Elder Jacob Budge

After Weeks of Silence

2011-05-09T10:02:00.000-07:00

Heelllloooo FAMILY!

Things are just great here in Arenal, thanks for asking! Yep, I´m still in the same ward that I´ve been in since December, and this is officially my tomb. I´ll be finishing my time as a full-time missionary here in this Ward. It´s so great. So here´s an update:

After several weeks of difficulty, we´ve begun to see mild success again in our area. Two weeks ago we baptized a boy named Daniel, whose mom is a less-active member and dad is a non-member (and non-interested haha). It was kind of a battle with them, considering the fact that they live right next door to us. We had started working with them a few months ago, but decided to leave them because they never went to church. But one day about three weeks ago we decided to try and visit them again, and they accepted. They attended Sacrament meeting and Stake Conference with us, and then Danny was baptized last Sunday. All went well, except for the fact that the boiler has kind of stopped functioning and the water was freezing cold. Fortunately, cold water still works to wash away sins. He got confirmed yesterday, and he got really shy and didn´t want to sit in the chair to be confirmed in front of everybody. But I went up to help and participate in the ordinance, and all went well. Remission of sins received!

Yesterday we had the awesome opportunity to baptize Daniela, the daughter of another less-active mother named Olivia. She is one of the most intelligent 9-year-old girls I have ever met! My last companion (Elder Galvan) and I were working with her in February but also decided to drop her because her mom would go to parties on Saturday night and wouldn´t wake up to take her to church on Sundays. But, again, we decided to re-visit them, and they decided to put the batteries in and make an effort to attend Church. Long story short, they have been going to Church every week and Daniela got baptized yesterday (with the same cold water with which Daniel got baptized...the pump that takes the water out of the baptismal font is broken too...so we had to use the same water as the week before). But still, the water was cleaner than the water was at the River Jordan, so all went well.

President Hicken sent us a really good email this week about obedience to our leaders, and I feel like that is one of the most important things I´ve learned here on the mission. He used the example of Brigham Young, when Joseph accused him ofdoing something wrong when he knew he was innocent. Instead of trying to ¨defend¨ himself, or prove Joseph wrong, he humbly said, ¨What would you like me to do?¨ That´s the attitude we need to have when we receive counsel from our leaders. Whenever the assistants call us and ask us to do something that seems a little strange with the Zone, I always just say yes. My companion usually asks me, ¨why do they want us to do that?¨ And I tell him that I don´t know, we just need to say yes and do it. It´s something that has blessed me immensely, and it´s an attitude that I think will help all of us throughout our lives.

Anyway, I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Budge

"Is every week like this as a Zone Leader?"

2011-03-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!

The subject of this email was one of the very first things my new companion asked me after a ridiculously busy week.

On Monday Elder Galvan and I had our last day of work together, we went to the Temple to pick up some new missionaries and work with them for the day before they received their new trainers on Tuesday.

Tuesday we headed out to the changes meeting at the Temple, and we dropped off the greenies with their new trainers. Elder Galvan got changed to the Aragon/Moctezuma/Vergel Zone, and I received a new Zone Leader, Elder Robles. He's awesome; obedient and hard-working. What more can I ask? Tuesday we only got to work in the afternoon, but we were able to find a new investigator named Eleazar. He accepted all his commitments and accepted his baptismal date. We'll see more of his progress this week.

Wednesday morning we had Zone Leaders' Council from 9 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon! It was really good actually, and the Asisstants gave us an awesome class about humility. We got back at about 5 o clock, which gave us a little bit of time to get Magui's interview done. The secretaries called us right after the interview, and told us that we need to head to another part of our Zone to look for a new house for new americans that were going to be coming to the Zone. We headed out and were out looking for a house all afternoon to no avail...

So Thursday we left the house early and headed back to continue looking for a new house. We ran into some other street preachers that wanted to fight with us, but we did our best to just not listen to them. They very "politely" invited us to embrace what they call the truth, but we continued on our house-hunt. We finally found a good house, and right afterward we had to head back to the temple for Magui's special interview. Then we came back to our Zone with the secretaries to sign the contract for the new house.

Friday we held a District Leader Council in our Zone, and right afterward we went back to the Temple AGAIN to pick up the new missionaries in our Zone. One of the new people didn't show up to the training meeting, so we had to head out to a place called La Paz (kinda far...) to pick him up. We brought the new missionaries to their house, set them all up, and got to our house at nine.

Saturday we got to work normal and went the whole day looking for new investigators, contacting everyone in the street. We got two more interviews done and set up everything for the baptismal service on Sunday.

Yesterday Magui and her two children, Vianey and Luis Angel were baptized. It was an excellent way to end the week.

This week, we'll actually have time to work in our area! Woo hoo! And PS, my airplane will be arriving on May 28th, at 12:30 in the afternoon! And the records secretary hooked me up with the window seat!

Love you all, have a great week!

Elder Budge

The General Epistle of Elder Budge

2011-03-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

Hellllooo Family!

How's it going back home in the Gabacho? I hope everything is going well, everyone nice and cozy, watching TV and eating Pizza as I roast in the hot sun on the Mexican street out here in Neza! This past week was a blast for my companion and I, because I'm now 21 years old! Is that weird or what? It's a strange feeling and I don't want to think about it anymore, but I must because I have to tell you how my b-day went here.

So last Monday I took myself shopping, bought some sneakers and a T-shirt, and we ate some delicious Domino's Pizza, courtesy of Jared and Monica Budge. Then on my actual birthday, an investigator named Magui bought me a delicious cake and a brand-new, beautiful tie. That's how we can tell she is ready for the Gospel, right?! Then yesterday another family bought me another cake, equally delicious, and some chocolates. All in all, it was a really good birthday!

Anywho, back to business. This past week Magui has been progressing so much. She is absolutely incredible! I don't know if I told you last week, but she fixed her work schedule so she can go to Church every Sunday, and this past week we were able to teach her two children as well. Her son, Luis Angel, is really shy, but has been reading the Book of Mormon on his own and has prayed about it. Her daughter, Vianey, is really awesome as well. We watched the Restoration video, and afterward when we asked her how she felt about it, she started to cry and wouldn't tell us why. I asked her if what she was feeling was positive or negative, and she said that it was positive. That's good news too! Long story short, Magui will be baptized this coming Sunday and her kids next Sunday.

My companion has transfers tomorrow after six short weeks together, and I'll be training yet another new Zone Leader. Time flies!

I really love the Gospel, and I can't believe I have so little time to continue sharing it as a full-time Missonary!

Elder Budge

Las Fotos:

1. Me with my new shirt and shoes!

2. Again...with my new socks as well! (Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!)

3. Pizza and soda and my companion Elder Galvan.

4. Magui, her three kids, the cake, my new tie, and my companion.

5. Our last photo together....

No Clever Ideas Today...

2011-02-28T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hello family!

Thanks for all the letters, fotos, packages, and everything else! Grandma and Grandpa, yes I did receive your package on Valentine´s Day, so it was fun to re-live the Christmas excitement. And I also received a sweet package from Conrad, with an Armor of God coin that I now carry with me at all times.

This past week was awesome. We were able to find some really elect people that are really striving to change their lives for good and follow the example of our Savior. We found a lady named Rosario, who told us that she remembered that Elders used to go to her house and play with her when she was 5 years old, and that they would teach her family as well. So we were able to teach her, invite her to be baptized along with her sons, and they went to church with us on Sunday.

We also found an amazing lady named Magdalena, who told us that she has been searching for the truth for a long time. She left her original Church, studied with another religion (hint: they knock doors like us...) but then she didn´t like it either, and she told us she noticed big changes in her aunt when she joined the Church. We went and taught her about the Restoration and how she could come to know for herself which Church is true. We invited her to be baptized on March 13th, and she accepted. She told us at the end of the lesson that she had felt a peace that she hadn´t felt for a very long time, and that for the first time in a very long time she smiled and laughed (well...I like to be myself when I teach, and sometimes that means a few funnies...). She´s golden, and I feel so blessed to be able to teach her the Gospel.

That´s pretty much all the scuttlebutt from my end, I hope you all have a great week, and we´ll see you sooner than you think!

Elder Budge

PS. That last little bit of the letter doesn´t mean I´m going home early. Don´t worry about that...haha.

Another week...another opportunity to BAPTIZE the world.

2011-02-21T12:15:00.000-08:00

Yellow family!!!

How are things going?! I'm feeling really good today, the sun is shining, there's a lot of dirt in the street, plenty of people walking around, ready and waiting to receive the message of the Restored Gospel. Who could complain?

This week was a week of some serious improvement for us here in Neza. We've been having some struggles these past few weeks, but we're doing everything we can to follow the counsel of our leaders explicitly and and we're beginning to see the blessings. We're trusting in the Process, and working our hind quarters off to contact, find, teach, bring to Church, baptize, confirm, and everything else!

We've been focusing mainly on just a few investigators we've found in these past few weeks...mainly the only ones that have gone to Church. Firstly, we're working with a brother named Juan Gonzalez and his daughter Monica. We found him when we did splits with the assistants two weeks ago, and he's been really receptive to our teaching. Last week we met his daughter Monica and Karin, but Monica has been the only one of the two that has been keeping her commitments to read, pray, and attend Church. She's definitely the one that's progressing most! She has her baptismal date for the 27th of February, and we're working hard with her to make sure she has everything she needs. Her sister, Karina, was really interested before, and would always ask us a million and a half questions about everything, but later told us, "Nah...I'll just stick with my religion." I'm always reminded of the Parable of the Sower when we meet people like that...that just let other things get in the way of the growth of the seed they plant. But, we're not called to teach them...we're called to teach the Elect, those who "hear [the Lord's] voice and hardenth not [their] heart[s]." And only them!

We've also been working with a 10 year old girl who hasn't been baptized, though her mom has been a member of the Church since she (the mom) was 8 years old. Her daughter, Datia, hasn't been baptized because her dad won't let her be baptized. He says that she only ten years old and doesn't really know what she wants (although she was baptized as a baby...back when she did know what she wanted...?). This sister, Catalina, told us simply that "she's living the consequences of not following the counsel of the Church". That is...marrying outside of the Covenant. The main difficulty is the father though...he says that if she gets baptized, she's not going to have a Dad anymore. Sound rational to you? Nope! Gotta love those awesome, loving fathers...but this girl is totally ready to be baptized. She knows more Articles of Faith than my companion! Hahaha!

At night, I've been reading the Institute manual called "The History of the Church in the Dispensation of the Fulness of Times", and I've read a lot about all the sacrifices the early Saints did as they remained faithful to the Savior and His Church. It really is incredible...of course, you've got a few Apostates here and there sometimes, but it's amazing the way the Lord provided for all who stuck to it with faith like Iron. Sacrifice brings forth the blessings of Heaven, I know it. I've also read a few times Doctrine and Covenants 58, which has been a great help for me as well. I would suggest that you all read it.

Anywho, I love you all. The Gospel is true, and never forget it!

Elder Budge

Sorry about the last two weeks!

2011-02-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

Yes, it is true, I haven't written for the past two weeks. But worry not little flock, I will update all of you so you can know "Que what's up" with the NezaPantitlan Zone. Two weeks ago Elder Coutino had changes, and I received a new Zone Leader, Elder Galvan, from Oxapampa, Peru. I think we're the only companionship in the mission that doesn't have a Mexican! It's been a blast working with him; we already knew each other before, because when I was first assigned as a District Leader in Xicotepec, he was in my district. It's fun that way because we don't have to play the "Get to know you" game.

This past week was pretty intense, we taught a bunch of lessons, and found a bunch of new investigators, but on Sunday only one of them went to Church. I was pretty bummed, and pretty confused, but after reporting to the Assistants last night I have more or less an idea of what we need to do in order to improve. This week should be a pretty good opportunity to figure out things we can do better, because on Wednesday we have our Zone Leaders' Council and on Thursday we have Leadership Training in our Zone.

Anywho, that's really all the news I have! Have a good week and go to the Temple!

