Con El Juicio Con Que Juzguéis, Seréis Juzgados

Mi Familia,

Thanks a lot for the emails. I am glad to hear that everyone is doing well. Things are good here. My companion Elder Cruz is awesome and we get along really well. He has a year in the mission and is from Mexico State I guess you would call it in English (Estado de Mexico), just north of Mexico City. He is from Cuautitlan Izcalli. The transfers were great and I think every companionship that had changes is stronger now, so that is great.

This week we had a great experience with one of our investigators, Guadalupe. Her family is all members of the church. When Elder Ah Mu said goodbye to her on Monday she cried and apologized for not getting baptized during his time here. She said she would soon. Elder Cruz and I visited her and she accepted a baptismal date for the 25th of August. We also found some great people this week and we are excited to start teaching them. We are working well with the ward and are planning and making some changes and having an activity. We are going to have time in priesthood opening exercises to have missionary experiences. We are also going to have a "Memory Binder" that is going to have the conversion story of every member in the ward. Then we are going to give it to a family so they can read and think of someone that we can teach, maybe someone that is in the same situation as a member, then we are going to take those members to teach them, and give the binder to another family.

It has been very cold and rainy here. But I am enjoying it a lot and I hope I can stay here a few months more. We found a lot of new people to teach this week and we are happy about everything that is going on in the area.

On a funnier note, we are teaching a girl named Diana. She is 15 but as tall as me and plays basketball on the Chiapas State team. She had surgery on her knee and wasn't here but I felt like we should go and we found her at home. The surgery went well. She was in bed for a while and she read almost all of the Book of Mormon. She said she knows it is scripture. She also got some of those month long tattoos (don't remember what they are called in english) but she said that the Book of Mormon inspired her to do it. She said that is says "only the Lord can judge me" but in Portuguese. I can't say I didn't laugh a lot but it is a start. I guess we just need to show her how she can better express those feelings she has (i.e. getting baptized).

Things are good here. I love you and miss you all a lot. Have a great week!

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson

Cayeron Del Cielo Sobre Los Hombres Enormes Granizos

Mi Familia,

This week was great. We worked really hard and Elder Ah Mu said it was the most lessons he has had since he has been here. We invited a few people to be baptized and they accepted. The future is bright here in San Cris!

We got transfers... We knew Elder Ah Mu was going because it is his last transfer and you can't end the mission as a zone leader. My new companion is going to be Elder Cruz. I don't know him but have heard good things about him. We are going to have a good 6 weeks.

Well this week was somewhat adventurous. We had a huge hailstorm on Tuesday. We were on the northeast side of town and the rain came from there. We could hear it coming hard and the mountains that surround the city disappeared behind clouds. We started running! The rain was coming with a hard wind. So we hid on the side of a catholic church, (there are a lot of those here) and stayed there for an hour as the rain and hail pounded down. It calmed down but there was a river in the street. So we had to wait there longer. But then I found some bricks so we threw them in the water and made a path to cross the river and go to our next appointment. We got soaked. There was about 5 minutes when the wind direction changed and I got hit by hail. That hurts a lot. The only good thing about it was It was only hitting me and not Elder Ah Mu. Glad I could protect him like that. I didn't know how much hail hurts until then.

Lance accepted a baptismal date and is not smoking as much. He is doing awesome and understands what we teach him. We have some others that are going to get baptized soon I think.

Well got to go but I hope you all have a great week. I love you and miss you!

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson

Arrepentíos Y Convertíos Para Que Sean Borrados Vuestros Pecados

Mi Familia,

This week was very special. We were very busy getting things ready for Manuel's baptism. We were planning on having it Friday, but on Tuesday he fainted 2 times and the family was really worried about him. We went over Wednesday morning to his house and gave him his white clothes. It was traditional white baptismal clothing. Then we decided to have the baptism that same day and the confirmation as well. Before we had gotten there, the family took him back to the hospital (he had left the hospital a couple days earlier), but he said he wouldn't go in until he had been baptized. The family took him back home and he said they could do whatever they wanted after the baptism.

Street in San Cristobal

After we left, one of his granddaughters who is very against the church got there and started yelling at him and the family (who are members). She said that they were making him get baptized and that it was wrong. The members told her to ask him because he was very aware of what he was doing. He told her about the dream and bore his testimony. She left and hasn't said anything since.

Ride from Oxchuc to San Cristobal

We had the baptism at 1:00 pm on Wednesday and also had special permission to confirm him in the service. Elder Utt, Elder Ah Mu, and I baptized him. He is 85 and very fragile. I held down his legs in the water and Elder Ah Mu supported his back and Elder Utt covered his mouth and nose. Everything went well and then the Bishop confirmed him. There were a ton of people there and we had to have the service in the chapel. Afterwards, all of his family passed by one by one and kissed him and told him who they were and congratulated him.

Baptism of Manuel the Lamanite (his daughters are behind)

After the service they took him to the hospital and he has been doing a lot better since. He has been able to open his eyes more and he has not been bleeding from his nose or mouth. The nuns visited him after the baptism and told him that he had not gone through the confession process etc. and he bore his testimony of the church and about his dream. the family said that the Nuns didn't know what to do and told him that they were going to tell the priest to visit him. He told them it wasn't necessary and they didn't go back.

Countryside near San Cristobal

We learned more about him as well. He started the Catholic Church in Oxchuc and also was a catholic missionary in Palenque when he was our age some 65 years ago. Also, in his dream Jesus told him that He had forgiven him and to trust us and that we were His servants. It has helped me understand my calling better.

