Si, yo hablo Spanish

Family!!!

Great to hear from you all! That's crazy about the snowstorm!  It's been raining here for basically a week straight...

This week was extremely busy.  When we got doubled in here it was definitely slow going trying to pick up all of the new investigators and get back into the swing of things, but now that we've built it up again, there's not enough time to do everything that needs to be done!

This week we saw miracles all over the place.  We had a focus as a zone this week to find lots of new investigators.  Many of the people we've been working with haven't been keeping very many commitments, so this focus was great for us to pick up some new people to focus on.  All week long we found ourselves in places where we were able to talk to people who seemed to really have interest in what we had to say.  We ran out of things to do one night with a member, so we went to try a potential investigator that we hadn't seen for weeks.  When we got there, he wasn't there, but his brother and sister-in-law were, and they were super solid and invited us over to their house to teach them!  We also were walking through a trailer park to an appointment and passed by a huge Mexican party.  We were kind of wary about stopping because of how many people there were and the types of beverages that were there... but we recognized one of our investigators there, so we stopped and talked to him.  They invited us to eat their carne asada, and as we ate we talked to a 17 year old kid who has a lot of potential, and he invited us back as well!  Really it was just a great week to find!

We also had an awesome tour of the chapel with Z-------, the husband of M-----, a recent convert.  President Vilches came and helped us out as well.  We took Z------- into the font, explained baptism to him, showed him how a baptism goes (AKA dry baptism), then invited him to be baptized on May 2.  In the past he has been very hesitant about any baptismal extension we've given him, but this time he was much more receptive, and we have high hopes that he'll be baptized in May!

We also extended baptism to the 3 daughters of the S----- family this week.  They have been reading in the Book of Mormon, and they all accepted!  Their Mom is on board too!  We later talked to the Dad about it, and it looks like it'll take a little while for him to be on board too...  But we passed by later in the week and had a great lesson with the whole family; it was the first time the Dad has sat in on a lesson!  Progress!

Really everything is going pretty well here.  There's lots to do, and because my time is limited, it's definitely crunch time for a few more baptisms to happen in this area.  We've got the potential, we've just got to keep giving it our all and I know it will come.

This week in Sunday School we talked about Christ proclaiming to the Jews that He was the Son of God, and I've been thinking a lot about that since.  I know that He is the Son of God.  I know that He is my Savior.  He came to Earth to give us the example to follow to return to live with our Father in Heaven.  I'm so grateful for all He did for me and for the help that He gives me every day.

Love,

Elder Foote 

The Last Transfer....

Family!

That's right, the final transfer has arrived!  Crazy right?  Today we got transfer calls and I'll be finishing my mission here at home in Huber Heights. =)  

That's so amazing to hear about Dad getting to go to the baby blessing of the lady he baptized!  That made me super happy to hear!

Sorry about last week.  I was pretty bogged down with a lot of other things the last time I emailed.  Last month we drove quite a bit over our monthly allotment in order to make sure that A--- L--- was ready to get baptized, and then at the last second the baptism fell through.  Because we went over we were told that we had to have a few days this month in which we don't use our car, which is a pretty tough deal in this area.  But we've got it all figured out now, so I'm not too worried about it.

This week was a great week!  I have been working with a family off and on since February of last year, and this week they really made some progress!  We taught them a very powerful lesson about the doctrine of church, and we also helped them move.  I'm expecting to see a lot of progress from them pretty soon!  We also worked all week long to get the S----- family to church, and they came!  The mom works at a Mexican restaurant all week, so in order to see her we had to go eat at the restaurant...  But we sacrificed, and they came and had a great time!  We also got in touch again with an amazing family that we found right before I left this area last year.  We had a short lesson with them and the Spirit was super strong.  I'm really excited to go back to talk to them!