Elder Budge

FOTOS

2011-01-24T12:33:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of the baptism of Marco Antonio that we had last week. Sorry I can't write much! See ya next week!

Hello Cap'n Crunch's Christmas Berries!‏

2011-01-17T16:38:00.000-08:00

Hello family!

This past week has been pretty sweeeet. And to top it all off I just found Cap'n Crunch's Christmas Berries in Wal Mart. Let's just get right to it, shall we?

This week Juan Carlos was confirmed, and he showed up with a white shirt, a sweeeet black tie, and a pretty spiffy black vest! Now we just need to work on his mohawk haha. I love seeing people get confirmed; and I love feeling the Spirit confirm to me that we're helping Heavenly Father bring to pass His purposes.Marco Antonio was baptized yesterday, and the baptismal service was really special. We had several investigators attend, and we watched the Restoration movie while my companion and Marco were changing into dry clothes.

Raul, the alcoholic we found the other week, completely disappeared this past week. My companion and another missionary from our Zone found him once while we were doing divisions and I was in another area, and they were only able to talk with him a little bit. We were a little worried about him on Saturday, because we thought that maybe he had been avoiding us because maybe he had started drinking again...but on Sunday, he went to Church by himself with his 8-year-old son, and told us he hadn't been drinking at all, he had just been working overtime! What a relief. He stayed for the baptismal service and loved it...if things go well, he and his son should be baptized this coming Sunday, but they might have to go out of town (yikes!), and we may have to postpone the baptism for the 30th. We'll see how things play out.

On Saturday night we found a really cool lady named Esperanza. We helped her take her groceries home, and she lives in one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in Mexico. It's called "Casitas", but we go there all the time during the day. We're just not allowed to go there at night time. But anyway, we went and talked with her and her mom and invited them to Church for the next day. We went to pick her up, and she was all ready with her skirt and dress shoes, and her daughter as well! She told us she had read the Restoration pamphlet, prayed, and already received her answer. She told us that she closed her eyes after praying, and saw Jesus with His arms extended towards her, and said, "Come unto me." Pretty cool huh? She'll be baptized on the 30th.

This week I've been reviewing the talks from the last General Conference, and it has been absolutely amazing. I have been especially impressed with Robert D. Hales' talk, where he explains how faith builds stronger character, and how we can become "permanently resistant to the eroding influence of sin and transgression." What really caught my attention was the word "permanently". He talks about how we need to put our faith in things that are true, like in Jesus Christ, in His Church, and in the counsel we receive from His leaders. And as we act upon that faith, it forges our character and strengthens us against future temptation, and we become who we need to become. "We become what we want to be by being what we want to be." After we act, we receive a witness that our actions were correct, and that the faith we had to act was true, and we confirm the validity of our actions. That in turn fotifies our testimony. He says: "Often such guidance is accompanied by powerful emotions that bring tears to the eyes and make it difficult to speak. But a testimony is not emotion. It is the very essence of character woven from threads born of countless correct decisions."

Like President Monson, I don't remember when I gained my testimony. I don't remember any specific event that convinced me that the Church was true. I just have received the witness a little bit at a time...over the last twenty years doing my best to make right choices. I just know that the principles and ordinances are true because I've lived them.

Family, the Church is most true!

Elder Budge

Hello Cap'n Crunch's Christmas Berries!‏

2011-01-10T16:41:00.000-08:00

Hellloo Family!

I was very happy to see my inbox very full this afternoon! It always makes me feel all warm and tingly inside when I know that people sill remember about their little mexican missionary out here in the field. We had a pretty eventful week, so I'll just "get to the grain", as we say in Spanish. (That's "Llegar al grano"...get to the point. I'll get to the point now.)

Well I don't know if I mentioned in my letter this week about a very interesting drunk man we met on the very first day of the year of our Lord, 2011. If so, here it goes again. As we headed to eat lunch with some members, a drunk man's family stopped us and asked us to help Raul Quiroz (the drunk man) with his drinking problem. He's had 25 years of drinking A LOT and we talked to him to see if he wanted us to help him. He said yes, gave me an uncomfortably long hug, and we set up an appointment.This week we went to that appointment, and found him very drunk again in his house. We talked to his wife and said it would be better to speak to him when he's sober, so we went back the next day. He was still a little hungover, but was at least able to have a coherent conversation with us. We set the goal for him to stop drinking completely. He accepted, and we went back a few days later to check on him, and he had stopped drinking for four days! Needless to say, his family was stoked at the idea, so we invited all 5 of them to church and invited them all to be baptized, and they accepted! They were looking pretty spiffy with their white shirts and slacks on Sunday morning ready for Church!

We've also been working with a guy named Marco Antonio (we call him "Mark Anthony" haha), who has been progressing a ton. He read the Book of Mormon and prayed about it, and told us that after he prayed, he stood up, got dizzy, fell down and hurt his foot. And he took that as his answer that the Book of Mormon is true! hahaha! Hey, whatever works. He'll be baptized this coming Sunday.

We baptized Juan Carlos this past Sunday, who is the husband of a recent convert whom we baptized a few weeks ago named Mari Carmen. He's progressing a lot as well...right before his interview, we made him take off his earrings...he was kind of bummed but knew that it was the right thing to do. On Sunday his wife was sporting his earrings! It was funny and we giggled at it.

I interviewed a really awesome lady last week for some other Elders in our Ward, who had received an absolutely amazing testimony of the Book of Mormon. She said that while she was praying, she felt darkness all around her and couldn't speak; she then starting calling out God's name, and the darkness went away and said she felt an "immense light" inside of her. I was like..."Are you sure you're not just reading Joseph Smith history?!" Ok I didn't really say that but it's what I thought. She was baptized sunday night as well.

This past week we had an awesome Zone Leaders' Council at President's house, where we enjoyed a house with carpet (imagine that!!!), and delicious american food (Shepherd's pie, waffles, scrambled eggs, carrot cake...aahhhmmmm...). The Assistants gave an awesome training called "Key Indicators: Trust in the Process". They talked to us about how the U of U football team was able to have an undefeated season because they were able to trust in the process, that is, do the basic things they knew they needed to do, realizing the importance of every play and every player, and trusting that they would come out on top inspite of setbacks. They compared that to our Key Indicators, and how in order to increase the number of baptisms, we need to increase every other key indicator as well, and trust in the Process that the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Presidency has established. It helped us out a ton, and we were able to have a lot of success this weekend because we were able to just trust in the process. Sweet!

Anywho, that's all the "what's up" from my end. Until next week!

Elder Budge

PS, I'm sending photos from the ZL Council, from bowling and ice skating this morning, and I think a few other surprises.

Holy cow it´s 2011!!!!

2011-01-03T17:00:00.000-08:00

Hellooooooo! La la la....

Muchos saludos de la Zona Neza/Pantitlan, y el primer saludo del año 2011! Pueden creer que el año ha pasado tan rápido? Yo no!

Anywho, my companion and I have some big plans for this coming year; there's lots of improvment to do, many people to find, bring to Church, baptize, and invite to come unto Christ! This year is going to be awesome. We already started off with a really good week to help us figure out the things we need to change and improve in order to bring more fruit unto the Lord. I spent a lot of the week outside of my area, but nevertheless had some really cool experiences.

This past week we did splits with the assistants, and I finally got to actually work with Elder Walk! We realized that we hadn't taught together since the MTC, and then we realized that in the MTC we never taught real investigators. So it was fun to have the chance to actually work with him in the Lord's vineyard and gather up some fruit! We had an absolutley awesome day. We did something he calls "Power Proselyting", which consists of choosing a street in which to work (of course through much prayer), busting out the good ol' Ward Directory, marking all the families that live in that street, and going to visit them, and of course, contacting everyone in our path and knocking a few doors if we feel like it. It was really awesome, we ran into some really strange less-active members (one lady who said she left the Church because she didn't want to pray to Joseph Smith....we told her that we never pray to him, but she said that they tried to teach her some memorized prayers so she could pray to Joseph Smith. Weirrrrrd), but were also able to contact a TON of people in the street. Later Elder Walk felt the impression to knock a door, so we knocked, and an active member came out and said that that was her house. We asked if their was anyone else in her house, and she told us we could try to knock some other doors in the building. We went to the last door, knocked, and a lady named Paolina Pluma came out, we introduced ourselves, and accepted our visit. After asking a few questions, she told us that she had had some serious difficulties these past few weeks with the loss of her daughter and granddaughter. We taught her the plan of salvation, invited her to be baptized, and she accepted everything! Elder Walk and I teach in almost the exact some way, so there was plenty of flow and harmony when we taught together, and when we left the house, we were skipping down the street with our arms around each other's shoulders! Ha it was really fun, and a really good experience for me. We topped the night off with a delicious Domino's Pizza, with their supposed "new recipe" that tastes the same as the old recipe...

The next day, my companion and I got to work together in our area, and we spent most of the day contacting, to almost no avail. Most of our appointments had fallen through that day, and we were getting a little desperate at the end of the day. We decided to take some advice from the assistants and find a quiet place to pray and ask for a specific blessing. We had the goal of finding two new investigators that day, so we told the Lord where we were going to contact, and asked him to bless us with those two new investigators. After we finished, we started contacting like locos, and every time we contacted it was a usually a couple walking together. We saw a lady that was standing by her car alone, so we contacted her, and she mentioned that she had been have some difficulties, and had been praying for the answer. We testified to her, and then ther eleven year-old son came up to us and we set up an appointment to visit them the next day. Sweet!

My time is running out, and we had some other cool experiences, but I'll share them next week maybe!

Elder Budge

PS I can't believe Deanna is heading to BYU already...she'll have to introduce me to her friends once I get back! hahaha!

The Twenty-Seventh of December...

2010-12-27T17:04:00.000-08:00

Hey family!!

It was so awesome to talk to all of you on Saturday, and especially to see all of your beautiful faces, including Josh's awesome beard! That thing is sweeeet.

Welp, since we've already discussed a few things on Saturday, I will answer a few questions! First of all, my companion is NOT from Brazil, he was just kidding...and he didn't understand a thing Rudy said to him on Skype. He's from the state of Chiapas, Mexico, so to answer your question, he does speak Spanish haha. He's an absolute stud, seriously every day is like hanging out with a best friend. We get a long really really well and we already have several inside jokes...so we're definitely having a good time here.

Mom, we're in the Neza/Pantitlan Zone, but geographically we're in a colony called "La Arenal" in La Delegacion Venustiano Carranza in the federal district. Sorry if I don't write a lot this week either...this keyboard is covered in dirt and dust and the keys are all sticky...it's hard to write fast and it's frustrating.

We've been working with some really cool people these past weeks, including Mari Carmen and her daughter Sandy, who got baptized on Sunday. They're so fun to teach and work with, and they both have such great testimonies of the Gospel. We were able to see some miracles this week at Church; my companion and I were really concerned because we didn't have anyone to bring to Church, and the only people we could find last week were people we weren't really planning on focusing on too much...people who said they woud maybe go to Church and things like that. But, lo and behold, on Sunday they all went to Church by themselves! It was awesome.

My companion and I have been talking a lot about the things we've learned so far in the mission, and I've been especially pensive, considering the time I have left, and I've realized that I would not have learned half of the things I have learned had I chosen to not serve. It's such a unique time, where we can forget about our personal problems, and be dedicated completely to one cause. We only read Church materials. We pray who knows how many times a day. We listen to Church music, watch Church movies, talk about teaching the Gospel, and that allows us to be taught by the Holy Ghost. Those who don't serve literally do not know what they miss out on, and they never will know it. I can't tell you how much I love being a missionary. It has been the greatest joy of my entire life, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. As I've reflected on things with the "soft filter of experience", I have gained an unwavering testimony that every good and bad experience have helped me grow, although personal growth is not my objective here in the mission field. I understand why the Lord requires His Priesthood Holders to serve in His army, and I'm grateful that I made the decision to do so even when I was nowhere near understanding "why".

