Be Not Weary

Me and The Burning Old MAN!!! (before he was burning)

  Hi again! I've slowly realized that I start every single email with Sooooo, and i decided that its pretty boring haha so Hi again was the best thing i could come up with at the time. Judge me.

      But this week has been more exciting then past weeks, so i only hope i can squeeze everything in here and not seem to drag on, since most of the people reading this blog have normal lives and important things to do...for me its just P-Day.

The Burning Old MAN!!!
(while he was burning)

And the view of all the Burning Men
from the epic car ride haha

     So the big day this week was obviously new years eve! We got to spend it with a family in our ward (the same ones we spent christmas eve with) and once again it was awesome. To sum it all up in short, there were airsoft guns, delicious food, shrimp, car chases, fireworks, burning old men, my music, ect. The highlights, or things that are important enough to explain are as follows. First there is a tradition here in Mexico. Basically, 5 minutes before midnight everyone gets a cup of grapes. Then as the clock counts down from 10 to 0 for new years, you eat a grape every second and make a wish for the new years. Problem: The hermana bought grapes with seeds in the middle haha so everyone was choking trying to eat their grapes that fast and think of things at the same time. I got about 7 in my mouth at one time and then had to stop cause i couldnt breath haha Secondly, the burning old men or "scarecrows" as i called them before. So at midnight everyone started burning these scarecrows that are stuffed with fireworks and have the face of an old man to represent the old year....but as usually happens in Mexico, things got out of hand haha the hermano was trying to drive us home and he was swerving and dodging burning old men and fireworks and it was rediculous haha there are some pictures I will attach but it was awesome. AND of course the family knew about my music and so they put on my songs for a little bit and told all their realatives about it haha it was great.

        Second highlight, we got a new investigator this week! He is AWESOME. He reads the bible....but unlike most of the people here, he ACTUALLY reads it. We taught him about the plan of salvation and he was so excited because he was wondering about paradise and other things that werent completely explained in the bible. He agrees with everything because its all in the bible as well, like the error in infant baptism, the maner of baptism, modern prophets, priesthood authority, tithing, ect. He is progressing sooo fast, and it really helped fortify my testimony of the bible. It truely contains a great deal of truth, and if one really studies it, they will be able to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ- the doctrine we teach.

        I also wanna let you know that changes are tomorrow, but neither I, nor Elder S are leaving. Butttt, we have to go to changes meeting anyway, so we'll see what thats all about tomorrow! haha they didnt really tell us why, just that we had to go.

       Anddd the spiritual thought this week comes from D&C section 64 verses 33 and 34. This week we have visited a lot of members asking for references, and a concerning pattern was emerging. The members had shared the gospel several of their acquaintances, but they had all rejected their message in one way or another, and because of that, the members had lost their desire or confidence to share the gospel. The scripture in D&C brought a lot of comfort to them, and also reminded me of an important principle of the gospel. It reads: "33) Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great. 34) Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days." We CANT give up! No matter how many times we have shared the gospel with our friends only to get rejected, thats not the important thing! Whats important is that we are planting seeds and laying a foundation for a great work which we cant see right now! But it also tells us that we cant do it grudgingly. God requres a WILLING mind and if we do the small things, the Lord will make them great. So keep sharing the gospel with your friends, and for the love of the work, please give references to the missionaries! 

Hey fam! Not much time but i sure love you guys. glad i get to talk to you all every week. keep being awesome...but save some for me!

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm

And this is a little girl in our ward.
she loves backpacks, and missionaries,
so we decided to take her with us haha