New Stake

Hello Everyone,

     This week has been pretty good! We have found some new people to teach and we are continuing to work hard. Not too much happened this week. Me and my companion are getting along good. Unfortunately we have dropped some people that we have been teaching. They just are not progressing, and don't want to read or pray or any of the other things that we ask them to do. This is what is limiting their progression. Although it makes me really sad, I need to shake it off and just keep moving forward. However, its a lot harder than you would maybe think. 

     Anyways, Hope everthying is going good back home!! Sorry I don't have much to write about. But I hope these pictures that I sent make up for that haha. 

     Oh, and also we entered the new Stake Center yesterday!!! And I've got to say, its pretty amazing! The stake conference was so awesome!! 6 members of the quorum of the seventy came!!! Wow. We are literally making history here in Playa. We are no longer a part of the Cancun Stake, but our own!! And I'm pretty sure that this new stake is a lot nicer than the one we have haha. 

     Anyways, thanks for all the love and support!! Keep praying and sending your thoughts! I need them haha.

Love,

Elder Strate            

Challenge accepted and won

Hello Everyone,

     So this past week, I got a new companion. I think I already mentioned him but I will do it again anyways because he's so awesome!! His name is Elder Smith, and he's only got 3 months left in the Mission. Guess I'd better get all the information and wisdom I can from him before he leaves!!  

 

     So this week, our zone (Zone Playa) had a contest against another zone(Zone Tizimin). Normally every day, each companionship has a goal to talk with 10 people every day. But this Saturday we had a challenge. Zone Tizimin challenged us and said that they were going to talk to 500 people as a zone Saturday. Only on Saturday. And they challenged us to see which zone could talk to more people. We gladly accepted the challenge!! We did the math, and every companioship in our zone had to talk with atleast 67 people. However, this was to get 600 so that we could beat Tizimin. Remember, this was only on Saturday. One day to talk to so many people. And our normal daily goal is to talk to 10 people each day. We definitely had our work cut out for us. So, being the awesome Zone that we are, we crushed the other zone!! We talked with 647 people on Saturday as a zone. With Tizimin at a measely 453...haha. 

     

     It was a great time and I definitely take pride in it!! Don't get me wrong, the pride is not for me, but rather for our Heavenly Father. With his help he enabled us to talk with so many people. And even though it was a fun competition, we are still always on the same team. Having talked to more than 1000 people as two zones in one day, I say that's pretty amazing!!

 

 

     This is about all I have for this week. We are still preparing some investigators for baptism. With the help of Elder Smith who is a veteran, we should be able to get some great work done!! Thanks for all your love and support!! I hope that you all have a wonderful week!! 

     Lots of love,

      Elder Strate           

No transfer - new comp though

Hello Everyone,

     Sorry I didn't get the chance to write yesterday. I am still here in Playa in the same area again. Another transfer more!! This is my fourth transfer in the area!! Wow haha. I didn't get the chance to write because I had to wait for my new companion to arrive. He came from Chetumal, which is about 5 hours away from here. But he arrived good and healthy. 

     My new companion is Elder Smith!! He is from Draper, Utah. My second white companion haha. My other one was Elder Webb, my father. Anyways, I think we should work great as a companion ship. Elder Smith speaks spanish really well and so that will help me to learn more. And, I might get the chance to kill him!! HAHA! He only has two transfers left in his mission, so if he goes home with me as his last companion, then I "kill" him. Because that means he's no longer in the mission and he will be "dead" haha. Don't worry, I'm not actually going to take his life...obviously. 

     So my day yesterday was a bit hectic running back and forth to try to get eveything done in our P-Day. But its all good now. 

     I just also want to say that we are going to have a new Stake here in Playa!!! We will no longer be a part of the Cancun Stake. The membership has grown enough here that we are starting our own stake now!! How awesome is that!! On the 26 of April we will be entering the new stake center, because they are still finishing up some renovations. But I am super excited to enter the new Stake Center. We can truly see the Lord's hand in his own work here in Playa. That thanks to the hard work of many faithful members and missionaries that we are having lots of success in the Lord's vineyard. 

 This is us wating in the bus station ADO. 

The Elders in our Zone just before this new transfer started.

This is our whole zone of this last transfer. 

With certificates because we have accomplished good things. 

From memory we know all the lesson in their order and other things too.  