These next five months are going to be awesome.

Elder Budge

Skype....?

2010-12-20T07:55:00.000-08:00

Hey Family!!!

Forgive me for leaving you all on the edges of your seats last week...the transfers came as quite a surprise. Anywho, my new companion is Elder Coutiño, and he´s a Zone Leaders...which means I have also assigned to be a Zone Leader. My companion is an absolute stud, and we´ve had an awesome week, full of excellent experiences!

We had the privelege of having a Conference with Elder Tenorio of the Seventy, who is serving in the Area Presidency here in Mexico. He taught us some awesome principles, especially what he taught about praying specifically and receiving specific answers. Sorry if this letter is a little short, my hands are freeeezing and it´s hard to type fast.

So it turns out that this year, I am officially allowed to use SKYPE and webcams to call home this Christmas!! Isn´t that awesome? We just got an email from the Missionary Department of the Church letting us know that that´s allowed!! So, I´m thinking we can talk on Saturday at 6 o clock Mexico time, and I just set up an account with SKYPE so we can do a Video Call!! It´s going to be great! So if you don´t have a webcam, BUY ONE! Set up an account on Skype, and look me up (my username is jacob.budge1 ) ok?? jacob.budge1 !!!!!

Love you all, and SEEE you on Saturday!!!

Elder Budge

PUROS MILAGROS!!

2010-12-13T08:01:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

Can I just tell you that I love this work! This past week has been most excellent, and as you may or may not tell, we have seen pure miracles here in our Wards!! It's incredible how much the Lord has been blessing us these past few weeks, and it seems like the miracles just keep coming. Here are a few so you can get a taste of it:

We have been working with an investigator named Pedro, who was a referral from the Zone Leaders from the Zone next to ours, and we had his baptismal interview last week. While we were waiting for him to show up to the interview, a lady came up to the Chapel and told us that she had spoken with the sister missionaries a few years ago, but that she had since then stopped going to Church and was never baptized. She said, "I think my time has finally come, and I would really like to be baptized. Can you tell me who the missionaries are that live near my house?" She gave us her address and it turns out...that WE are the missionaries that live close to her house! Needless to say, we set up an appointment, went and visited her and her family, and talked about what we had to do so they could be baptized. Turns out that her husband and her two kids, Andrea, 16 years old, and Alejandro, 8 years old, want to be baptized as well. Andrea made the suggestion that they should read the scriptures and pray together as a family every day, and they've all received witnesses that the Book of Mormon is true. Awesome. the Mom, Elisabeth, had a dream after reading Alma 32 and said she saw a tree in the middle of a field, and heard a voice that said "The seed is good and fertile" and then woke up. Miracles! We took them to the visitor's Center on Saturday night and it was pretty sweet.

Pedro had his interview, passed it (we thought he was going to need a special interview), and has been progressing a lot. I'll tell you about the baptism a little further on.

Our investigator had his interview the same day as Pedro, and he did need a special interview (we thought he was the one that wasn't going to need it), and we set up the appointment for his special interview for Sunday at 6 30 in the Visitor's Center, which leads me to our next few miracles...on Sunday.

Sunday morning I dropped my companion off at 9 o clock in the Balbuen Ward, where Irlanda was confirmed a member of the true Church, when a family of three (Mom, Dad, and son) show up to church with a family, and we were able to set up an appointment with them for this week so they can be baptized on the 26th. Miracle! Afterward, I headed out to our other Wards, first to Zaragoza to bring Elisabeth, her husband, Andrea, and Alejandro (who will be known as the Romero Family from here on out) to Church, and I left them with the Ward Missionary Leader and headed to our next Ward, in Hangares. There, Pedro came to Church, my companion showed up a little afterward (don't worry, we did splits and we weren't alone haha), and we had Pedro's Baptismal service at 2:00. It was awesome, Pedro is a big guy and we had to buy special clothes for him, and my companion almost dropped him in the baptismal font, but it was OK. We went to eat lunch with a family, and then headed to the Visitor's Center with Alejandro to have his special interview. He passed with flying colors, we headed back towards the chapel, got lost, but then showed up right on time, and had an amazing baptismal service for him at 8:30 at night. Holy tiring day....and really really rewarding.

Our goal for baptisms for this month is 5, and up until now we have been able to baptize three people in these past two weeks. The Lord has blessed us so much...according to the investigators we have that are ready to be baptized, we should end the month with about 8 to 11 baptisms. It has been absolutely incredible, and I've gained such a strong testimony of how the Lord can bless us when we humble ourselves before him. The investigators He's given us are absolutely inspiring to see...people who are truly converted to the Lord. And then...Elder Budge receives a call from the Zone Leaders.

In the midst of all this great success, I'm getting transferred tomorrow.

Elder Budge

Photos:

1. Elder Flores and I and a bag of "Fritos"...we think it's funny because we call the disobedient missionaries "Fritos". HA!

2. Me freezing my tushy off in our house during personal study...it's cold here!

3. Me and Elder Andrew Stott from the Mexico City South mission...we went to junior high together and we saw eachother in the Visitor's Center on Saturday!

4. Us and the Romero Family in the Visitor's Center.

5. Pedro's baptism.

6. Alejandro's baptism

7. The Ward Missionary leader is teaching us how to make pizza today! As I write...we are waiting for the dough to rise.

8. Me "wofting" the scent of the pizza sauce that we're making.

Great Week

2010-12-06T07:57:00.000-08:00

Hey Family!!

How's it going?! I hope things are going well...because I didn't really hear from anyone today! Ha I guess I'm used to it. I always tell the members here that once you have a little bit of time in the mission, people just seem to forget that you're serving. But that's ok, because the work continues to move forward! We had an absolutely awesome blessing-filled week this week...I'll cover the highlights.

At the beginning of the week (Monday till Thursday) not much really happened...we had a bunch of appointments that all fell through and my companion and I wasted a lot of time going back and forth and back and forth between those appointments. No bueno. We found an awesome family of four on Tuesday that just disappeared the rest of the week...who knows where they are! But we just kept working and working and working, and really we were able to see the blessings of that hard work.

Thursday our investigator Irlanda had her baptismal interview, which, of course, she passed. We had an awesome baptismal service on Sunday for her, and her RM-friend-from-youth baptized her. When we got to the Chapel, the font was full of dirty water, so we had to empty it out. But it wasn't emptying fast enough for us to be able to re-fill it by the end of the third hour of the block...so we had to grab buckets and start emptying the font out like that! Some brothers helped us out and we were able to empty out the font, fill it back up (with clean water), and have a really nice baptismal service. Baptizing is definitely still my favorite part of the mission.

Last night we went with a member family and Irlanda to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional. It was amazing. I especially loved the way President Eyring spoke of the Savior...you can tell that these men really are Special Witnesses of Him. I love seeing all the Christmas decorations and I can't believe that soon I will have my last Christmas in the mission...that's a weird thought.

Just so you know, I need to know when is best to call home, on the 24th or the 25th and at what time, to make sure all the fam is there. I can't do it in the morning on the 25th because we're going to have a Zone Activity in the morning that Day. I'm thinking the 25th in the afternoon, or at ANY time on the 24th. Figure it out with the plans you already have and I'll let you know where to call me.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Budge

PS I'm sending some photos...the baptism, my planner for this month, some pesos, me cleaning the baptismal font, and the ward missionary leader's daughters who wanted to pose and take pictures with us. They're hilarious.

Moctezuma Miracles Week!

2010-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Hello family!!!

This week has been absolutely great! I hope you're all still STUFFED from all the food you ate for Thanksgiving! That's definitely something that Mexico needs to adopt...no stuffed turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, or anything like that for Elder Budge. But I did eat some delicious tacos in a Leadership Training we had this past week....ok so they weren't turkey tacos but they were still pretty good! I have lots of reasons to be grateful, the Lord has blessed us so much in our area these past weeks, and we've been able to see the fruits of the work we're doing here down in good ol' Mexico.

I'm glad to hear everyone's doing well, especially with that whole Honey Business deal! And hey, how are things going with Josh finishing up his mission papers? I want to hear about his call to the Mexico City East Mission! (Hey, it can happen, right?) Let me know how that's going!

Anyway, on to my miracle-filled week! I really never know where to begin. This week we really didn't have a lot of time to work in our area, because I had a two-day leadership training in the Aragon Stake Center (the one next to the temple), so we only had three full days to work this past week. But they were just incredible. We're continuing to teach Irlanda, who is progressing amazingly. She has her baptismal date for this coming Sunday, and she's really excited to be baptized. We had to kind of drop the other investigator that we had with a baptismal date for this Sunday...he turned out to be a little "coo-koo" because his brain has been pretty warped thanks to many, many years of doing every drug you can imagine. Yesterday he lost his temper a little bit and...it wasn't pretty. So we decided to just invite him to continue to attend Church and work on him gaining a strong testimony.

Wednesday we had a pretty eventful day. The Zone Leaders from the Neza/Pantitlan Zone called us with a referral they contacted in their area that lives in ours. His name is Pedro...so we set up an appointment to meet with him on Wednesday night in the Chapel near his house. He told us his life story...and he has been humbled and prepared to accept the Gospel. It's incredible the things that he's experienced. But those things helped him to be humble enough to accept our invitation to read, pray, attend Church, and accept a baptismal date for the 12th of December. He went to Church on Sunday and was asking a bunch of really good questions about baptism, repentance, and forgiveness...just an incredible person. We'll be working a lot with him this week to make sure he's ready to be baptized and receive a remission of his sins! I love that part.

Thursday I had to go to Leadership Training, and the assistants and the Mission President taught us a lot about commitments, prayer, verifying, teaching with the Book of Mormon, and the role of the Holy Ghost in our work. I loved it. I loved feeling the Spirit testify to me of the things we were learning, and feeling His approval of the things I had been doing so far. It was an unforgettably edifying experience. We had Leadership Training again on Friday, and after the training we sang "Las Mananitas" to President Hicken for his birthday, and the assistants bought him a Batman pinata, and a "President Hicken" Pinata. It was really funny to see President breaking the Pinata. We ate some delicious cake and ice cream afterward...not a bad way to spend your friday afternoon!

Saturday, I completed 18 months in the mission. I'm officially in the fourth quarter, and although I've never been much of an athlete, I know how important the 4th quarter is! I sent a message to Elder Walk (the assistant) to congratulate him, and he sent me a text that said: "No pain, no gain, playa! Time to get in it. Baptize!" That is the plan.

Thank you for everything! Until Next week!!

Elder Budge

Photos:

1. Graffiti in our area...

2. More graffiti

3. My generation in Leadership training: Me, Elder Folkman, Elder Walk, and Elder Allsen

4. Me with the Pres. Hicken pinata

5. Pres. Hicken with the pres. Hicken pinata

6. Pres Hicken going at the Pinata!

7. The Leadership Training group

8. Me getting mad because my cell phone always drops calls inside my house...haha.

9. My companion and I drinking smoothies and watching movies (Church movies of course) in our Ward Mission Leader's house while we do laundry.

Una obra maravillosa y un prodigio...

2010-11-22T08:11:00.000-08:00

Hey family!

Elder Budge reporting for duty...after another amazing week in the BEST MISSION IN THE WORLD! That is, of course, the Mexico City East Mission!! Woo!!! I love being a part of this work; it really is humbling to know that the Lord trusts us so much, gives us so many blessings, and allows us to share those blessings with others!

So, an update on what's been happening here in the Federal District. Remember the lady I told you about that contacted us in the street? Well...she turned out to be not-so-elect and a little "loca". We had one visit with her and decided not to continue with her...maybe in the future.

