I now am officialy the Elder with the most time in the Pinotepa Zone so they call me The Patriarch.

As district leader my new reponsibilities are to do accountability with the missionaries in my district and to report to the zone leaders. I also will conduct district meetings every week, go on exchanges, and do the baptismal interviews for everyone in my district.

Becuase we didn´t have a lot of time in our area this week, there´s not a whole lot to talk about. With more responsibilities, I sometimes feel a little stressed or incapable, but I have so many great resources and leaders to turn to for help. I know that if I just continue working hard and staying focused I will be successful with my assignments and as a missionary in general. President Ávila told me that one of the many things I can learn in these moments of my mission is to perfect my obdience. I think that obedience is how we prove our desires to be righteous to our Father in Heaven.Often times, God is just waiting for us to obey a commandment so that He can pour out more blessings into our life. That`s why Satan tries so hard to tempt us and keep us from being obedient. Because he knows how much more happier and better we will be if we follow Jesus Christ and keep His commandments.

Gracias por todo su amor y apoyo. Tenga una buena semana!

Alma 41:10


Love,

Elder Tucker

pics-

1, The son of the owner of our apartment building, saved a puppy in the street and is keeping it. His name is Bobby.

2, Elder Tilley drinking his first Arizona haha

¡El Nuevo Líder de Distrito!

Hola Familia!

Sorry I couldn´t write Monday, but it was because Sunday, I received a call from the APs that I´m going to be made a new district leader next change (starting Monday, March 20) and I had to travel to Cuernavaca to receive a training. I don´t know what else is going to happen this change, but I´m guessing that I´m going to finish training Elder Tilley in Jamiltepec! We also had Elder Tilley´s halfway training today in Cuernavaca so I haven´t spent any time in our area this week unfortunately.

I´m so thankful for the trust that the Lord and President Ávila have in me to give me this assignment. I´m so excited for what´s in store!

Thanks for the love and support!

Love,

Elder Tucker

Thanks for the letter, Mom! So cool to hear about Wes! And I´m so happy for Brooklyn Taylor, that was actually one of my dream missions before. I think I might've gotten one letter from Sister MacMickens. Sounds like Ghana was a great experience. There´s not very many kids in Jamiltepec, but they´re so funny haha. Always eating candy with chili power. The Work is good! Sometimes I feel inadequate, but I know those are just feelings from the adversary. I hope we can make a lot of progress this next change.

Sad to her about Grandma, but I´m glad you´re visiting and spending time with her. I´ll keep her in my prayers.

Fotos de la conferencia de Zona

El Entrenador Misionero en Santiago Jamiltepec, Oaxaca

¡Hola Familia!

Another great week as a missionary en La Gran Misión!

Monday we had interviews with Presdiente y Hermana Ávila in Pinotepa. They are both so loving and inspired. I´m convinced we have the best mission president in el mundo. My interviews with him are always short and chill. I´m assuming it´s because he likes and trusts me. Perhaps one day I´ll understand, but it´s not a language barrier issue, it´s something bigger.

Tuesday we had a zone conference in Pino with the Ávilas and the assistants. I especially liked when President said that as missionaries we are promised that the field is white already to harvest. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next transfer, but today! Maybe Elder Tilley and I are a couple of 18 year olds that aren`t perfect teachers, but that doesn't effect the truth of our message. We can bring the Lord´s escogidos to the Light.

Something that´s been on my mind lately is that the most successful missionary is the one that is completely converted to Jesus Christ, because if we are converted, our will is the will of the Lord and we are made instruments in his hands. And an instrument in the hands of the Lord is more effective than anything!

Elder Tilley and I found another family this week that is bien receptiva. Juan Carlos and Jessica Morales are 25 and 26 years old. They have three little kids and are very religious. They`re members of la iglesia pentecostesa, but are interested and willing to investigate la iglesia mormóna haha. We`ll visit them this week with another young member family and hope that they can progress. I have a great feeling about them!

Religion has been a big part of the history of Jamiltepec. Catholic, Jehovah's Witness, Christian, whatever, if you`re not religious, it`s usually because you don´t want to be because so many missionaries of other faiths have already passed by here. That means that most of the people that are willing to listen to us have a deep background in some religion. Which can be good and bad in some ways. I´m glad to be here. I continue to learn and improve a lot everyday. My trainee is doing good. I need to do a better job of helping him to have more confidence in his Spanish, but we´re working hard!


Thanks for the love and support!

¡El campo blanco esta ya para la siega!

Love,
Elder Tucker

I Love You 

Mis Primeros Bautismos

¡Hola Mi Querida Familia!

What an amazing week to be a missionary in La Gran Misión!

Elder Tilley and I baptized and confirmed converts Roberto and Francisco Hernández Hernández in the Casa de Oración this week!

Francisco and Roberto were contacts of Elder Noh and I that we found on Christmas Eve. We originally walked passed Francsico, 20, cutting grass in front of his house, but I felt a prompting to go back and contact him. I know that it was a prompting from the Spirit because he was super interested and invited us in to talk to him more about the Plan of Salvation. When we sat down on his porch, that´s when we met his older brother, Roberto, 21, who was also super interested and accepted a return visit. They come from a Catholic background but were never very active, and Francisco noticed some differences between the Bible and the Catholic Church which caused him to not believe. In the first lesson, the Spirit was incredibly strong and they both accepted baptismal dates! They both progressed so fast and started attending church right away. After Elder Noh left, Elder Tilley and I taught them all the commandments and got them ready to be baptized. It´s been so amazing to be made an instrument in the hands of the Lord to bring Roberto and Francisco to the Lord´s Church. They are so great.

We´re also teaching their younger sisters, Rosa, 18, and Lorena, 12, who aren`t progressing as fast, but we`re hoping with the examples of their older brothers, they will be baptized and confirmed in the coming weeks as well.

Todo está super bien! I`m happy and motivated to keep working hard, improve, and bring many more of God`s children to His Church en México!

¡Los amo mucho! Tenga una buena semana.


Love,
Elder Tucker

Aprendiendo y Mejorando

Hola Familia!

Unfortunately, I don´t have a lot of time to write again this week. But it was another great week to be a missionary!

My new companion and trainee is Elder Tilley from Flowermound, Texas and he is really great. He never studied Spanish before his mission so he's about as green as it gets but he is always ready to work hard and learn without complaint! I know that we're going to learn a lot together and through diligence and obedience, we're going to perform miracles.

When we first got back to Jamiltepec, we went straight to work. The first couple of days we're pretty hard because I just had a bunch of thoughts that I was inadequate and not ready for all this responsibility. Now, I already feel a lot better. We're staying busy and making progress. I have confidence in myself, in my Spanish, and in my knowledge of the Gospel. I still have an endless amount of things to learn and improve, but I'm excited for these next couple weeks!

Thank you for your love and support.

Love,
Elder Tucker

The photos below were taken from the email from one of Scott's companions....