More about helping that family move.  Most Hispanics leave their Christmas lights up until the summer, if they take them down at all.  This family was one of those families.  So I generously offered to take down their Christmas lights for them.  So if you've been worrying about how Elder Foote has been handling not putting up or taking down Christmas lights for all this time, worry no longer!  I got a chance to use my skills! =)

We knocked the door of a potential that I used to know, and a different guy answered.  He looked kind of foreign, so I started speaking Spanish to him, but he stopped me and told me in broken English that he didn't speak Spanish.  He was from Afghanistan, and he had just gotten here 1 month ago!  He invited us in, and we talked to him for a few minutes.  As soon as he learned we were Christians he wasn't super interested to talk to us, but he was still super nice.  We asked if we could pray with him, and he said that they had already prayed...  But he was fine with us saying a prayer, so we did.  It was a pretty interesting encounter...

I found a scripture this week that I really like that I feel kind of sums up my mission a bit.  D&C 51:16-17.  16 And I consecrate unto them this land for a little season, until I, the Lord, shall provide for them otherwise, and command them to go hence;

 17 And the hour and the day is not given unto them, wherefore let them act upon this land as for years, and this shall turn unto them for their good.

Here the Lord tells the Saints that they would only be in Ohio for a short time.  They wouldn't be there to stay for generations.  But after He tells them that, He lets them know that they should act as if they'll be there for years, and that's how they'll make the most of their time there.  I of course thought about that in the context of my mission, but I think it applies to many different circumstances.  The principle that I got from those verses is that we should make the most of our time in whatever place/calling we're in.  That is how we will fulfill our purpose, by acting as if we will be where we are for a long time.

Well, hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

Conference!

Family,

This week was a week full of meetings.  We had a specialized training on Thursday, leadership council on Friday, then general conference on Saturday and Sunday.  So lots of sitting and writing. =)

Really there's not too much to report this week.  We had a tough time seeing people.  It just seemed that we could never find any of our progressing investigators at home.  This area can sometimes be difficult in that everyone is so spread out and we are very restricted on the amount we can drive our car.  But we'll make it work!

Over a year ago we found a less active lady named Angela and started teaching her.  We found her records and moved them to the branch.  I taught her for about 4 transfers, and then I left.  After I left, the new Elders were never able to contact her again.  When I got here, I decided we would find her again, and we did.  We visited her last week with our branch president, put the Book of Mormon on her phone, and found out that she'll be moving to Texas in a few weeks.  We got her info so that we can send people to see her when she moves down there.  It was pretty cool to be a part of the process of finding her and teaching and then making sure that she's transferred over smoothly.

I thought conference was great!  I listened to two of the sessions in Spanish, so I'll have to listen to those again to get some more out of it, but really all of it was very good.  I liked Elder Wilford W. Anderson's talk, but I'll have to listen to it in English to get some more from it.

Sorry this email is a bit shorter.  I got hit with a bunch of stuff while emailing, so I've been a bit distracted.  I'll try to do better next week.

Love, 

Elder Foote

The Gift of Tongues?

Family,

It's been yet another extremely busy week.  We worked all week long to get a young investigator ready for baptism, and when Saturday rolled around, everything was set up and things looked like they were going to go great.  Then we got a call from  his dad saying that he was sick and wasn't going to be able to get baptized that day.  We offered to go give him a blessing, but his Dad wouldn't work anything out with us and was pretty set on him not getting baptized that evening.  I did everything I could without being too pushy (that is to say, I stopped pushing the issue when his Dad was almost yelling at me), but finally we had to accept that he wasn't getting baptized that evening.  It was pretty discouraging, but he is all ready to go, so we'll work with everyone to make sure the baptism happens.

In my past area there were 3 baptisms this past weekend!  The guy that wanted me to baptize him didn't end up getting baptized this past weekend, but it should happen in the near future.  But it was super cool see the fruits of my work in Hamilton.  I didn't end up going, but I heard all about it.

This week we had two super solid lessons with families that I found over 14 months ago when I was here for the first time.  Both of them talked about the changes they've seen in their lives since the missionaries started coming by, and they have both recognized the Spirit as they've read and met with us.  They've just got to come to church!  Story of my life. =)  But both of these families have a bunch of potential, and I've made it my goal to get them baptized in the next 2 months. 

We got stopped by a Pentecostal guy in the street the other day, and he spent a good while trying to get us to stop preaching the Book of Mormon.  We bore our testimonies, and as we started to leave he started "speaking in tongues" at us, which sounded a lot like Harry Potter snake language.  Kind of creepy...