Man I have so much to say but don't know what to talk about first. Chronological order seems to work out best. So last tuesday, we went to another ward in our Stake to visit with a young man that an RM had been teaching for the past couple of weeks. He was as GOLDEN as Budge's Golden Sunshine Honey. We reviewed some of the things he had read in the pamphlets, reviewed the questions from the baptismal interview, and gave him a Book of Mormon to read. We made an appointment for his baptismal interview for the very next day. That day came quickly, he passed his interview with flying colors (the Zone Leader that interviewed him was astounded by his golden-ness), and we set up another appointment for the next day. We talke with him about serving a mission and my companion and I shared some experiences with him about the mission. That really helped me remember and appreciate all the Lord has done for me my entire life, and especially the past 18 months. Needless to say, this "joven" Karim was baptized on Sunday, and I'll attach some pictures.

Next bit of news: We found an awesome investigator this week named Blanca Irlanda. We received the referral from the visitor's center and visited her on Thursday night. We talked a lot about the Book of Mormon, about Jesus Christ and Jehovah (can you guess what religous background she has?), and left her Alma 32 to read and pray about. She told us that she was just unable to explain what she felt while she was in the Visitor's Center and we were able to help her understand the nature of the Holy Ghost. On Friday we had another lesson with her, read more from the Book of Mormon, and helped her understand her answer to her prayers. She went to Church with us on Sunday with a friend of hers who is an RM, and while my companion was attending our other wards her friend and I taught her the Plan of Salvation. She loved it. At the end of the lesson, I asked her if she believed if the Book of Mormon was true. She said yes. I asked her if she believed if Joseph Smith was a prophet...she said yes. The Spirit is working absolute wonders with her, and she's really experiencing true conversion. She has a baptismal date for the 5th of December (just in time for her Dad to come to town...), and she says the great challenge of hers is that of breaking the news to her Dad. I asked her, "what happens if your parents say no?" and she replied, "Then...oh well. I'm going to do it." GOLD! GOOOOOAAAALLLL MEXICO!!

Can't you see why I absolutely love this work? The Church is true!

Elder Budge

PS I've attached some pictures from the baptism. One of the pictures has Karim's girlfriend...don't go thinking he got baptized just for her!! haha just kiddin.

What up, FAM!!

2010-11-15T08:14:00.000-08:00

Hey hey!!

Sounds like everyone had a busy week! It's good to know that you're all doing well and keeping yourselves anxiously engaged in good causes. I also had an excellent, miracle-filled week with my son Elder Flores. Sorry the "Man Expo" was lame Dad...haha I can't imagine what they would have there. Not sure if I want to. To be honest, I really enjoy being in the city a lot more than out in the boonies. It was a nice little surprise when I got transferred...I was mentally preparing myself to be out in the middle of nowhere for at least six months. I'm definitely grateful to be among the chilangos again...I love these people so much. I was missing the dirty street tacos for sure.

Looks like the whole Honey Business dealio is taking off! That's great news! You should sell Budge's Golden Sunshin Honey down here in Mexico. That would be "sweet" hahahaha. Well I'll just let you all in on how my week went.

Well I'll just start off by saying that the week started out pretty slooooww. We had a sweet District class over at the Stake Center in Aragon; I talked about the importance of inviting investigators to fulfill commitments, having them commit themselves, and the importance of verifying the commitments afterwards. It was a really fun class. On Tuesday we just went out contacting in the morning...and not a single person accepted. But the Lord knew we were working so he decided to give us an awesome blessing--the Bishop from a different ward in the Stake (where there are currently no missionaries) called us and told us of a complete family that went to Church by themselves on Sunday, and the Bishop told us he set up an appointment with them in the Chapel on Tuesday night! It was great. All of them accepted a baptismal date for the 21st of November (this coming Sunday), and they're progressing really well. BUT, the missionaries from their ward finally arrived so we'll be passing that family along to my other son, Elder Montoya, and the other missionary whom he is training.

On Wednesday we went to visit a good handful of dry members that members from the Ward told us to go visit. We decided to listen to them and went to go visit...and I'm always reminded that there's always a reason WHY these investigators are eternal investigators...they just don't want to progress. Kind of a bummber but we're trying to win the confidence of the members, and visiting their referrals is an important part of that. Como dijo Nefi...pues, ¿ya que?

Thursday we decided to put the ol' Celestial References to the test again...we spent a lot of time praying and deciding where the Lord needed us to work that day. So we chose a few streets, knocked all the doors and contacted everyone in those streets...again to no avail. But did that get us down? NOO!!! Of course not. Getting down isn't worth beans! We continued to work and went to a few appointments we had, which kind of didn't work out either. We checked our online referrals and checked some of those out too, and set up some appointments.

We had a sweet District Leader Council on Friday, and we learned a lot about setting goals and how to accomplish them, and the Zone Leaders showed us Elder Walk's (did I tell you he's assistant now?) "Plan of Action"--or in other words, the process from getting from a desire to seeing results, and it's helped us figure out a lot of things we can do better in our own area. I love that Elder.

Saturday we saw some AWESOME miracles. My companion and I were both thinking..."we've worked hard all week, we've been super obedient...where are the miracles?!" And, lo and behold, we run into the Assistants from the Mexico City South mission (their offices are down the street from our house). We stopped to greet them, and started to chat a little bit to get to know each other. We had previously met an AWESOME investigator my first week here, but he only works in our area and lives in their area. We asked them if they knew him and if they had tried to teach him. They said that they had tried teaching him, but they could never find him at home because he's always working. They said, "Go and teach him and baptize him". I'm not one to question commandments or anything like that, so that's the current plan. We're going to be teaching him this week and all the good stuff.

So we continued talking, when a lady just came up to our little circle and asked "Are you guys Mormons?" We said yes, and she said that she had had some curiousity for some time and wanted to learn more about the Church! It was awesome. We took down her address and we have an appointment with her tomorrow night.

Moral of the story: Just be good boys and girls, obey the commandments, keep your covenants faithfully, and just put your trust in the Lord. If we don't do anything to interfere with the Spirit's guidance, we will receive the blessings the Lord has prepared for us. And a lot of the time, that just means being in the right place at the right time.

Elder Bednar, President Eyring, Brother Craig C. Christensen gave an awesome Stake Conference broadcast from Salt Lake on Sunday. It was absolutely incredible. What stuck out to me most is what Elder Bednar said about receiving revelation. He compared receiving revelation to three different types of experience with Light: the way light comes when we turn on a lightswitch (immediate revelation from God, i.e., Joseph Smith's first vision, Paul's vision on the road to Damascus), the way light comes into view slowly at daybreak (the more common way to receive revelation), and the light we receive at daybreak, but on a cloudy day. Needless to say I was able to receive several answers to very important questions I had.

Family, Mom, Dad, brother and sisters, brothers-in-law, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, best friends: This Church is directed by Jesus Christ Himself. He has called and authorized His servants to instruct us and help us walk in the path that leads to Eternal Life in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father. Sometimes we need to walk in the daylight we receive on a cloudy day, and trust in what the Lord has revealed in these last days to guide our path. We will not understand everything perfectly. But we can have a perfect trust in the commandments, the council, and the wisdom we receive from the Lord through His authorized servants, and through our own personal revelation.

Go to the temple.

Elder Budge

PS I'm sending some photos of my District, of a 300 peso Jenga game I bought for District Class (I guess you could say that Mom bought it, haha!), and my new son, and my agenda for the month of November.

Aaww...nadie me quiere. Sino Brady...yeeaah!‏

2010-11-08T08:18:00.000-08:00

Hello family!!!

How on earth are you all doing?! Dang Derek made me realize something crazy...we are the only two left! That's weird to think about. And our time is winding down so fast...now we just have to work hard and work hard and work hard and baptize the world in just a short time. And we are speaking the best language on earth! So I have some pretty sweet news for you. Here it goes.

As I mentioned last week, I got changed from Xicotepec, Puebla (aka in the middle of nowhere...) and now I'm in the very center, the very heart, if you will, of the Federal District...the largest city in the world!! I got transferred to the innermost part of our mission, right smack-dab in the middle of Mexico City. We have a bazillion metro stations, lots of taxis, buses...and for the very first time, I have a Wal-Mart in my area. Haha. But the best part is that our Wards here in this area are just awesome. This is my first time working with more than one ward at a time, so it's been a nice challenge figuring out how to work with three! The Ward mission leader from one of our wards has been helping out a ton, and after Sunday we now have a better understanding how we're going to tackle this new task.

My new son is awesome, his name is Elder Flores. He's the most teachable greenie I've ever met! He's super humble and pays really close attention to everything I do, and he's a really quick learner. It's been such a joy to be his trainer. My first son, Elder Montoya, is training for the second time as well, and the four of us are working in the same Stake. Pure Budge posterity is rocking the Moctezuma Stake!! It's a really humbling idea really, I truly feel grateful for the trust the Lord has placed in me.

I'm continuing to serve as a District Leader as well...but now my district is a little different. I have the two companionships of Secretaries (who don't even live in our mission...) and ALL the sisters from the Visitor's Center at the Mexico City Temple are part of my District! In total I have about 23 missionaries in my district! It has been a blast so far, and tonight we're having our first official District meeting in the Stake Center next to the temple. I can't wait haha! We'll take a gigantic district photo and I'll send it next week.

That's all the news I have...until next week!!

Elder Budge

PS. The reason for the subject of this email is that Brady is the only one who wrote me today...come on!!

Day of the Dead, Spongebob, and a new son...

2010-11-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Hey family!!

Sorry I couldn't write a whole lot last week, but I hope you enjoyed all the photos I sent. I'm trying to be more consistent in sending pictures...I think it makes my emails a little less boring. Mandy, I hope you keep uploading all this stuf onto that blog! I hear that I have fans? Haha just kidding. But seriously sometimes people ask. Anyway, thanks for writing me everyone, it's always really good to hear how everyone's doing.

Now I will answer some questions. Mom, of course they celebrate Halloween here in Mexico! What were ya thinking? American culture is very very integrated here...so on Halloween it was just like you might imagine it at home. Some teengers walking around in Costumes, little kids asking for candy, and if the missionaries don't have candy, they usually ask for money instead. But yeah, it's funny that when most people think of Mexico they usually think of huge sombreros and panchos and stuff like that, but it's really different. Everyone here watched iCarly and Drake and Josh, and of course everyone's obsessed with Spongebob Squarepants. When it comes to things like that, it's a lot like home. But you were right when you said that we celebrate the Day of the Dead...they're actually a few days if we want to be exact. And it's a little different from Memorial Day...people here set up altars in their houses with things that they're beloved dead liked while they were here in mortality...like foods they liked, cigarrettes, wine...and the tradition is that the dead people actually come and eat what they have set out on their altars. It's weird. But they have different days for different types of dead, like one day for babies who died before being "baptized", people who were murdered have a different day, peope who died in accidents, etc. But anywho, the best part is that we eat tons of mole (say it with me, MO-LAY), and it's delicious. This year I decided to participate in the cooking process, and there's a picture attached.

Anyway, on to the good stuff. Looks like me and melissa are Pregnant at the same time! Only my baby boy is due tomorrow! That's right, I'm getting transferred after my six shorts week in Xicotepec, and I'll be training a newby. My second son! I'm really grateful for the opportunity to train again...it will be a blast. I think we'll be opening up a new area too, so that will be interesting. I've never opened an area before. But anyway, I'm goodbye to good ol' Xico and headed towards Mexico tomorrow bright and early.

That's really all the news I have; I just want to congratulate David for putting both feet firm back at home. He'll be helping me out with music updates when I get back. That's a good sign of mission well spent--means he put two feet firm in the mission, fulfilled what he need to fulfill, and can very surely put both feet back at home.

I love you all, and happy Day of the Dead!!

Elder Budge

Pictures!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Hey family, here´s a ton of photos that I´ve taken over our time here in Xicotepec, we had an awesome Zone activity today, so the majority of the photos are from that activity. I couldn´t re-size them so the pictures are really big. And it´s because of that Zone Activity that i can´t write more, I have to get going home! I´m still 2 hours away. I love all of you and hope you enjoy the pictures.

Elder Budge

P.S. I won the swing set contest, as you´ll see in the picture.

Turns out green water works too...

2010-10-18T08:38:00.000-07:00

Hey family!!

