"COME UNTO CHRIST"

Members of this family were invited by the missionaries to "Come Unto Christ" and now they are very happily on the covenant path!  Inviting others to "Come Unto Christ is what missionaries joyfully do every day of their mission.


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One of my favorite parts of my calling here in our mission is the opportunity to talk one on one with missionaries while their companion is in an interview with the president - which happens once every six weeks.

We talk about a variety of things - but anytime the Elder/Sister brings up something he/she wants to talk about...that trumps everything, of course!

I always ask about the missionary's family members and love it when they bring family photos to show me.  We talk about their health, grooming, learning Spanish, adjusting to missionary life, etc., etc.

Latin Elders and Hermanas that are motivated to learn English get a healthy dose of English study during our time together.  The Church has an English-learning set of workbooks all the Latin missionaries are encouraged to complete.  We all learn to say the mission purpose in English and I enjoy teaching the Latin missionaries how to pray in English.  Latin missionaries are invited to lead the mission purpose and give the prayers in our zone conferences in English.  Many Latins make significant progress in learning English while they are here on their missions.

In some of our mission training, I remember Elder Eyring sharing an experience from his time as a young missionary.  A general authority was visiting their mission and asked him to share an experience of inviting someone to "Come Unto Christ" --- How did it  make him feel and how did he think that person felt?    I decided to ask our missionaries to share one of these experiences with me.  It has been heart-warming to hear their experiences and see the complete joy and gratitude in their faces as they described how it made them feel.  I have heard experiences of priesthood blessings given, of prayers with families, of meeting people to share the gospel with who clearly had been waiting to find the truth, invitations to bless a home, of being noticed as "standing out from the world", finding people while teaching English classes, sharing the Book of Mormon and in having FHE with part-member families.

The main conclusion I came to after having all these conversations is that inviting others to "Come Unto Christ",  brings rewarding feelings of joy and satisfaction to the person invited and the person doing the inviting!  There are so many ways we can make these invitations, and joy comes as a result.  What a blessing it is to be a missionary and invite others to "Come Unto Christ"!


*******************************VIVA MEXICO*************************************

These plastic or floral entry displays are common in neighborhoods and on entrances to Catholic Churches during festivities.

"Papel Picado" decorated our neighborhood for the celebration of San Francisco de Assisi.  There were also sky rockets (fireworks with only a very, very loud "boom"--  no pretty colors)  at all times of the day and night for four days!

A variety of different bugs are eaten here as fancy snacks.  We ordered this dessert and thought it had dried blueberries on top - but found it they were very large ants --"hormigas" in Spanish, instead! Apparently they are healthy and considered a delicacy!

I think because Mexico City is so very urban, people grow lots and lots of potted plants - in windows, on porches, or on their flat rooftops.

Independence Days - September 15-16 -  is one of the biggest holidays of the year here.  Very typically every stake/district will host a "Noche Mexicana" with traditional dancing, food and music.  The Chimalhuacan District spent two months teaching their youth the traditional ballet folklorico dances, which they preformed at their celebration.  Two ladies from the district made all their dresses and the men's jackets for the performance that night.  Beautiful!

Natives of Mexico City will tell you the weather is "loco" and it is true.  In September at the close of our zone conference in Paraiso, it began to rain and hail.  And it wasn't even cold out!  It hailed so much, the elders marveled at the quantity of hail that accumulated on the side lawn of the stake center, made a snow man and threw snowballs. Our Utah elders were in heaven!