Family and friends,
What a crazy first week! I'm not really sure where to start so I'll just mention my area I'm in first. It's the area Aragon. I am with Elder Aguilar from Tijuana, originally from Chiapas. He arrived here last July after the other missionaries left. We're opening up this area but it's nothing new to the mission. More like boundary changes. But it's the area with the offices and the Temple! Our Chapel is here right next to the Temple so I get to see it every day! It felt strange arriving and just going a couple blocks to our house. But it was crazy when we did our first look at the house! It's the one that has been used since about last August for Elders getting ready to go home. They would just sleep there for the night before heading out the next day. What freaked me out was when Sister Parry told us that this house had a rat problem the other night. Sure enough when we showed up that night the kitchen was absolutely destroyed. I couldn't believe it and actually nearly passed out. I felt like Mormon describing the scenes of war he saw in the Book of Mormon. And on top of that there was evidence of rats throughout all sides of the house except one room. Thankfully it was the bedroom! So we spent the first few days cleaning the house. It was fumigated so we spent a few nights with the secretaries in the mission office on a sofa. I don't really know how much the fumigation helped because we are still at war with them. Each time we leave poison out it's gone later in the day. The first day was certainly a big Mexican welcome back haha! There are only about 80 missionaries in the mission right now. I was the third to return from the States with more on the way!! My zone is very small. Just us, the zone leaders, the secretaries, and the assistants. Some companionships in the mission have to cover more than one ward. We are teaching three people right now. They are ones who we found in the last week. Two of them attended sacrament meeting. There are no in person meetings besides district counsels. The daily routine is pretty much wake up, exercise, eat, come to the chapel and work, then go back at the end of the day to sleep. Of course some days are different depending on certain events but that's the majority of it! But it doesn't even feel depressing or anything. This is just how it is and I enjoy it!
We got to have a zoom call with President Ballard last week! He did this with two other missions here in Mexico. Along with him was a couple other members of the seventy. It was awesome! I had to listen through translation in Spanish though. I really wanted to hear President Ballard's voice directly! He shared things from his mission and shared testimony. He gave encouraging messages too. There wasn't time for any missionary interaction with him. But we really felt the Spirit!
Quick spiritual message!
I was pretty disappointed that I didn't get to hear the Prophet's voice directly. We tried to set something up where I could use headphones to get his voice while my companion listened in Spanish but it didn't work. I tried to not let it affect my attitude during the meeting. Instead I just tried to focus on the Spirit. It helped a lot with trying to shift my attitude! I was later then reminded of how necessary opposition is. We remember that Lehi teaches us how we need opposition and that without it God's plan would be frustrated. After all, the plan of salvation is in effect because of opposition. We have it for redemption, for healing, for being fixed, for returning, and for being happy! We are happy because we know pain. Adam fell that man might be happy. How can we have grace without first making a mistake? If we did not suffer then we would have no need for the Lord's Atonement. Or in other words, if we did not experience pain then we would not need the Savior. But we are always in need of Him! Perfection comes after learning and growing. If we knew all answers to everything then we would have no need to act in faith. And according to Ether 12, without faith there can be no miracles. Each blessing we receive is truly a miracle! And we don't earn blessings, we qualify for them. The greatest blessing of all that Heavenly Father can offer us is exaltation with our families. So without first suffering and opposition, we would not be able to receive the great blessing of exaltation. This all connects in so many different ways. Hence the reason God's work is one eternal round. It all comes back to one another. Opposition is given so that we overcome it. And remember the Savior's words from John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer I have overcome the world." So we don't need to worry about relying on our own strengths. We put our trust in the Savior that He will pull us through. Last thing about becoming, remember how important it is to be building and nurturing our Spirits. Tad R. Calister gave an article sometime last year where he talked about shielding ourselves from the adversary. He said how he once met with someone who needed help with healing spiritually. He wanted to change but wasn't doing the necessary things to receive help from the Lord. He would try to fight off temptation when it came but it was always so hard. Elder Calister at the time compared it to a basketball game. What would happen if the coach told the team that all the players shouldn't play offence but rather save all energy for defense? Well the best that could happen is the game would end in a tie. Last I checked in the scriptures, a tie with Satan won't get us to exaltation with God and our families. So we need to also be playing offense by reading our scriptures, staying active in callings, saying our prayers, and just making an effort rather than going through motions. It all helps! And I hope that this has helped.
I'll send more next week. Take care!
- Elder Markham
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