I think that's about it.  Thanks for everything.  Hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote  

Best Enchiladas in the Whole World!!

Family,

It's been a super busy week.  We went to the temple, which was amazing!  We also had interviews, which went really well.

I think last week I told you about a guy who we found who told us he had gone to church in North Carolina.  Well this week we met with him and had a pretty interesting experience.  We taught him, and for the whole lesson I had a really good feeling about him.  At the end I invited him to by baptized, and partway through the extension he said no, but very forcefully.  He then explained that he had already been baptized (which is what most people we teach say), but then he went on to explain that when he was baptized they put him under the water and brought him back out, and then he was baptized by fire and the holy ghost when they put their hands on this head.  Well that sounded a little familiar...  So turns out he was baptized in North Carolina in our church!  We found yet another long lost less active!   

This week we had a huge miracle.  We have been trying to get in contact with a less active family ever since we got here, and this pastSunday they came to church.  We were having a tough time contacting them during this week, but we finally caught them home on Thursday.  They have a 10 year old son who isn't baptized, and a month ago they had been talking about having him baptized on his birthday, which is this week.  We asked them if they were still planning on that, and they said they were, so we started teaching him again and got him reading in the Book of Mormon.  He's now going to be baptized this Saturday!  We're super excited!

We also had a great lesson with a less active and her friend this week.  It was a great lesson, and the friend is seriously considering baptism for the 18th of April!  They also made us the best enchiladas in the whole world!

That's about it.  Nice job Trevor on mowing the lawn!  Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Foote

P.S.  Yes I got your package.  This neighborhood is a lot safer than the one I was living in before. =)  Thanks so much!

Elders Having the Best Enchiladas in the Whole World!

Dayton, Ohio Spanish District at the Columbus, Ohio Temple

Miracles! (in Dayton)

Family!

Miracles are happening everywhere!  I've seen them all over the place this past week.  I'm so excited for the work here in Dayton!

On P-day last week we were at a thrift store looking for an Ohio shirt when a big American man with a Santa beard caught our attention and waved us over.  He started talking to us in Spanish (!!!!) and told us that he was a member of the church, but his wife wasn't, but that she was in his car outside and we should go talk to her.  So we did, and she was really nice, and we got her info to go meet with her in the future.  It was a super random experience, but it was miracle!

We got in contact with an investigator I was teaching here over a year ago who we had lost contact with.  When we knocked on his door, he opened up and let us right in like we had never lost contact, and we had a great lesson with him and his son.

We had one of the most powerful lessons I've ever had on the Book of Mormon with a family we recently found, and Elder Adams bore an amazing testimony that brought the Spirit very strong.

At the end of one of our lessons Elder Adams bore his testimony and talked about why he chose to serve a mission.  When he was done, the father of the family said that even though his Spanish wasn't perfect (yet) and they didn't understand all of the words that Elder Adams had used, they understood what he was trying to tell them because they "could feel it."  The Holy Ghost is the real teacher, and He breaches any language barriers.

The husband of a recent convert has all of the sudden showed a lot more interest in the church and has come the past two weeks.  We extended baptism to him for the 28th and he said he'd think about it, which isn't a yes, but it sure isn't a no, which is huge for this guy!

We met multiple people this week who had the question of why Christ had never come to Mexico.  Perfect opportunity to testify of the Book of Mormon!

I was goalie against a bunch of middle-aged men from Honduras in our soccer game on Saturday, and I didn't do too bad!  (that might be one of the biggest miracles of all =) )

We met a new family who invited us right in and talked about how just the other day they had been talking about how they needed to start attending a church.  They weren't able to make it yesterday, but they should be there this coming Sunday!

We went out after church with Elian (the guy we helped to get baptized last August!)  and taught an amazing lesson to a less-active and her non-member friend!  They invited us back next Sunday for enchiladas.