I've had an awesome week and have a few things to tell you about so sit tight. First, I just wanted to comment on Josh working in the Primary. Ha! That's awesome. Who would of thunk it? That's all. Now on to my week...

Let's go back to last Monday when I told you that my companion had special changes because he was going to train a new Gringo! Welp, on Tuesday we started our Journey towards the Promised land of Mexico state, with our eye single to the glory of the Mexico city Temple. Three and a half hours and 234 pesos later, we arrived at the temple and Elder Cruz received his baby boy...from New Zealand! I like the new Elder...and not just because he reminds me of Flight of the Conchords. They'll do awesome.

My new companion is Elder Martinez, and he's just a stud. We've been getting to know each other this past week, working really hard to find the Lord's elect here in Xicotepec. The day after he got here, our ward Mission Leader invited us to eat dinner, and lo and behold, a lady entered into his store, told us she was a less-active member and that her son was not baptized! Of course...we didn't hesitate to make an appointment with her for the next day. That day we did divisions with the Zone Leaders, and I was with Elder Valdez (who heads home in about a week and a half). We taught Kevin (the not-baptized kid) about baptism, and he told us he wanted to wait. So we left him the task of reading and praying and we set up an appointment for the next day.

After that, we found an awesome new investigator named Araseli. We went to her house, and she basically asked us to explain the Plan of Salvation. It was already 9 o clock so we explained a little bit, left her the P of S pamphlet and set up an appointment for the next day. SO...that 'next day' of which I have been speaking was just awesome. We had about a bazillion appointments we had set up with our street contacts from the day before, and most of them fell through. Wish I could say that wasn't normal. But we went to teach Kevin, but he wasn't home, so we just talked with his mom. She told us that Kevin wanted to wait until he turns 15 to be baptized (he's 12!!!), so we just talked about not procrastinating his baptism. We returned the next day, and Kevin told us that when he prayed, he dreamed that God was talking to him, and that He simply said to him "Yes". It was pretty awesome, because we had explained to him that if he would ask a direct question, like "Should I get baptized this Sunday?", then God would give him a direct answer. So that answer was a very direct "Yes." He was interviewed on Saturday and baptized on Sunday! I love miracles.

We went and taught Araseli about the Plan of Salvation, and she had a ton of excellent questions for us. We were also able to teach her "husband" as well, and they came to Church with us on Sunday. The next task at hand will be to marry them...yikes!! But the Lord will help us find a way to get them married.

That's all the news I have. Be safe, have fun, go to the Temple! Seriously!

Elder Budge

Photos:

1. My first District as DL

2. Me and my new companion in the Chapel

3. Kevin's baptism

Give, give, give until there´s nothing left!

2010-10-11T10:16:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

Sorry I couldn´t write a whole lot last week, those pictures took up more time than I had anticipated. You forgive me? Excellent. Thanks for all who wrote me, really it means worlds to me. I´ll try to make this letter as spiritually uplifting as can be written...while ¨I´ve got a feeling that tonight´s gonna be a good night¨ by Black Eyed Peas is being blared in this internet cafe. Haha!

First of all, I didn´t get to give my report of how absolutely amazing General Conference was! I´ll share with you some of what I consider are the ¨highlights´´ of the many talks that were given. Ready? Ok.

First of all, Elder Uchtdorf´s talk about turbulence was a really good eye-opener for me. In my District we´ve been experiencing some turbulence in the work, so it was a good reminder to take things back to basics, and really just rely on the simple impressions of the Spirit and the basic principles of missionary work: hard work, diligence, and obedience. Just what I needed to hear. I was also really impressed with Robert D. Hales´ talk about making decisions...and how we need to just simply make the same choice we made in pre-mortal life...in my opinion, that means to learn and study the Plan of Salvation, and make the decision to follow God and His prophets. As Kevin R. Duncan explained...we have prophets and apostles for a purpose! We need to listen to their counsel; if we don´t, we don´t have a reason why to get up and testify about living Prophets today. Speaking of testifying...I absolutely loved what Richard G. Scott said about testimony: It´s not emotion...a testimony is a quilt woven together by countless correct decisions. Really, it always comes back to us and how we use our agency; as Boyd K. Packer explained, no one can take our agency away from us, we can only give it away--and agency brings with it responsability.

Did you like the way all my Conference commentaries all kind of wove into each other? I didn´t even plan that but I´d say it worked out pretty well! Anyway...

These past few weeks have been a little rough. Lost of decoy investigators...but this past week. We found a pretty awesome family at 8:30 at night on Saturday! We´ve been studying a lot about diligence...and we´ve definitely been putting it into practice. We´ll see how their progress goes. We have to marry them...yikes! That means lots of travel. Oh, and my companion, Elder Cruz (who is just absolutely AWESOME...I love this man to death!) has special changes...he´s going to be training some new americans that are coming in today. We have to travel like 5 hours to go pick them up and I´ll be getting a new companion. We only had three weeks together, but that´s just the way things go sometimes. I´ll miss him a lot. Good thing he has a visa and is going to visit me in Utah. Heh heh. Anyway, I love all of you. Please remember to go to the temple as often as you can! We need to put more temples on the map!!

Have a good week, I love you all so much!

Elder Budge

Photos!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-10-04T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hey family, not a lot of time to write, because I spent some time uploading and editing pictures to send! My week was awesome, General Conference was absolutely incredible! I'll write more next week!

Photos:

1. Bowling my last P-Day in Tecamac
2. Ice Skating in Tecamac
3. My dad, me, my son, and my grandson!
4. My new comp and I eating delicious Mac and Cheese with Chili!
5. The beautiful view from my desk every morning...you can see the missionary essentials.
6. Our Chapel in Xicotepec!
7. A banner we found in our chapel, it says "Xicotepec Ward" haha.
8. The two gringos watching Gen. Conf. in english
9. The missionaries of the Tulancingo Stake at Gen. Conf.!
10. Elder Walk and I...again.

Have an incredible week, go to the temple, and always remember that the Church is true!

Elder BudgePhotos!!!!!!!!!!!!

Xicotepec, Puebla baby!

2010-09-27T10:26:00.000-07:00

Dearest Family,

As of last tuesday, I am the Leader of the Xicotepec District--in the very farthest area of the mission! It takes about 4 or 5 hours to get to Mexico City from where I am...and there is one state between my area and the Federal District! It´s kind of crazy but I absolutely love it! It´s ridiculously beautiful; lots of trees, rivers, waterfalls, and of course, lots of people ready and waiting to get baptized. Ha you won´t believe it, but here in this Zone, Elder Walk (my MTC companion) is one of my Zone Leaders, which is absolutely awesome (actually, he is at my side on another computer in this very moment!). We slept at the Zone Leaders´ house last night and played some sweet basketball in the morning. We have to travel to their house every Sunday afternoon to turn in records and letters and things like that...they live 2 and a half hours away. Yikes! But it´s really fun because Elder Walk and I get to catch up and talk about EVERYTHING. He´s really become a good buddy to me.

Anyway, so I had to leave my son, Elder Montoya, with my new grandson, Elder Lara, in Los Heroes. I´m sure they´re doing great...that ward is so awesome. And now, I´m in Xicotepec. My new companion is Elder Cruz...he´s super chill and an awesome missionary. We get along really really well...we think the same in a lot of ways. So he´s pretty much a stud. We spent all last week just looking for new investigators...it was ridiculous! I´m too used to working with city people, it´s been weird getting used to these small-town folk. This area is just ready to explode with a lot of success. I have so much faith in this new area...I know that there are thousands of the Lord´s elect ready and waiting for us. It´s just up to us to go out and find them. Elder Walk showed me a really cool letter that his grandpa sent him, and he talks about how being a good servant is just receiving the assignment and doing it. There´s no asking why or how or when...you just do it! I was reminded of how Dad always tried to teach me that principle. He always would say, ¨Jake, just be a problem solver!¨ I´m really grateful for that teaching, because that´s how the mission is. Success in the mission is baptizing...the Lord has called and commanded us to baptize. So we just need to go out and do it! He´ll worry about the how´s and why´s and who´s...we´re just instruments in his hands.

I had a really awesome experience this past week in my very first baptismal interview. The entire interview I had really strongly felt that his man wasn´t ready for baptism...after digging a little deeper, he had some issues that I was uncomfortable with and in the end, we decided to wait for his baptism. I called President Hicken and we talked about what had happened in the interview, and he said to me, ¨Elder, you couldn´t have given that man better counsel if you had been a Bishop for 25 years.¨ I still felt unsettled about what had happened, and I was wondering about the decision I made was the right one...so I prayed, and decided to crack open the ol´ Book of Mormon. I opened right to Mosiah 26:34-39. I´ll let you all read it. It really helped me realize the importance of my calling and my responsibilities in the mission. I´m doing another interview tonight, so I´ll ask you to be praying for me as I do so. I need all the help I can get!

This week I prepared a blank Book of Mormon, and marked all the passages that explain the principles of the Missionary lessons, among other things, so I can use JUST the Book of Mormon in the lessons we teach. It turned out pretty awesome, and has been a great tool in teaching. I love the Book of Mormon!

I love you all, and I think that´s all the news I have for you. I love you all, and thank you for all your prayers!

Elder Budge

Ya no vuelvo más!

2010-09-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hey fam!

Sorry I wasn't able to write a letter last week. I bought a new USB memory stick thingy and I spent most of the time downloading all the pictures I lost from when I got robbed. Me perdonan? Muy bien. So a little bit about what happened last week...not much. That's actually why I felt ok not writing haha. Don't worry; I'm still alive; I still love you, and no Mandy, I'm not mad at you for not writing. And I'm not mad at you either, Mom, I know things get busy and sometimes you can't write. That's just the way things go. I will tell you that last week we found whom we thought were awesome investigators, but we dropped them last night, mainly for their lack of progress. I can only last so long explaining the same principle of why "bad things happen to 'good' people" in so many visits. Goodbye old investigators, hello miracles!

This week was super busy for us. On Tuesday, we had an awesome Zone Conference where the Assistants taught us to always use the Book of Mormon in our teaching (NOT the Bible) because we're in the land of Lehi and his descendence. And then President Hicken explained to us the importance of obedience. All in all it was an excellent conference. Then on Wednesday we had to be in the house at 6 o clock because it was Mexico's Independence Day...and in the afternoon it's too dangerous for us to be out in the streets. We cleaned the house...kinda like Derek, but man, looks like Derek lives in a PALACE!!!! Holy Cow! And then we weren't allowed to leave the house until noon the next day. We lost a lot of working time, but we definitely took advantage of the time we DID have, and were able to have a really good week. We found a couple of families that went to Church with us, and some of the members brought some investigators to Church too. It was a very excellent Sunday for us.

So...I have transfers tomorrow! I will be saying goodbye to Los Heroes after being here for almost 6 months, and I'll be embracing my new calling as a District Leader. Hello Cell Phone! Haha. Also, my son has been called to be a TRAINER, which is just awesome, and I'm going to be a grandpa!! Awesome, huh? I feel really grateful for the trust that the mission President and the Lord has in us. So next week I'll let you know where I am and who I'm with and all the rest. I really don't have any other news...we went ice skating, bowling, and mini-golfing today (AWESOME!), and I feel way exhausted. I love you all, I hope you have a great week, be safe, and go to the temple!

Elder Budge

PS. I'm attaching some photos from our little trip today, the car I'm going to buy after the mission (Dad, you know what i'm talking about), and i don't remember what else. Enjoy!

Teotihuacan...part 3!

2010-09-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

Hello family!

As you may or may not have guessed, today I did my THIRD and possibly final trip to the Pyramids here in Teotihuacan, Mexico. It was sweet, and because it was my last time, I bought some cool souvenirs that maybe I will send home. Maybe. I'm attaching some sweet photos this week--some soccer jerseys that some members made for us, a photo that explains pretty well how i've been heating up water in order to be able to bathe, intented murder, and my awesome mustache. Enjoy.

