The Power Of Example

And I got to take a picture with their giant shoe! 

The family that has a shoe shop threw me a going away party!

       Alrightttt well folks, the big news this week is that we DID have changes, like i mentioned. My dads questions are about the changes, so i will just include that information in this portion of the email instead of seperately! Alright, well changes went pretty well all things considered. Elder P (my son) is in yet ANOTHER pueblo (Tecamachalco or however you spell that), Elder N decided to pay off President S and somehow managed to be put as the secretary of the mission living the highlife and spending money, and Me....well ill tell you. Alright, I am now in Izucar! Izucar de Matamoros if we are going to be exact. I am companions with Elder P from Arizona. We met back in Mayorazgo and he is a great guy, and an even better Elder so we are having a great time, and working very hard. We are the zone leaders here in Izucar and we havent burned Izucar down yet, so i feel like its going well. 

Saying Goodbye to A

       Hmmm...things about Izucar...well, its the HOTTEST zone in the mission and i got friedddd the other day haha the sunscreen that i brought will finally be put to use. The church is doing alright here. We are in a branch...and actually there isnt a single ward here - we are in a district (instead of a stake). Our house is actually fairly nice, and at night it even gets cool so we can open the windows and air out the house. I dont know what there is to do here, or if there are any landmarks but i have heard that there is an ex-convent building and that Izucar is a town that stands next to one of the first major highways built in Mexico when Hernando Cortez came through with the spañards. Well....at least thats what theyre telling me haha so yah, its pretty nice. There is a lot of work to do and we are ready to do it!

Saying bye to the L family!!! So hard!!

       Sooo apart from the changes, this week was pretty uneventful. I said bye to a bunch of people in Atlixco, and ill put the pictures of them in here too. It was super hard this time, not really sure why. I just really worked hard and developed a great love for a lot of these people. Lots of tears, but you know....not mine......shut up.  Then we went to the changes meeting and got our changes. Izucar is like 2 hours away from Puebla. As for the rest of the week, I got to meet the members here in this area. There are some members here who are sooo faithful, its incredible. Andddd there are others who need help haha so we are working on both sides. We actually went on visits almost EVERYDAY this week accompanied by a 19 year old who is preparing the papers for his mission. He is really preparing well for that, and he has been great in going with us. I think he was with us like 20 hours this week and we only had 4 working days! So yah, its been good. There are also some really great investigators that we are teaching and they are going to be baptized shortly so we are really excited for that!

       Alright, well the spiritual thought for this week is about examples. Now, i know that in the past i have said "I dont know if ive shared this before...." But, im not going to say that this time.....cause Im SURE that ive shared this before haha but this week i have a new spin on it. So this week we were teaching one of the many great investigators that we have named U. He has had a rough life. All of his brothers and sisters have been into drugs and drinking and tatoos and smoking, and all kinds of awful stuff, and so has he. BUT his life changed when his cousin joined the church. His cousin is no different from his brothers, but when he met the missionaries he changed. Then because of that changes, U's brother M took note and also decided to hear the missionaries. The two of them have completely turned their lives around and are now serving as faithful members of the branch here in Izucar! So in the first appointment we had with U, he told us that he has taken interest in the chruch because he watched the change that his brother and cousin went through, and he told us incredibly "They dont even drink coffee anymore!!" hahaha But it was really a great example to me of the power of a good example. His brother and cousin still live in the homes where those things are part of a daily routine for many family members, but they chose to be strong, and unwaivering to the covenants and promises they have made. Someone once said "Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words." I know that the power of a good example is greater than any words we could say. Let us all strive to be that type of example, so that our friends and neighbors may know we are members of the one true church on the Earth, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints.

Love,

Elder Josh Hamm