Happy Halloween!

HOLA!

I love this time of the year. Knocking doors Saturday with all the little Mexican kids, we met nice people that gave us candy :) So many people invited us to eat Halloween night. I'm sure I gained about 15 pounds but I don't care  -- I  still have time to burn it off!

I'll tell ya a little about one of my inestgadores, "Mike". He's like 30 ish years old and recently divorced! He was for almost his whole life a drug addict. After he got divorced he decided to do something with his life, he went to a rehab and found a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She gave him the Teachings of President Ezra Taft Benson and he read the whole book in about three weeks. He decided to put himself on house lock down for three months and decided to invite the missionaries from brother Benson's church to his house. We got there with our Ward Mission leader and the sister that gave him the book.  He lives far away in his ranchito - way out of town, and usually these parts are a little dangerous for missionaries. 

We got there  and introduced ourselves. He was very reserved and didn't say much. We started off with a simple prayer, and he asked us to give him a blessing. Then his mom asked for one, then his nephew. Then we just bore our testimonies! The Spirit filled the room... it was incredible. He felt it and accepted a baptismal date! He left his house the next day and arrived at church. It was the first time he had ever gone to church in his whole life.

We visited him once this week, he had already read to Alma in the BoM and all of the general conference talks from October 2014!

I have felt very blessed to see some one prepared and willing to receive the restored gospel! He gained his testimony in a matter of weeks, but I have received mine after many small and simple experiences after the years. I know, like Mike, that this is God's only true church! I too have found and felt that pure joy that only comes by the spirit!

The gospel is for EVERYONE! I am convinced that if Mike can change, any one can!

Invite someone to learn today!

Elder Minnick

Our "Trio" haha
Hermano Tavitias!  He is AWESOME!

Familias

Family,

This last week was full of the Spirit. I feel VERY blessed to have a family back home! I feel very blessed that God has allowed me to serve a mission. I feel very blessed to be born in the covenant. I don't think I will ever have the right to complain about anything because God has given me so much.

The family has been a very big theme in my zone this last week. Two weeks ago, we went to Queretaro for a leadership conference and both my comp and I left feeling like we should help our missionaries remember the importance of the Atonement and remember the importance of the Family. So we invited our zone to bring something special that reminded them of their family. I brought an old missionary badge and a bible that dad used on his mission. As I heard the other missionaries talk about the importance of their own family, temple covenants, and loved ones on the other side of the veil, I was touched by the Spirit with all of the other missionaries!  We all decided to set high goals in finding, teaching, and baptizing families. We hope that they, with their loved ones on the other side of the veil, can rejoice in the very special temple blessings. 

So we put in practice what the Spirit taught us. We found one very big family... of 24 people. Every time we go, we teach a new person! Its fun. It all started with some guy I contacted a month ago but didn't go until we found him in an old agenda. I know that when we ask in prayer to find families to teach, God will guide us. I recognized that God also wants me to find, teach and baptize families and is just waiting for me to ask.

Then we found another family, a referral, from a member. We went there with the members, and within 10 minutes of the prayer they had accepted a baptismal date! They live in a pueblito really far away, but they still managed to come to church the next day!

As I have pondered the importance of the family this week, I have come to know that it is only through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ that a family can be truly happy. I know that through sacred covenants in the temple that families are forever HERE and NOW!   I'm grateful for my family! I love you guys! 

Elder Minnick

Missionary Work Starts EARLY!

Comp - Elder Reyes

I got mugged, mom! :(

Hey Fam!

It was a nutty week. There we changes this week and Elder Lagunes went to Leon. My new compa is Elder Reyes! I'm pumped. He goes home in three months. He's one of the super spiritual missionaries, and that's just what I was praying for. I'm hoping to learn a ton from him, he's been one of my examples since I got to the mission. While about 40 missionaries were waiting at the Central, I left outside to go help some other missionaries who were a little lost... I never found them but I found some Cholos that liked the look of my backpack and stole it with my camera... so now I have a real excuse not to send pictures.. sorry mom!

Hector went to church this last week for the first time! Hes been an investigador for a bout a year and a half. It was a miracle for us to see cause he did it with the risk of getting kicked out of his house! His faith is an example for me!

Ignacio is the only member of his family that isn't member. This last week he told me that when he started going to church with us, he decided that he'd do it with "real intent". I think he received a answer about the BoM this Sunday night because he called us the next morning, telling us with a very excited voice, to come and see him, because he received revelation from God... we are going right now!

Camilla is a 10 year old girl that reactivated he family so that she could be baptized. It's cool to see a little girl pump her dad up to read the Book of Mormon, and I've learned that we can be missionaries at all ages, in any circumstance. 

I ponderized Mosiah 4:19 this last week. It was very inspiring to me as I practiced patience and love with everyone, even with those who stole my backpack, by asking myself, "are we not all beggars?". This week I've decided that I'm going to ponderize the sacrament prayer on the bread! I invite you all who do not have a scripture to ponderzie to do it with me!

love you all!

elder minnick

Shout out to one of my greatest examples, elder kenny butterfield! I love you kenneth and thank you for teaching me the gospel through your example!

Tami:
First one to find Elder Minnick in this post gets a free lunch! 

10 Hours

Hey Guys!

Conference was AWESOME! I'd say it was the best one yet! I loved every second... And that's 10 hours seated in a hot room. Normally that would  be hard for me, but the Spirit was constant and I gotta see it in English so I won't complain! I hope every single one of you had the chance to hear or listen to the words of these inspired men and women who spoke, and if you didn't, go listen to them on lds.org! I'm doing it right now :)

One of my favorites was from Devin G. Durrant... I loved his two messages. Save Money and Ponderize a scripture ever week. I see them both as "small and simple things" that realize big changes! I chose Mosiah 4:19 to ponderize this week. If you haven't chose one yet, you can share mine, and let me know what you think next week! I know that as we meditate, study, and memorize a simple scripture each week we will be blessed constantly with the Spirit, and come to know our Savior better. 

I loved the talk about the Holes by Allen D. Haynie....I could relate in more ways than I'd like to admit, but I do know that Christ washes us clean from sin just like a hose washes a dirty garage floor or a frame bent dirt bike. It is only through His Atonement that we can escape from the dirty mud holes of sin and enter into the mansions of our padre above! Don't try to back door it... it doesn't work!

We had some investiagors go to conference... which was awesome because the Spirit testified to them that they were listening to prophets of God. We invited all to go with a question in their heart, and we did the same! They ALL reported that they received answers...I did too!  I know God hears all our prayers and answers them through His servants, the prophets! 

Elder Holland said it best.... Love ya momma! Thank you!

Zane... go listen to Pres. Monson's talk again from priesthood session, and then listen to the talk about Barriers in the ocean! Be obedient boy!

Whitney, I heard a lot about all the cool blessings about being a mom... hope you did too ;) #quierounasobrina

Dad... You've been writing me letters about the Sabbath day for about 6 months already. I thought about ya every time i heard about it! keep working hard! Pres. Eyring in Priesthood!

Smiles!

Elder Minnick

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