There's really not much to report this week. We had a really challenging week...as far as numbers are concerned, definitely not a week I am proud of. But, I'm super determined to just keep on keeping on. I was thinking a lot about some scriptures that my companion and I usually share with less-active members or with investigators who are afraid to keep commitments, and just in general when people feel like God isn't blessing them. In section 58 of Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord explains exactly why that is. I'll paraphrase, and kind of translate from what I remember from what it says in Spanish. He says, "Who am I to promise and not fulfill? Men disobey my commandments, and I revoke the blessings. Then men say, this cannot be the work of the Lord, because His promises are not fulfilled!" Wo unto men who so think. I like to ask the question, "If the Lord always fulfills His promises, and those promises are received based on our obedience to His commandments, then what is going on if we aren't seeing the blessings?" Answer: We're not obeying the Lord's commandments.

Family, the Lord is perfect, and He certainly isn't a liar. The scriptures mention that we, the spiritual Sons and Daughters of the Most High God, are less even the dust of the Earth. Why? Because God says, "Dirt, move over there." And what does the dirt say? "Ok." But what happens when God gives us a commandment? "Well, it's really not that important...I don't see why I need to do that...what's the big deal if everyone else does it?" I think we can all take a good look at ourselves and figure out how we can better our obedience to the Lord. Let's be loyal to our Father in Heaven and follow His commandments. It's not a coincidence that those commandments lead us to Eternal Happiness. Who wouldn't want that?!

Anyway, I want you to know that I'm committed to being better, more obedient, and more faithful as a Disciple of Christ. I love all of you.

Elder Budge

RADitude!

2010-08-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

Hello family!!

Man lots of exciting news this week! That's so awesome that Cory, Jordan, Brady, and Jace went to the house for a surprise visit! I love those guys! Haha and I'm glad that everyone was enjoying Brady's awesome one-liners...what a stud. Dang you all look so good. Especially Dad, all skinny! haha. Thanks for the photos and everything else. I have such a cool family.

So this week was extremely abnormal for us in Los Heroes, Tecamac. The District and Zone Leaders had a 4-day training out in Pachuca, Hidalgo, so our week was spent mixed up with other Elders from our Zone. Tuesday and Wednesday I was in a trio with my kid, Elder Montoya, and another new missionary, Elder Castro. It was way weird being in a trio. Contacting in the street was really awkward...and the lessons were weird. But I guess there's a first time for everything. After that, on Thursday and Friday I was with a new Elder in my area named Elder Patterson. Man it was weird to be with an american! I have never had an american companion before. And now I think I know why...we did not speak Spanish all day. But it was a good chance to practice speaking English...I was all mixed up. Turns out he's good buddies with the drummer from the Killers (they're both from Las Vegas and they've know eachother since Elder Patterson was born) and his brother-in-law is the bassist for a group from Utah called Neon Trees. I guess that band is getting pretty big from what he tells me. He kinda trunked me out with all that talk about music. But now things are back to normal! Well, as normal as things get in the mission.

We had some awesome baptisms this past Sunday. We baptized an elderly lady named Rosamaría who has been a Jehovah's Witness for the past 25 years or so. She's so so awesome. She had a hard time recognizing the answers that God was giving her; I think in every lesson we had to explain how the Holy Ghost is manifested to us and how to recognize His presence. But, after some really cool dreams that she had, she decided to be baptized. Everything went awesome in her interview and she was baptized on Sunday.

We also baptized a couple of kids, Kevin and Brian, from a less-active family. It was way cool because last week their mom kept saying "it's too soon, it's too soon" and all that jazz. But after attending Church and the ward activity last week, she told us that she wanted her kids to be baptized THAT SUNDAY. She had really felt the Spirit and was able to recognize the necessity that her children had to follow the Savior's example. Their dad went on a business trip on Friday and showed up in the knick of time for their baptism on Sunday. I love the way the Lord makes things work out, and especially when it's at the very last second. He is truly directing this work!

Church was excellent this Sunday; some recent converts gave some BOMB talks about preparation and perserverance. It was one of the best Sacrament meetings I've been to here in Mexico so far. Can't complain there. That's all the news I have. Be smart, be safe, go to the TEMPLE!

Elder Budge

No one has been called to fail.

2010-08-23T10:47:00.000-07:00

Hey family!!!

Man you guys did pretty well today with writing me! Thanks for all the updates and kind words and everything else! It really is a thrill to hear about what everyone is doing. Sorry if there are any typing errors in this email...this keyboard is a real piece of junk. Plus english grammar is not really one of my fortes anymore...bummer.

'Panda, sounds like St George was a blast! I really can't believe how fast you are growing...you look like a grown up. And Dad looks SO GOOOD!! I still haven't heard from that man in a few weeks...what's the deal? Mom, I'm glad you had fun in Texas and that you could see some old friends...will you do me a huge favor and when you send me the Genealogy from your Dad's side, make sure to use BOTH last names (the maternal and paternal) it makes making connections easier. Jason, make sure to study hard at Dixie and don't go to too many parties...everyone says Dixie is a party school. Plus you're married so fun is kind of a thing of the past now. Just kidding. But seriously. JOSH! I can't wait to hear that you've turned in your papers...and especially to hear about your call to the MEXICO CITY EAST MISSION! It's unprobable...but I'm allowed to dream, right? Japanese Elder Budge...I feel your pain about embarassing Sacrament meetings....yikes. But, as you know, the elect always feel the spirit anyways. Keep the chin up and talk to everyone! The President just came out with a new rule about knocking doors about a month ago. Knocking doors is not mentioned in Chapter 9 of Preach My Gospel, so as of a month ago, knocking doors is against the rules. Cool, Huh? haha.

This week was a week of miracles. Lots of cool stuff. I'm kind of short on time so I'll keep it brief (the Secretaries sent us a lot of stuff this week...). Silvia and Gerardo were BAPTIZED on Sunday afternoon, after a series of problems with the water not working in our Chapel and things like that. BUT, a simple water problem does not stop the will of the Lord...so we went to the Stake Center and baptized them there! Thwarted yet again, Satan! It was frustrating but really cool at the same time, when we got to the baptismal room there was some writing on the Chalkboard that said: "Welcome! Miracles come to those who have faith". So true. Back in the day Silvia didn't want anything to do with the Church, and actually wouldn't even let us in to teach her mom (we had to teach in a park). But now her and her husband have received the remission of their sins and are very much embracing the Gospel. I love miracles. David, what happened to you with that one guys totally counts as a miracle. Heck, I've done it!

Anyway, that's pretty much all the news I have. I'll be in a trio this week because of the 4 day leadership training, and I will have my DL's cell phone while he's out! BALLIN!! No, i do not normally have a cell phone...but the Gospel is still true! Remember that always.

Elder Budge

PS- Photos of our 4 baptisms last week (Jesus, Mayra, Kelly, Eva) and from the baptism of Silvia and Gerardo this week. Plus the awesome chalkboard.

In a time of Spiritual War...

2010-08-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

We are united.

Hello family!

Once again, thanks for all the letters and updates and everything else! Seems like summer is ending well, and I don't think I'll be receiving news with the same enthusiasm once everyone is in SCHOOL again! But I'm glad everyone is ending their summer with a bang. Man Mandy, I'm super jealous about your VIP ticket thingy with Jack Johnson. I hope you took some photos! And Miranda, sounds like you're going boating a ton! And have fun tomorrow with yet another boating activity. Be safe.

Grandma, thanks for the update! I'm not so sure they were trying to get rid of you by giving you a bike for your birthday haha. Oh the things I would do in order to have a bike here in Mexico...we're not allowed to have bikes because they get stolen really quickly. Haha I love Mexico. Thanks for writing!

Welp, this week went pretty well for Elder Montoya and I. I feel very humbled by the success we've been able to have...and that's one of the most important lessons I have learned: choosing to humble after experiencing GOOD weeks instead of being forced to be humble by bad ones...needless to say, I am very very content with the way the Lord has been able to bless us and help us out these past few weeks.

Working during the week was pretty normal, we found a few people who said they were interested but didn't go to Church, a less-active family with two kids that need to be baptized who also didn't go to Church, but the rest of our investigators were able to attend Church without a problem. Sonya and Carlos have kind of hit a barrier for the immediate future; but we were able to baptize two of their children, Jesus and Mayra, along with Eva and her daughter Kelly. It was a really special baptismal service, because we've hit so many speed bumps on the way to the baptismal font...I feel very grateful that the Lord allowed everything to work out. Haha on our way to the Chapel for the baptism, our Taxi rear-ended a car right in front of us...it was just a little fender bender, but it's funny how Satan thinks he can beat us with a little thing like that. When will he learn...

Church was really really special for me yesterday...again, very humbling. It has been amazing to see converts from this area receiving callings, reading and marking up their scriptures, teaching classes, and everything else. It makes me feel really good about the work the Lord has allowed us to do in this area...the Ward is growing like crazy. The Primary President asked us to do "Sharing Time" yesterday, and my companion and I acted like witnesses to some of the Miracles Christ did while here on earth, with emphasis on His power over death. It was just awesome...I felt really good seeing the little children of convert families playing and getting along with the other children of the Primary.

Family, friends--the Church is perfect.

Elder Budge

No Clever Subject This Week

2010-08-09T09:29:00.000-07:00

Heeeelllloooooo Family!

How the heaven are you?! I'm feeling a little exhausted after our little trip to the PYRAMIDS this morning. It's very good to hear from all of you (and when I say "all of you"...I mean Mom and Miranda). Haha. Bueno, from the way things sounds, seems like everyone's alive and well. Always good news to receive. Miranda and Josh, sounds like you two had a BLAST at youth conference, man those things are cool. I loved Youth Conferences. And thanks for the photos, it's weird seeing Josh with a goatee. You'll have to shave that off when you take your photos for your mission papers! Yes!

So what's all this funny business about Skyler Paxman getting married? Does anyone want to share the details? Just a heads up, if you're planning on letting me in on the gossip, you'll have to share ALL the details so I can get the full effect. I don't know if Skyler reads these emails, but if he does, CONGRATULATIONS! I hear having a ball and chain is good fun.

Mom, thanks again for the email. You're my most consistent writer. Sounds like you and pappy had a good time at Dad's show down in Delta, and Dad, I'm jealous that you got to play in Park City. What a blast. And I hear you are losing a lot of weight! I'll need some photos to make sure I'm not getting bamboozled. For all I know, Dad's lost all his hair and mom is getting shorter! In other words, I'll need some pictures. Mom, have fun in Texas, eat LOTS! Mommy Martha makes some delicious food. Me saludas a mami martha and daddy vicente.

Anywho, this week was really productive for Elder Montoya and I. We're continuing to teach Sonya and Carlos with their two kids, and we got permission to baptize her kids while we wait out their divorce...looks like it could take 4 to 6 months...so I'll be long gone by then. But we'll see how things work out. Azucena got confirmed member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints this past Sunday, it was pretty sweet. Her daughter, Silvia and Silvia's husband Geraldo are progressing...little by little, but they're progressing. We'll see how things go this week, because I am afraid that if they don't begin to show more progress, we may have to drop them. I don't like doing that.

Funny story time: We were in Silvia's house teaching about baptism, when it started to RAIN really really really hard. We really had a hard time hearing each other, and then it started to THUNDER! We continued to talk when all the sudden we see this huge light right above her house and hear the thunder in the same instant! Short story shorter, it turns out that lightning struck her TV antenna and burned out her TV! It was cuh-crazy. But, her husband took advantage of the opportunity to buy a new plasma flat-screen TV. No complaints there.

Anyway, Elder Montoya and I are really enjoying the work. These past few weeks there has been a ton, so we're feeling really grateful. The Church is true, family. Don't ever forget it! Let's keep the commandments and we'll all be very happy, ok? Sounds like a plan! I'm sending some photos.

1. I hurt myself at our District class last week. I'll explain why in 10 months.

2. This is our district.

3. This also is our district.

4. This is me at the pyramids this morning! Cool!

5. Elder Montoya and I on top of the Sun Pyramid.

Love you all, be safe, have fun.
Elder Budge

PS. I ate a rabbit this week.