More scenery

We visited him yesterday and he talked to us in spanish which he hadn't been able to do for a while. We talked a while and he told us he would do the will of the Father, and that he knows that his work is not over yet. When I shook his hand he called me Paul (like the apostle from the bible) and his daughter said that that is how he saw me in the dream. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean! We are very happy for him and the decision he has made. He has been very firm in his testimony.

El centro in San Cristobal

We found some great people this week. We found a mom and son from Texas. The mom, Cynthia, knows a lot about the Book of Mormon because she studies the mayans and uses a book that a member wrote that talks about mayan culture and all of that. She told us she knows it is true and asked us questions about the Brother of Jared and stuff like that. Lance the son is a mason and went to church even though he doesn't speak spanish. We translated the talks for him and then he had to go. He want to become closer to God. We found some other great people. We found a family that is very interested in the church and they are so nice to us. We will see what happens. Two of them accepted a baptismal date (Maité and Lupita).

I am very happy and everything is going very well. I love you and miss you very much.

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson

Los Comisionó Para Que Fueran Y Llevaran La Luz Del Evangelio

Mi Familia,

Well thanks for all the pictures of Piper! I am glad that all is well. Piper looks really cute. I can't wait to meet her in... 6 months? Well this week was really good here too.

We went last Sunday to give Manuel a blessing, he was doing really poorly (and in the hospital.) He has changed a lot. Before we saw him, his family (who are all members) told us that he has not let the catholics see him because he has kind of stopped believing in that, and he was really die-hard about it before. On Tuesday we got a phone call from Manuel's daughter (that is a member). She said that he had dreamed a dream and that he wanted us two there and also Elder Utt, the husband of the missionary couple here in San Cris. We couldn't get a hold of Elder Utt, but we went to the hospital anyway. He wanted all of us there but he did tell us that he saw the three of us and that we had what he wanted. He told us that Jesus appeared to him and told him that we were "commissioned." He didn't tell us everything because he wanted Elder Utt to be there too. So on Wednesday we went again with Elder Utt. Manuel told us that he saw us and that we had the special clothing that he needed. He said it was white clothing. We told him that we had the clothes and that when he got out of the hospital, we would give it to him. We gave him another blessing and he was out of the hospital on Friday. Yesterday morning his daughter called again and said that Manuel wanted to be baptized. We are getting everything ready for the service right now. The baptism is going to be this wednesday or thursday. He passed his interview yesterday and we are just so happy for him, mostly because we were scared that he might have killed someone as mayor of Oxchuc (or sent someone to kill people) but he didn't. The baptism is going to be a big one, with food, and a lot of people. I think our mission president is going to go. We are very pleased!

This week I had my first interview as well (on friday). I went to a city called Ocosingo, where one of our district leaders is. It is so green and beautiful on the way there. I interviewed a 16 year old girl that is so awesome and that has a very strong testimony. She expressed in the interview that she would stay strong in the gospel even if her family is opposed to it. So that is awesome. She got baptized on Saturday.

We are teaching a young man named Omar, and he is awesome. He went to church yesterday and really liked it. Elder Ah Mu had taught him a couple months ago but couldn't find him again. But his friend is a member of the ward and she told us to look for him again. We found him on Saturday night and he is a really good guy. It was sweet because we had ward conference and over 225 people were there, and we just have a small little chapel, so they were all lined down the hallway with the chapel doors open (there is no cultural hall). Usually like 110 go to church. I am not sure where everyone else came from, but they were not all from the stake. We also had a small meal after - reminded me of the good old "break the fast" days.

Well things are great here, I hope that you are all doing well too! I love you and miss you all!

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson

Conoceréis La Verdad, Y La Verdad Os Hará Libres

Mi Familia,

Hello! This week was good. We had our leaders meeting on Wednesday in Tuxtla. We learned a lot and I got to see a lot of Elders that I hadn't seen for a while. The district Leader of Tapachula told me that Yami got baptized in Ciudad Hidalgo so that is awesome. There was another one that had her interview but didn't pass so she will probably get baptized in these next couple weeks. That is fine. An elder also told me that one of my converts in Tuxtla sent her mission papers and his waiting for the call to come. I am really happy for her. I am also trying to get in contact with a couple that I baptized in Tuxtla that just turned a year of being baptized. If we can get everything organized, I will probably be able to go to the sealing, because I am only an hour away from Tuxtla. I am very happy about everything that is going on!

Here in San Cristóbal things are going well. We found another family this week that has lost a lot of family members and they are really ready for the gospel. We contacted the lady (she’s about 75) and she let us in. She had 12 kids but 4 have passed away. We talked about the temple and met a few of her daughters. They are very receptive and we are hoping that they progress. It was funny because when we were talking about all of that stuff and then Angelina, the lady, said "Well, we will have to think about leaving the Catholic Church to go to yours." Well that isn't exactly what we want but it is part of it haha. But it was soo funny because after about 15 minutes of talking she was already considering leaving her 75 years of being Catholic so that she can live with her family again. It is worth it, I guess.

We have this awesome investigator named José that has gone to church 2 times now. He plays guitar in restaurant-bars every night. He is really smart and understands everything we teach him. Last week in church he made a lot of comments and a few members asked him if he was a member. And he would get baptized, but! His wife doesn't want to get married right now. It is a major bummer because he is great. Well, actually his wife does want to get married but in the US because she has dual citizenship. We are praying a lot for them.

Things are going really well. I am happy and things are going well here in San Cris. It is cold and rainy and I am starting to get used to the weather. It is going to be a rough change when I get transferred again!

Well I hope everyone is well. I hope that everything goes well with Lauren, please send pictures of Piper! Have a great time in Utah, I think everyone is there right now, right? Have a great week. I love you and miss you all!

Con Amor,

Elder Riley Stevenson