Latest from Elder Clement, 01-02-2014

We had a great Christmas here in Los Mochis. Elder Chamberlain and I are doing very well together and we are enjoying the area very much.

There I was. Gasping for air. Not knowing if I could survive another moment of it. As I thought back to how I got into this situation I thought of the night before, *flashback*. We had just finished eating our Christmas Eve dinner with Victor and Perla. It was delicious. We had arrived at our next appointment with the Bojorquez family. The older couple had a few of their children and grandchildren at their house to celebrate. We shared a spiritual thought about giving something to our Heavenly Father for Christmas by improving ourselves in something that would make us more Christlike, which was the invitation extended by Presidente Munive. We checked the clock. 8:40. Yikes. We had an appointment with Gloria and Minerva to eat a second dinner. We told the Bojorquez family that we would have to continue on to our next visit, that was when Sister Bojorquez explained that she had already cooked dinner for us which we did not know. (*sidenote: The people here in Los Mochis take a lot of pride in their food. If they offer you food, you just gotta take it) I tried to explain quite politely that we were already late for our next appointment and that although we would love to eat, we just could not stay (we figured the family would eat plenty so nothing would go to waste anyways). But Sister Bojorquez would not budge. I thought fast. "Would it be alright if we came back tomorrow?" She said that would be alright, so we got away, but at a price. The next day was Christmas. After we enjoyed a nice, long conversation with my parents and grandparents we went to lunch with Sister Chaparro. There was a ton of food for Christmas. It was good, but after I finished my plate, I make a rookie mistake. "Elder, would you like more?" "Just a little bit please, Gracias." I foolishly forgot that 'A little bit' doesn't exist here. PLOP. The other two sister missionaries and my companion wisely declined after seeing the double portion size. It was tough, but I got through it. After, we went to give a blessing to a nonmember brother of a sister in the ward at the hospital. It went very well and he was very grateful. After, we had to keep our promise with Sister Bojorquez. The food was alright, the problem was that I was already filled to the brim. I struggled a bit but I got it all down. I finished and didn't make the same mistake again, keeping something daunting in mind. We still had round 3. We walked (hobbled) to Jerson's house (a priest in the ward) a bit later to spend our Christmas night with them. Jerson, his mom, and his sister are really good people and we enjoy our time with them. After talking for a bit, they set the table. Tired, spent, and full, I stared at my plate. And it stared back at me. ...I've come this far, I can finish one more Christmas plate! I ate for what seemed like an eternity. Bite after bite. I took a break to blow my nose. Everyone had finished. Slowly and carefully I finished the last few bites and I had eaten it all. It was one of the hardest things I have had to do. 

This week we had some good and hard times. Unfortunately the prologue (does the 'prologue' comes after the story?) to this story includes being quite sick that night and staying home the entire next day, which was kind of a bummer. Also right now my skin is covered in red dots which is new... we're gonna go to the doctor after we finish here. Also another bummer was a lesson last week with Gloria and Minerva. The lesson went very well about the Godhead but at the end Gloria and Minerva told us that they have chosen to stay in their church for now. We didn't see that coming. We are still going to teach them and find out what could possibly be holding them back. I was a bit confused afterwords and I asked a bit in my mind why they hadn't received an answer. They had sought it diligently and openly we had thought. I couldn't think of why they hadn't received it. Then a quote from Elder Christopherson popped into my head from a Mormon Message, "I am the Gardener here, and I know [what I am doing]." I felt in this moment that everything was ok, because Heavenly Father has a plan for them, and they will find it as they are genuinely ready. I know that is true. 

We actually had a pretty cool week of finding great people to teach. We have one new investigator, Jesus, that has a lot of potential. We only taught him the first lesson of the Restoration yesterday but it went very well. He is excited to read the Book of Mormon to find out if it is true. He was born into a Christian family but he saw things in his church that he didn't like a few years back so he and his wife left their church. He believes in Christ and everything already and he is very open to the things that we say. He said he would love to meet with us again next week. ChaCHING! Booya! Blessings from obedience! 

We are really excited to work with these new people! The work goes well here in Los Mochis. Thank you for all your support and love. It is great to hear how things are going with everyone. I appreciate all you do. You make it easier for me to do the work here. 

Thanks again, 

Elder Clement