Could I have a better family?!

2010-08-02T10:52:00.000-07:00

NOPE!

Good afternoon one and all, and welcome to Missionary Work in Mexico!

Just to answer some questions and make some comments about letters received in the "fan mail" this week...

I can't believe Janna will be home tomorrow! 18 months went by really quickly...it's incredible. I won't complete a Sister Missionary's mission until November. And Janna, it was really good to hear from you. Thanks for your uplifting words. I'm sure you know how much that means to a missionary.

Mom, you'll have to forgive me, but I couldn't help but laughing when I imagined you getting stung by a wasp. I imagined lots of frantic jumping and you shouting "ooooh!" in a high-pitched voice. For what it's worth, I send my condolances. And I agree; in the future I think the course to take is to just avoid the situations in which you could find yourself with more wasps. Good call. That's fun that Miranda's staying in Melissa's room now, and I hope you know that I have promised refuge in that house to many a Mexican wanting to go to the US. Sorry about not asking permission. Haha. And that's fun that you saw Lex, I'll bet she's having a super-boring summer without me. Haha.

Mandy, good work with a list of books! I love reading and I can't wait to read that book about Moses that you mentioned. And I think Brady Crump was reading that same series that Eli is reading right now that begins in the Pre-existence. Reading helps you learn good. And to talk good too. You'll have a blast picking up Janna tomorrow, I love missionary home-comings; just don't be thinking about mine until May 2011 rolls around. Jeez!

Dad, I'm sure you're loving your calling as a Sunday School teacher. I love love teaching classes on Sunday, and I would absolutely love teaching the age group that you teach. It makes me not want to go to a Singles Ward when I get home haha. How boring :/ I hope the whole Budge honey thing works out! I've never thought about being a participant in the Honey business...up until now I've only been a consumer. We'll see how that pans out, and what the Lord has for me when I get home.

So my week was pretty normal, I guess. I just feel super satisfied with the work that we did. We're continuing to work with Eva and Enrique, Sonya and Carlos, Azucena, and a couple of others here and there. Azucena was baptized yesterday, and it was a really special baptismal service. One of the best. She came late (that's too normal here...) but we were able to get it all together. I attended the Zone Leader's baptismal service before ours (we use the same chapel), and Elder Delauhunty (ZL, going home on Friday) sang "Be Still My Soul" in english. It was awesome, even though I have a sore through and singing probably wasn't the best thing I could do to help that out. But yeah...anyway, Azucena showed up right on time, and like I said we had a killer baptismal service. We had some recent-converts bear their testimonies afterward, and everyone was all teary-eyed. One of my recent converts from this area, who just received the Melchizedek Priesthood, stood up and bore his testimony. It is a humbling thing to see a big, strong, tattooed black-belt cry as he testifies of the truthfulness of the Gospel. I am so blessed to be here right now.

This is something a little Random, but we went in a taxi to the Church last week, and the song "Big in Japan" came on the radio in the taxi...and I thought of the Japanese Elder Budge. Haha.

The situation with Sonya and Carlos is getting a little complicated. Carlos has to get divorced, but he and his ex-wife want the kids...that means lots of time in court and stuff like that. We're trying to see if we can baptize the kids first and baptize the parents later...but it doesn't look too promising. They didn't go to Church on Sunday because "her mom was coming to visit"...we're thinking about dropping them and hoping for the best. But we'll see how the cookie crumbles this week.

We're taking Eva and Enrique to a clinic to get their blood exams, and we're hoping by Friday we'll have them married so that Eva can get baptized on Sunday! Yippeee!!! Please please pray for this marriage to work out, we've been working like locos with them.

That's about it. Mom, I still haven't gotten the package...I'm worried about it too. Transfers are next week and it looks like we'll be getting pouch (letters and packages) on that day or the day after. Cross your fingers!

Love all of you, thanks for the letters!

Elder Budge

Pictures:

1. Baptism of Ricardo

2. Baptism of Nayeli

3. Baptism of Azucena

4. Us after playing soccer and volleyball this morning

Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades

2010-07-26T10:57:00.000-07:00

HELLO FAMILY!

Thanks for all the letters, and thank you Mom for sending Janna, David, and Derek´s emails. They´re so awesome. We have the greatest family in the world!!! And the best part is, we have an eternal families. I love that.

Sounds like everyone had a blast at Lake Powell! I´m a little jealous...but I did a different type of ¨swimming¨ this weekend too! Heh heh!! Mel, good luck with selling in St. George....I think it will be rough but you just have to work way hard. Mom, thanks for writing, and for your testimony. You don´t know how much it means to me. Is Dad ok? It´s been ages since I´ve received an email from him. Miranda, thanks for sending pictures!! They look awesome. I just received a letter from Sister Jardine and I remembered boating trips...and then I get all these awesome pictures! Haha. Who knows what it means.

Well, my week. To start off, we have eaten EXCELLENT food this week! I don´t know what got in to the members...but we ate some delicious hot dogs and hamburgers this week, along with mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, jello-o....aahhh I felt like I was in heaven. Or at least in the United States. It was pretty cool! But definitely not the best part of my week.

Our investigator, Azucena, has been progressing like crazy and continues to help us find people to teach! She does a lot more missionary work than the average member...and she´s not even a member! The reference she gave us last week, Sonya, along with her family, have been progressing a ton as well. We do have one or two minor hiccups with them...Sonya and her husband aren´t married, and her husband has to get divorced! That means...lots of money. They have their baptism programmed for next Sunday (the 8th), so we have to work way hard to get him divorced, get them married, and get them and their two kids in the water! I always love a good challenge. We took them to the Visitor´s Center in the city after Church on Sunday, and they loved it! I was a really special trip, and I had another little encounter with Alexa Thompson´s mom! She´s in a lot of Church movies!

We´re still working on Eva and Enrique´s wedding...it´s been tough. They want to find a new house before getting married...therefore: first, new house; second, marriage; and third, BAPTISM FOR EVA! It´s a lot of work, but when we are on the same side of the Lord, things tend to work out. I have 100% trust in that.

My companion and I contacted a way cool Lady last week named Diana, and had a really good ¨talk¨ with her in a park close by to her house, and we discovered that her life has been bombarded with seemingly endless problems. AKA: someone who needs the Restored Gospel. (Who doesn´t, right?). We taught a little bit in the park, made an appointment for the next day, and went to her house. We answered all her questions about the Plan of Salvation, she understood, inspite of her crazy loud children. My companion and I were praying silently for her kids to calm down, and suddenly they both fell asleep on the floor, and afterward we taught the Restoration. She told us that she had never seen her kids calm down so quickly...like I said, being on the Lord´s side has its benefits. She accepted her commitments to read, pray, go to Church, and to be baptized. We went back to days later...and she told us that she no longer wanted to visit with us. It was weird, and kind of out-of-nowhere. Thus the subject of this email...close.

NAYELI!!! We baptized her on Saturday! It was so awesome, and I was so happy to see the result of all of the hard work the Lord has done with her. It was really awesome...way better than swimming at Lake Powell. She asked me to baptize her, and it was just amazing. There was a really awesome Spirit in that room...you could just see the giant burden lift off her shoulders. Priceless.

We had interviews with President Hicken last week, and he was really helpful in broadening our horizon and helping us to know how to set better goals. So we´re putting that into practice. He explained to us that our norm of baptizing 1 every week shouldn´t be a goal, but a jumping off point. Lots of work to do!

This week, from the Book of Elder Budge: Having received the gift of the Holy Ghost should eliminate the phrase ¨What if...?¨ from our vocabulary.

I love every one of you, thanks for all the support. I´m sure your prayers are helping me to keep going.

Elder Budge

Eat fresh!

2010-07-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

Helloooo Family!

Mom, thank you so much for sending David and Janna's emails to me. I'll have you know that it was the first time I received their weekly emails...very enjoyable. It seems like David is experiencing the same changes in his mission as we are in mine (could it be because the Gospel is the same in Japan and in Mexico...?). I think so. I love hearing about my cousins and their missions...the only one I really haven't heard from is Derek...flojo. And David, just so you know, "dulce" probably wouldn't work too well in that context...try again next time. Use the word "Chido" instead. It's way more Chido than dulce..

Anywho, sounds like my buddy Braden David Crump, now ex-missionary, made it home safe and sound. I still can't believe that time has gone by so quickly. It's weird. And grandma and grandpa, thanks for the update! It's definitely good to hear all the news from your point of view. My dad didn't tell me about the golf ball story while you were in Europe.

This was a really interesting week for my hijo (son) and I... we experienced some major disappointments, but we both feel really satisfied with the work we were able to do. Last P-Day we went to visit some people we had previously contacted in the street, and, surprise! False address! Haha I really wish that wasn't normal for me. I told my companion a few days before that when things like that happen, we need to find someone to talk to immediately, because the Lord knows exactly where we are. And yes, that is precisely what we did. We contacted a woman (her name is Azucena) who was walking in the street towards us, and I asked if her if it was ok if we went to her house to teach the Gospel. She said "Si!" so we went. After talking with her for a few minutes, she told us that she had already been baptized when she was little, but after her baptism her family never went to Church again. I thought things seemed a little fishy...so I asked her for her info and called the Records Secretary to ask about her. Turns out that neither she nor her family exist in the records of the Church! She has no living witnesses to her baptism so...she's just going to have to get baptized again. She'll be baptized the 1st of August.

Azucena lives here in Mexico but originally is from Veracruz; right now she's living with her Daughter and her Son-in-law, both Catholics. We were teaching her the lessons in a near-by park because her daughter wouldn't let us into her house. Azucena started talking to her neighbors to see if anyone else wanted to listen to us so we would have a place to teach, and after doing some tracting she found a super-receptive family of four who loves hearing the Gospel. There names are Sonya, Carlos, Maira, and Jesus--they have their baptismal date set up for the 8th of August, one week after Azucena. I'm sure my cousins will agree with me when I say that teaching the truly elect people prepared by the Lord is 100 times easier than teaching people who simply aren't prepared to receive the Restored Gospel. So that was really satisfying for us.

Dulce wasn't baptized this past week...everything was going fine, there were butterflies and roses all around--until her baptismal interview. She passed her interview, but the day after told us that she wanted another month in order to get baptized. She really wouldn't give us a solid reason why--she kept blaming her mom, saying that her mom would kick her out of the house if she got baptized. We talked to hear about fearing God more than fearing Man, but she wouldn't listen to us. Every time we resolved her doubts, she would return to old ones. She told us that after a month she would have everything in order so that she can get baptized. We had to drop her. Bummer...

On the bright side, Nayeli, after a very long fight, is going to get baptized this Sunday! WOOO!! So we're definitely looking forward to that. She had to take care of some personal affairs, and now that all that is out of the way, there is nothing stopping her from getting baptized this Sunday. I love the victory over Satan. When will he learn that he just can't win?

Love you all, have a great week, head to the Temple! You're so lucky you can go whenever you want!!!

Elder Budge

This is life Eternal.

2010-07-12T11:01:00.000-07:00

Hello family!

I'm sorry to hear about Uncle Larry's passing away this past week. I've been able to meet a lot of people here that have experienced many deaths in their families, and it always helps to remember the blessings and promises of Eternal Life that come after this life. Every time I teach the Plan of Salvation I feel its truthfulness; especially as the Spirit testifies in others and I get to see their faces light up. Usually it's the first time that they've received real, edifying answers about the purpose of this lfie and the reality of the next. I love the truth.

My companinon and I had a pretty normal week. We did a lot of proselyting, were given lots of fake addresses, and were rained on like crazy all week. I love the qualifier weeks. It just means that the Lord has more and more blessings waiting for us just around the corner.