We saw tons of miracles this week, but one that really impacted me happened when I was on exchanges with Elder Seegmiller.  We were walking back to our car when I man drove past us in his truck and waved at us as he passed by.  I thought it was kind of weird because most Hispanics don't wave at us unless they know us really well.  I kind of shrugged it off and we got into the car and started to drive away.  As we passed by the house that the truck had stopped at, I was hit with a flashback from my first weeks of the mission of talking to a man on the same street that we were currently on.  It hit me so vividly that I stopped the car and just sat there thinking about it, trying to remember if the man I remembered talking to was the same man who had waved at us.  After thinking for a few seconds, I decided that if I was this was weighing so much on my mind, we had better just go and knock the man's door and talk to him.  So we knocked his door, he answered, came out of the house and started talking to us like he already knew us!  We found out that missionaries had lived in his house in Mexico and that he had been to church a few times in North Carolina.  In the past 5 years he has stopped drinking and smoking.  It's like he has been completely prepared to receive the gospel!  We talked to him for a few minutes, invited him to church, and set up another time to meet with him.  I feel like I have gotten better at recognizing promptings and following them, and as I have done my best to follow them consistently, more and more keep coming.  I know that the Lord guides His work.

I'm super excited for another amazing week!

Hope all is going well out there!

Love you all a ton,

Elder Foote

P.S. 4 people that I was teaching in my last area are getting baptized in the next 2 weeks, and one of them (Junior) wants me to come back and baptize him this Saturday!  So there might be a baptismal picture in next weeks email...

Picture: Me with the brother Roque

 

Elder Foote and Brother Roque

El Hijo Prodigo ha Regresado!

Buenas tardes family mia!

Well it's been a pretty crazy week, but I made it to Monday, so that's good!  So last week I was called to be a trainer and district leader, and Elder Elbaba and I were doubled out of our area.  So we spent the day saying goodbye to everyone, had an amazing family home evening with a family we're teaching and a member of the stake presidency, then came home and spent a ton of time packing and getting the area all ready for the new missionaries to take over.  Based on who else was leaving in the Spanish zone, I was prepped to return to Dayton to train mi hijito.  So I wasn't all that surprised when I was called to train Elder Adams in.... Dayton Spanish 1.  That's right, I'm training my son in the last years of my life in the place I was born!  And now I will die here.  So yeah, basically this week has just been going around visiting all of the members here and picking up all the investigators that were being taught by the past missionaries.  It kind of felt like a dream the first few days; it didn't feel real.  I was once again in the same apartment, same car, and same area as I was when I started the mission over a year and a half ago.  Crazy!  But it was so good to see everyone again.  And it was super crazy to see all of the change that's happened since I've left.  It's only been 4 1/2 months since I was in the branch, but so much has changed!  It's just been a really weird week.

Elder Adams is super amazing!  He's from Sacramento, and one week ago was in the Provo MTC.  It's brought back a lot of memories as we've gone through his first week in the mission field...  But yeah, he works really hard, has a great desire to serve, and isn't afraid to share in the lessons, even though he's still pretty new to Spanish.  I got a super good companion.

Also in Dayton is Elder Bradford and another new missionary, Elder Seegmiller.  Turns out that Elder Elbaba and Elder Bradford were both told they were leaving their areas, but they both were sent right back to where they left.  So I didn't get doubled out after all.

We had some amazing lessons, including one with a family that I was teaching when I was in this area.  The missionaries have kept on working with them, and when we went be to see them the other day, they were in Jacob 4 in the Book of Mormon!  We had a powerful lesson about the blessings that come from reading the Book of Mormon, and the Spirit was there very strong.  We also went to visit Martha (a recent convert who Elder Chandler and I found and started teaching) and her husband, and we had a great lesson with them where we invited him to be baptized.  He said yes!  So yeah, it's been a great week back in Dayton!

Sunday I had to go to a basically all-day meeting after church with the stake president, mission president, and the zone leaders in this stake.  I was the Spanish branch rep.  It was a great meeting, and it was pretty cool to see how missionary work is viewed by the local area leaders.

I also got asked to give a talk on Sunday.  I got up in front of all the people who I've seen basically every day for over 18 months of my mission and started my talk with "For those of you who don't know me, my name is Elder Foote..."  When Presidente Vilches introduced the new missionaries in Priesthood meeting, he got to me and said "El hijo prodigo ha regresado!"  It's pretty good to be back.

Well, I think that's about it!  Tell Ben and Jack congrats from me!  Hope you all have a great week! 

Elder Foote and new companion Elder Adams

Elder Foote at Transfers