Hello Everyone,

     This past week has been great. The rain is now gone, and the sun is shining again!! And its still pretty hot too! I have actually gotten used to the sun here. I never thought that would happen considering that its so hot. But thanks to sunscreen and drinking lots of water, I have adapted to the climate here quite well.    

     So... we have found some more investigators. We also have some baptismal dates coming up soon, fingers crossed!! The work here is definetely progressing. I would say the hardest part would be finding people to teach. But we are working on that!     

     One of the things that I have learned as a missionary is that the influence of the Holy Ghost is so real!! Us as missionaries, are only tools in the Lords hands to work his miracles. If we don't teach with the Holy Ghost, then these people won't be able to feel it. When someone recieves a spiritual confirmation from the Holy Ghost that something is true, there isn't anything, or anyone that can deny that. I have felt that many times here in my mission. I will never apart from what I know to be true. "I will not, I cannot!"- "How firm a foundation" from the Hymn Book. 

     Thanks for all the love and support. Have a wonderful week!

Love,

Elder Strate

Rain, rain and more rain

     Hello everyone,

     This past week has been full of RAIN. And I mean a lot of rain! Four days straight it was raining hard here. So, needless to say my companion and I have done a lot of necessary puddle jumping! Yes the water here got pretty high. But with umbrellas and ponchos, we can still proselyte! Yay for modern technology! 

     The work here has been about the same. With a lot of rain the people here don't leave there houses. So sometimes its a bit difficult to find people to let us in when its raining. We have alos started going to another little town called Butron. We have a few investigators there but not many. There is not church there either. So hopefully we can get things going over there. And who knows, maybe Elder Jayer and I will be the first ones to start a house of prayer! That would be amazing! 

     Everything here is going great! I love it here in Mexico and I love being able to serve the people here! Well, thats about al I have for this week. Thanks for all the love and support! May we always recognize the Lord's hand in our lives!

Love,

Elder Strate 

                                                              Fruit tree in our yard

Weeding

     Hello Everyone,

     This past week has been good. Yesterday, we had a ton of people show up for church!! Usually in the branch here, only about 50 maybe 60 people come every Sunday. But yesterday, we had about 125 people there for branch conference! Thats awesome! There is definitely a lot of work to do here with the less actives. We are also starting to find some new investigators, so we will keep trying to find more. 

     Also, this morning my companion and I pulled/destroyed the weeds in our yard today. When the people here pluck/destroy weeds, they use a machete. Thats right, kind of like Clayton from Tarzan who cuts through the thick African jungle with his machete. I kinda felt like that today haha. Mom knows that I enjoyed that! My companion is great too. We get along great and we teach pretty well together too. 

 

     Just so you all know, I really enjoy playing the piano now! I play every week in sacrament meeting. And yesterday I played for the choir that sang too. It was so special and everyone was so happy to hear the piano. 

     I am so blessed by my heavenly father. So many opportunities to develop my gifts and talents that the Lord has given me. I'm so grateful to be a missionary here in the best mission in the WORLD. Thanks for all your love and support. Have an amazing week in the work of salvation!! 

       Thats good that your feeling better dad. Just so you know, that is also one of the many things that I have learned here in the mission. That the worldly things don't really matter that much. And that the gospel is everything! Love you so much, keep doing what you need to in order to get better!

      lots of love,

      Elder Strate  

Piano

     Dear Strate family, 
     Thanks for raising such a fine young man. He told me you made him practice the piano and he is so glad you did. We are too. He will be a great help to our little Ucum branch. They need music and he will be loved! Thanks again. We know he will do a great job out there. 
    Love the Albaughs

Conference

     Hello Everyone,

     How are you right now Dad? Pres. Kirkham told me that you are okay now. I was so relieved!! and do you know if grandpa has got my letter yet?

     This week has been wonderful!! Of course, the best part was General Conference!! Man I love General Conference. I hope all of you had the opportunity to listen and watch it. How amazing it was to see three new apostles being called. Another three special witnesses of Jesus Christ. I know these men are called by God!!

      So I like this new area that I'm in. Its like three little towns all combined into one. Ucum, Madrazo, and Pedregal. Everyone here says ther are about 2,500 people here. The chapel here is actually big too. I think its a little bigger than the church in Tulum (my last area). There isn't much work here, but we are starting to find more people to teach. Yesterday we found a new investigator. His name is Vladimir, and he was a referral from the Branch Prez. He is so awesome, we taught him the Restoration yesterday because he wanted to know what we preached. We felt the spirit so strongly and he did too!! Then he told us that he believes that its all true! So we put a goal for a baptismal date, October 31st. Hopefully we can help him to progress. He is young too and I can definitely see a future missionary in him!! 

      Oh and I also got to meet sister Clarke! Remember that supposedly we are cousins haha. She is in my district here. And she is so TALL! Shes taller and bigger than me.

      Also, I am almost done reading the BOM. I just started the book of Ether. I'm so excited because it will be the first time I will have read it in Spanish! Hooray for spanish!

      Thanks for all your love and support. I hope you all enjoyed General Conference and that we may continue to apply all that we learn to our lives!! Keep the Commandments!! 

     Here is our district watching General Conference.

                 

Lots of love,

Elder Strate