     Anyways, I am doing great and thanks for all the love and support. I hope that my letters are helping and inspiring those that are reading.

     Hasta la próxima semana. 

     con mucho amor,

     Elder Strate

Couple of pics

We didnt hear from Dawson today so we're presuming he got transferred. He thought he might today from the letter last week. From the Facebook page for his mission we got these two pics off of.

Guess what I ate?

Hello Everyone,

     I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and got to watch General Conference!! We did too! Thanks to technology we can view it from any place!! I really enjoyed all of the talks and I hope that we can all apply these principles and revelations in our lives. 

     On another note, I ate something pretty interesting yesterday. In between the conference sessions we went to eat with a member. And I ate "Mondongo". Ok, just the name probably makes you think, "what the heck is that?" Lol me too. But nonetheless I ate it. "Mondongo" is a dish usually served in soup. What it is? The stomach of a cow. Thats right, a cow's stomach. Chopped up into square pieces and put into a soup. It tasted pretty good actually. I've heard that usually all of the Elders that come here from other countries (me too obviously), don't like Mondongo at all haha. However, I do like it. Even though it smells a bit weird. 

     This picture I took with a member in our ward. His name is Darwin, and he is so awesome! He's planning on going on a mission here pretty soon. We're good friends. 

 

     Also, we have a baptism this week!! WOOT! Hope everything goes as planned. And we can help another person along their path of Salvation!! 

     Well, thats about all I have for this week. Transfers are next Monday, so I don't know if I will still be here in Playa. But we shall see! 

     Thanks everyone for your thoughts and prayers. I need everything I can get here as a Missionary haha!! 

Lots of love,

Elder Strate 

3 reasons this week will be awesome!

Buenas tardes todo,

     Hope everyone had a great week! Because we did! Some good news, we ordered pizza again and this time it actually arrived!! Wow...the Lord really does work miracles! Haha.

 

 

      This past week has been good. We just started teaching another family. The Flores family, and they are awesome. They have a baptismal date for April 25th. Also, we are getting ready for some baptisms in these two weeks that are coming. 

      This upcoming week is awesome? Why? 3 reasons why. 

1. General Conference. When we get to listen to the Apostles and Prophets that we have today. It's so wonderful to be able to have them. We need their help. Why? Because we know that they talk with God and that they give us the guidance and direction that we need. 

 

2. Fast Sunday. We have the opportunity to fast this Sunday too. If we choose to fast during conference, so that we can really be inspired, we will be! We will receive a "Spiritual Banquet" as we listen and ponder in our hearts these messages. After all, they are the words of God!

 

3. Easter Weekend. In this wonderful weekend, we will celebrate the Atoning Sacrifice of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Including his Resurrection.Which allows all of us to be resurrected too!! Thanks to all the love he has for us. It was his duty from the beginning. And he accepted it. Because it was part of heavenly father's plan for all of us! So we can all come unto him to receive everlasting life!! 

 

     I love you all so much and I hope that in this week, you can all receive personal revelation that will satisfy the needs and desires of everyone that chooses to participate in these wonderful events. Let us feast upon the words of Christ, then ponder in your minds and in your hearts if these things are true. Love you all and have a wonderful weekend full of love and blessings!!

Love,

Elder Strate

Meet the Mormons

Hello Everyone,

     Just want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes!! I had a great week!

     Its a tradition here in Mexico to smash you face into the cake haha! So guess what? Well ya I did that lol. Usually another person "helps" by pushing your face into the cake, but I gladly did it of my own free will. I had 3 different birthday parties thanks to the members here that are so awesome!! 

      We also ordered pizza one night to celebrate my birthday, however it never should up!! We waited and waited for the delivery service. But nope. So we just went to sleep a little angry haha. Then, suddenly at 1am our phone rang. It was the pizza place and they asked my if the pizza had arrived...which it didn't. So I said "nope, but thanks for waking me up!"(being 1am) and then we went back to sleep haha.

     This past Saturday we also had a ward mission activity. We called it "Meet the Mormons". Like the movie haha. It was great. Basically we had an open house where the people could walk in and learn about the different organizations in the church. It was great, we had a lot of references so I hope we can speed up the work now!! 

                                                                    Gonzales Family    

 

     Well that's about all I have but thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!! Love hearing from everyone so keep writing please!!

     Love,

     Dawson