God Bless The Americans in Mexico

American Burger!

July 8, 2013

Elders at American Burger

Soooo I´m sure the big question this week is whatttt was the 4th of July like in Mexico!!! And let me just tell you!!! Normal. If i had to choose one word to sum up the entire experience of my 4th of July it would be as such: Normal. And not in the sense that it was a normal 4th of July, no im talking about good old Vanilla, plain old white, and working the 8 to 5...well 6:30 to 9, but the point is it was justtt another day man. Butttt in my zone, or at least the close areas, there are 5 out of 6 Elders who are American, so we were like okay, whether we are in Mexico or not...we are doing somethingggggg. So we worked all day and then that night we went to a place called, i kid you not, American Burger that an investigator of one of the other wards owns. So we all went there and had hamburgers for 5 pesos a piece when they are usually 50. They were SOOOO good and we all sang the Star Spangled Banner and took pictures with the flag. So no fireworks, no homemade ice cream, no family, no parades, no parties, and no patriotic music, but hey cant complain. Just cause im in Mexico doesnt mean im not AMERICAN! Soooo God Bless America.

    

        Soooo then the next big thing that happened this week was on Friday. Elder P and I were trying to catch a bus or combie over to the other side of our area.  So when we get to the bus stop there is commotion. Like people are FREEKING out and all we can see is like 20 dudes between the ages of 17 to 27 and we are like Gang fight. Butttt luckily and unluckily that wasnt the case. We then saw that there were rocks all across the middle of the road and then a few feet later there was a bus parked across all the lanes.....then we noticed there was nobodyyy on the bridge where the road led, and then we saw the other side was the same. And throughout the day we discovered the same kind of setup all over town. Apparently these guys were all from the public transportation and they were trying to manifest against the "metro bus" which is a proposed bill that the metro buses would be put into place and take the place of public transportation but would work more efficiently (supposedly) but it would put a TONNN of people out of work and so they blocked roads all over the city! Including the major major highway called the periferico. It was insane. It was kinda post appocolypse the way there were sooo many people all over walking in the middle of the street and cars all parked and abandoned in the middle of the roads even on the realllyyy big interstate! So that was cool, but it meant we had to walk alllll the way to the other side of our area and back...which wasnt cool haha but it was only for a day so we are good.

             Spiritual thought for this week comes from a lesson we taught. We are currently teaching an athiest who is very open to learning more about the gospel and about god and everything which is good. So we are teaching him but we have found that teaching someone who doesnt believe in God is very hard and you have to explain things even more basicly than when you are teaching someone who doesnt know the gospel. So we were talking to him about the Restoration and about Joseph Smith and we showed him the video of the Restoration. So after the video we were talking about it and he asked "Wait, so all Joseph Smith did was have faith, prayed sincerely, and then God and Christ appeared to him?" Now we had kinda expected a question like that but we were worried how to respond since he sounded very VERY skeptical. But before we could answer he followed up with "Man, I want to have faith like that." We were both obviously shocked and then agreed with him. But it got me thinking, was that really all it takes....I mean yes Joseph Smith had attended several churches looking for the truth, searched the scriptures, pondered, and had a sincere question with real intent, but the main point of the first vision is he had incredible faith. He actually believed that if he were to ask of God that he would recieve an answer. And then he recieved one of the most magnificent experiences in recorded history. I have a testimony that this kind of faith exists and can be achieved. Sometimes it seems hopeless when we are so imperfect but in all hoesty, God knows that, but he chooses to love us anyway. So have the faith you need, and have the knowledge that you arent perfect....and you dont have to be. And then ask in faith for what you need from God and he will bless you in your life. We can all have our own Joseph Smith experiences if we only trust in the Lord to give us an answer.

Hey fammmmm!! Love you all so much as always. Thanks for sending your love every week!....oh wait def havent heard from Jake or Nate...thanks ty. Tell everyone im doing great and the work is good! Good luck with all the new missionaries in your wards, help them please! haha its hard enough with the members but alone its impossible! Love you all! 

Love,

Elder Hamm

My new notebook :)