Elder Spencer Stokes - Mexico Ciudad Juarez

This week was good. Today it has been two months since I left, and I really do not have any sense of time anymore. It is kind of becoming repetitive every day. We have a schedule to follow and work every day. But this last week I got to do some fun things. On Saturday we went to the temple with our branch. That was a lot of fun because I got to feel the spirit so strong. It is the smallest temple in the world, which is cool. Everything is on one floor. And they do not have a separate entrance for the baptismal font which is different. The spirit was so strong and I love being able to help people on the other side make it back to our Heavenly Father. Yesterday I had the wonderful privilege to speak in church. I spoke closely to preparing for the priesthood. The priesthood has blessed me and my family so much in my life. I found a great talk by President Henry B. Eyring from the Priesthood session of October 2011.  https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/gen...

I do not have much time because I am in Ciudad Juarez right now for a conference with the mission president for all of the Branches. So I am going to be short and brief. Friday night we went on an hour bus ride to casa grandes for interviews with the president we had saturday morning. We went back to buenaventura Saturday afternoon. Back to Casa grandes Sunday night. And left at 6 am this morning to Juarez. It was fun to be able to play soccer here with some missionaries.  Polygamy. So everyone in Buenaventura thinks all members of the church of Jesus Christ are Polygamists, because the capital of polygamy is 20 minutes away from Buenaventura.. a place called Lebaron. And to make it worse they call themselves Mormons and that is what everyone thinks we are. So we explain to basically every contact, that we are not trying to change their belief in Jesus Christ. And that we believe in how families are sacred between 1 man and 1 woman. And that families can live together fo...

We will start with Conference. I think I learned more in this conference than all of the other 144 sessions I have been alive for which is cool. I never understood how important conference is and how much of an impact it can have on our lives. Especially when you go in with a question to be answered. I loved all of the talks. The one that really stood out to me was Peter M. Johnson. Satan is always tempting us, and I know this but I also know that it is possible to overcome these temptations. We just have to make sure we recognize when he does tempt is. The three Ds of temptation. Deception, Distraction, Discouragement. I have seen the discouragement one a ton in this first week being out in the field. Satan wants me to think that I will not be able to do it. I am going to be real.. Coming out here has been rough, not one bit of it has been easy. I miss English so much. I did not understand how much I loved knowing what people were saying around me. I realize now how much I love m...

I do not know if I will be able to call today. But I made it here about 3 hours ago and I am back on Utah time. I am so excited to be here and serve. I understand a lot of the Spanish they speak but then they say one word I do not know and I kind of lose track of the conversation. It is so much fun and my brain already hurts with this much Spanish that I am speaking and listening to. I still do not know who my companion is yet but I am excited to meet whoever it is. All the latinos in the office know English because as they teach us Spanish we are supposed to be teaching them English. So I should have a companion who knows a little bit of English which will help me learn the words I do not know easier All new missionaries arriving with me at the Mission Home with President and Sister Henke.

What I have learned most from this is how important setting goals are and how having a plan for that goal will make it a lot easier to achieve it.  Now the ¡Que Lastima! Part. I definitely have an eye infection. I have no idea how I got it, one morning I just woke up and I tried putting in my contact and felt pain. So I just wore glasses, I got through most of the morning but most of my district was saying how red my right eye was so I went to the enfermeria and they gave me some eye drops right one they saw. They hand out prescribed medication like taffies during a parade. Most of the time we think they are just placebos though, we never can be sure. My eye is starting to get better so that is really good, I am just praying it gets better before I get in the field. English fasting. Monday, Wednesday, Friday this week we are fasting from speaking English. Every word we speak in English we have to do one push up. My shoulders and chest hurt sobad because I will just say a ...