Matthew 3:2

hi fam,

This week was tight!  I did diviones with one of the DL's in my zone. We had a good time...and I met some really cool investigators. This elder I went with has had a hard time inviting others to baptism, and his whole district does too!  They find like 30 people a week but only have three baptismal dates.... and that ain't good. So we invited EVERYONE to baptism. I had fun with it. Preach My Gospel lets us use our personality, so when you really do live the gospel, other people see it and get curious to know why we are so happy. We had some cool experiences. When the Spirit is there its hard for the people to say no!

Cool experience this week... I got a call from my old Zone leaders this week. They called to tell me about one of my old investigadores. His super awesome. I'll call him Juan.  He is one of the coolest guys I ever met. Very genuine and very prepared to receive the gospel. He was abused as a child and has struggled and struggled with many temptations. I contacted him about 8 months ago, and we gave him a BoM. He was super interested but lived in another area, so we sent the other missionaries to visit him. But they lost contact with him. About 4 months ago we found him again.. he moved into our area! So with the help of our ward and the sister missionaries we taught him the gospel. He wanted to be baptized but things weren't looking too good because he had made some mistakes only a short time before we started teaching him. When I left my old area, he had just attended church for the 5th time, and we were waiting to hear about his baptism. This week they called me and told me he passed his interviews! He will be baptized in these next couple weeks, and he is committed to the temple in the next year! I didn't sleep the next night because I was so excited! I probably wont be able to go to the baptism, but he told me he was going to call me after!

There is no greater blessing than to see others come unto Christ with full purpose of heart! I know that God lives, and because of the Atonement, we can all repent. With His help, we will overcome sin and temptation. Thanks to our Redeemer, guilt becomes peace. I love my mission and I love the gospel!

elder minnick

The House of the Lord is a House of Sacrifice

Hello,

This week was one to remember! We had the temple dedication of the Mexico City Temple! We are in the temple district, so we were able to see the cultural celebration and the dedication in our stake center. I'll give you the deets here!

The celebration was cool. The sound wasn't that great in the Stake Center, so my comp and I were running around explaining to our investigadores what was going on. It was more like a play but part of it, they acted out scenes from the BoM. It was cool to see the face of the investigators when they recognized parts that we have read, it helped them see the BoM in a new way. 

The dedication has been one of the spiritual highlights of my mission. Thinking about it, I got mad at myself because I went to two dedications before my mission and didn't get anything out of it.. so this time I went prepared. We went to two of the three sessions. I would've gone to the third, but I got a little too excited at the food in between the second and third session and dumped my plate on my shirt... its okay because the shirt was yellow anyway.

Pres. Eyring presided at the dedication. He was there with Elder Holland and Elder Kent F. Richards, also the Mexico Area Presidency was there. All the talks were excellent! They were different talks in every session too. So that meant I got to hear Elder Holland speak two times in one day.... which is a dream come true for just about any missionary. I learned too much from all of the speakers and I'd share it all with you but I don't have that kind of time, and some things are better kept sacred :)

But here are some of my notes...

The House of the Lord is a house of sacrifice... what sacrifices does the lord want?
3 Nehpi 9:15-22

What did the pioneers sacrifice to build temples? Love (sacrifice) is really spelled T-I-M-E

We re-dedicate temples. Shouldn't we also re-dedicate our lives to the Lord in service? Re-dedication means to "clean the inner vessel", make adjustments, and improvements to our lives so that we can live a consecrated life.

Three feelings you will always feel in the temple:  1) gratitude 2) the light of understanding 3) the love of God...what more do we need?

Everything we do in our lives is to prepare us to be sealed in the temple, and to keep that covenant forever (hint hint Whit and Tay) so we must keep our priorities straight to help us make and keep that covenant!  Check your priorities!

Weekly temple attendance isn't a suggestion, its a commandment...especially if you can see three temples from your back yard. (hint hint Zane, Dad and Mom)

More than anything I am extremely grateful to my Father in Heaven for the blessing I have to live in these days. I promised him before I came to this earth that I would be a "Savior on Mount Zion".  I am obligated to save my ancestors, and I have come to know that this is the work of the Lord.

DyC 2... I never understood this before but Elder Holland explained it perfectly. Elijah the Prophet has come...waited for more than two thousand years, and he appeared in 1836!  We now have the sealing power here on this earth, it was restored through the prophet Joseph, and President Monson holds that power now! 

There is just a little bit of what I learned! I love the temple. I know it is the House of the Lord. I know that Jesus is our Savior. I know I am a son of God!

besitos

Elder Minnick

El Vergel (name of Elder Minnick's new ward)

HOLA

This week was super crazy and fast. Hands down the fastest week of my mission and I'm absolutely sure it'll only go faster. Time flies when your having lots of fun :)

Elder Lagunes is from Veracruz! His dad was a mission president here in Mexico a couple years ago, and right now is in the temple presidency in the Veracruz Temple. Elder Lagunes has 8 ish months in the mission... I was his District Leader about a month and a half ago, and I trained his comp from the MTC! We get along really well and we teach awesome together. We just have fun! We are both super prideful so we butt heads sometimes but in a good way :) 

We went to Queretaro this week for the Leadership meeting. It was one of my favorites... They are always super inspiring. The principles are always the same but the teachings are always different. That's what I love about the Gospel... It's so simple, but there is always something more to learn. We are excited for our Zone Conference tomorrow. Pray for us, we have to say "Suck it up, be obedient, and get to work" in the sweetest and firmest way possible. :)

The new area is a bit hard. I felt like I was opening up another area because Elder Lagunes only has 4 weeks here, and they just didn't have any investigadores! They haven't had any investigadors in church in a month and a half, but we had 1 this week. It was my tender mercy, and I'm grateful for the Sister missionaries in our ward that helped us out! I learned this week that things are only hard when you say its hard. Its amazing what a positive attitude can do! SO SMILE!

Love,

Elder Minnick