There's really not much news on my end...we had a special interview for Nayeli last week; we were in the Visitor's Center of the temple for a goooood amount of time and didn't get home till around 8 o clock so we weren't able to get much done. President Parra (the second counselor of the Mission Presidency) let us know that we need to wait another two weeks to be able to baptize her while she arranges some things. So I'll keep you posted on that. She is very very anxiously waiting to be baptized. Bro. Sanchez didn't go to Church on Sunday for his confirmation because he went to visit family to remember the Anniversary of his mother's death, so we have his confirmation planned for this coming Sunday.

I think one of the most important lessons I've learned these past few weeks is that wickedness never was happiness. I had said the phrase several times before, but after visiting with a few less-active members and some other people I've really been able to engrave that phrase on my heart. After meeting so many people who, though unknowlingly, live in such a manner, it's really had a great impact on me. I have met dozens upon dozens of less-active members that say "well...I have my house, I have my family, I have a good job, and I don't even go to Church. What's the problem?" God's love for us doesn't change according to our Church attendance or how well we keep the commandments. Nevertheless, the greatest blessings of all are reserved for those who strive to keep the commandments diligently. I'm always reminded that temporal happiness or pleasure--the kind that we may experience as we disregard and disobey the commandments--is not the goal we should have in mind. And, a good house, good job, and a healthy family do not give us free entrance into the Celestial Kingdom. The goal is to have Eternal Families--and we can only get there through obedience to ALL the commandments that our Heavenly Father has given us.

Anyway, just thought I'd share that with you.

Love you all.

Elder Budge

First week of training!

2010-07-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Hellooooo family!!

How´s everyone doing?! Sounds like the 4th of July was a blast! I was thinking about Malad this morning...and I was craving some home-made root beer out behind Ken's farm! DAAAANG! But that's Ok, my kid and I had a pretty cool 4th of July too!

Yes, Grandma and Grandpa, I received the CAMERA! THANK YOU! And I also received the letter you wrote me. I'm in the process of writing you back! I just need to buy some envelopes. Also! Mom, I imagine that the former Elder Hunter (now known as Jared Hunter) left all that stuff on our porch! Ha! He went home in April, and he's from our Stake and lives really close to us (over by Deerfield) and I sent a bunch of stuff home with him. Miranda, the New Moon thing is for you (obviously), and Josh, that is a real-deal REY MISTERIO luchador mask. ENJOY!!

So anyway, last Tuesday I went to the Changes meeting to pick up my new greenie! His name is Elder Montoya (no...we still don't know if we're related...I don't have my pedigree chart and neither does he). But he's a baller for sure! He's a 25-year-old convert from Mexicali, Baja California. We get along really well; and he's got an incredibly huge enthusiasm for missionary work! My job is to turn him into a missionary of SUCCESS! And speaking of success...

This week went really well for us, inspite of the really short time we had for proselyting. On Tuesday I went to pick up Elder Montoya in the Federal District, on Wednesday we had District Classes, Thursday was a normal work day, Friday we went up to a place called Pachuca to meet the new Mission President (that took up 8 hours of our day), Saturday we did our weekly planning and Sunday we had Church and a baptismal service. Yikes...busy week.

Nevertheless, we had an awesome week. We were working hard with Ricardo Sanchez (he had a smoking problem) all week, and on Thursday morning we finally had his baptismal interview! It was sweet! He passed, of course, and we had his baptismal service on Sunday afternoon. He came to the baptism late and my companion was worried out of his mind! I kept telling him, "Elder, the Lord's elect always show up. There's always one final trial, so just don't worry about it!" Ricardo's one final trial was a ridiculous amount of traffic due to a crazy accident on the bridge close to the Church. My companion's first baptism was sweet!

We're continuing to work with Nayeli...she has yet another interview tomorrow in the afternoon. I know that all will go well with her! And we've been working with a new investigator named Dulce, she's sweet! Ha...bad joke. (For those of you who don't know..."Dulce" means "Sweet"). She accepted her baptismal date for the 18th of July, has been reading the Book of Mormon and told us she believes the Book of Mormon is true. What more could we ask?

I think that's all the news from my end. I'm sending some photos of...

1. Baptism of Leticia and Ricardo (Leticia's son)

2. Elder Tanner and I a few days before he went home

3. My last picture with President Bulloch before he went home

4. My trainer, me, and my trainee

5. Our ride in the Combi up to Pachuca for the Conference on Friday

6. Ricardo Sanchez's baptism

7. Me reporting last night...in the pouring rain.

Love you all!

Elder Budge

Elder Budge is PREGNANT?!

2010-06-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Parents! Brother! Sisters! Aunts! Uncles! Cousins! Cousin-in-laws (including the new one!) and friends!

It's good to hear from so many of you today. I love hearing about all your awesome spiritual experiences you've had during the week. What a blessing it is to have the Restored Gospel in our lives! Yeah!!

I can't believe John's married! That's crazy! He didn't even wait for me. Lastima. I received some emails about how "Kristen went through the temple" and "we went to Kristen's endowment" and things like that...and I thought..."Who on earth is Kristen?!" And then I read mom's email and she was the only one that explained that it was John's wife. But anyway, Muchas felicidades!! Congratulations! I love eternal families. I am so proud of all of my loved ones that choose the path that our Savior has taught us...now matter how narrow and strait that path may be. It's tough but I'm so sure that it's worth it.

This past week has been a blast. On Tuesday night Elder Tanner and Elder Ramos (from the next area over) came and stayed at our house because we had Zone Conference really far away and really early in the morning on Wednesday. We had a pretty sweet PJ party. Elder Tanner finished his mission last week, so it was a good opportunity to ask him a bunch of questions and talk about the mission in general. He was and is a way good example to follow.

So on Wednesday we had our last Zone Conference with President Bulloch. His parting advice was simple but a lot more profound than I had thought initially: Be like Christ. I really think that's all that needs to be said. God doesn't give us commandments that we can't fulfill...and He has commanded to be perfect. So work at it! And I will too.

So my companion headed home on Friday, and they put Elder Ramos and I together while we wait to get our new companions tomorrow at the Changes Meeting. We had a crazy time trying to cover his appointments and my appointments on Friday and Saturday...but we got it done and we've gotten along really well. On Sunday, we baptized a young man named Alan, one of Elder Ramos' investigators. It was a really sweet baptismal service.

On Sunday night I reported to my District leader like normal, and he asks me, "So Elder Budge, I hear you're having a baby!" I started to laugh and tried to act like I didn't know what he was talking about (my Zone Leader had already told me that I will be training this Cycle). He started to laugh too. So yep, starting tomorrow I'm going to be a Daddy! I'm pretty sure my kid will be from Peru; they said that the majority of the Elders that are coming in are from Peru, and 8 more americans will be coming later on in the cycle. I'm way grateful for the trust the Lord has put in me.

So that's pretty much all the news I have for you! Have a great week and go to the Temple often.

Elder Budge

I love to look for rainbows...

2010-06-21T11:18:00.000-07:00

...whenever there is rain. And ponder on the beauty of our investigators made clean again.

Hello family and friends!

I've got some good news and some good news: Leticia and Ricardo got baptized yesterday!! Woo hoo!!!! It was sweet, although Ricardo got some water up his nose (I told him to close his nose WELL!!). It always feels really rewarding to be able to participate in the saving ordinance of baptism, I really Love it. It really is just amazing to see what miracles the Lord can work among his children if we can excercise just a tiny bit of faith. Obedience + Worthiness = Miracles. That's a promise from an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sounds like the wedding reception thing was a blast, and that's sweet that Tanner Renshaw just got back from Chile. I wonder if he was in Cory or Jordan's mission...man spanish is such a beautiful language. I love it. I can't believe it's still snowing down in Cedar City! That's NUTS! It's been raining here a ton, and when it rains, it pours! I said "it's raining cats and dogs" one time to my companion and he didn't understand me...guess it's not really an expression in Spanish like it in english. Oh well.

So I was reading some of the teachings of the prophet Joseph Smith this past week (what an amazing person!) and one phrase really stuck out to me. He said (roughly translated from spanish): "We should gather up all good and true principles that there are in the world, or we will not become true Mormons". We should alwas remember that we live in the world, we are not of the world. The world offers us some things that are true and worthwhile; but at the same time we need to avoid things that waste our time and deterr (sp?) us in our eternal progression.

We're continuing to work with Ricardo Sanchez, but his smoking problem is really strong. But, he's progressed a lot since we first met him; he's gone from smoking two packs a day to one cigarrette a day. But it's still not enough for him to be able to be baptized. We're trying to help him to stop completely, but it seems like he's struggling. Other than that, he's doing really awesome. He always goes to Church by himself, and is always willing to listen to us, any time any day. Please pray for him so that he can do what he needs to do in order to stop smoking. I know their is strength and power in a sincere prayer.

More good news: Nayeli finally came to churhc with us! It was sweeeeet! We're preparing things so that she can be baptized in 2 weeks. It will be awesome to get the whole household baptized. And really her mom, Leticia, is setting an awesome example for her. They're both reading the Book of Mormon a lot, and really enjoying it. In every one of our visits they re-cap what they've read, and it's awesome how much they're learning. Any of ye who shall do my will shall know of my doctrine.

We've got our last Zone Conference with President Bulloch this Wednesday, and my companion is headed home on Friday. All in all, life is good. Missionary work is so difficult, but so worth it. I would not rather be anywhere else than here, in Mexico, among the Lamanites. Remember that doing what right is always worth it; there will always be nay-sayers, negative Nancy's, doubting Thomas's, and everything else, but we can have the confidence in that the Lord is pleased with what we are doing. The Church is true.

Love, Elder Budge

FIFA MADNESS!!

2010-06-14T11:19:00.000-07:00

Hey there family!

As you can guess, all of Mexico is going crazy about the World Cup down in South Africa. It's nuts. When Mexico played against South Africa on Friday, they even put the game on in the Schools so kids wouldn't skip school to see the game! HAHA! And all through our studies on Friday our neighbors were screaming like crazy. Ha it was funny.

Thanks for writing me all of you--you know who you are--so now I will respond to your emails, maybe throw in a funny comment here and there, and then I'll let you know about my week. Dad, sounds like you guys had an EXCELLENT time on Memorial Day...I really am super grateful for our amazing heritage. I can't wait to dig in to geneology work when I get back. And where in Salt Lake is the Red Iguana? My comp always tell me that Iguana meat is really really good...but I doubt that's what you guys ate. JOSH, head out on the mission as soon as you can. Don't worry about seeing me! We'll have an eternity to hang out afterward, the mission should be your very first priority. Do whatcha gotsta do. And that's awesome that Olimpo is alistandose to go on the mission as well. We will be an awesome unstoppable Montoya missionary force! At least, for a few months. And Mom, I think our only option would be to send the new card to the mission offices (for those of you who don't know...I left my debit card at Walmart and lost it...I'm dumb) but just make sure that it's secure and FAST...si me hace mucha falta.

Sounds like Panders had a killer time at Girls' Camp...it's funny working with Young Women's leaders out here sometimes...the Young Women's Program of the Church is awesome but it's totally foreign to me...are girls aliens? And it's good Panda took some newbies snipe hunting. Haha like father and and older brother...like daughter. Not that catchy of a phrase...haha. MANDY, that sounds like a sick dream! We'll definitely be hitting up all the NFG concerts we can. I just have so little time left I can't believe how fast it's going by. And thanks for the 'autographs'. It's the thought that counts right? Oh and Mandy...letters are always welcome here in Mexico. Feel free to give them my address...especially if any are entering into the Young Single Adult Program here soon...haha it's a joke. Kinda.

John, sounds like you're tearing it up in Dallas, as always, soon you'll be the Boss of that whole company, and you'll have to hook me up with a job as your translator so you can talk to the workers. Haha. Just to let you know, i'm in Los Heroes Tecamac, in the State of Mexico (El Estado de Mexico). If they're chilangos they'll know whats up.

So the follow up on the cliffhanger I left you with last week...

Ricardo Sanchez is awesome. He's the guy that contacted us last week, and we've had a few lessons with him. He is just super elect. He fulfills with all his commitments, he's got a baptismal date for the 30th of June (2 more weeks); he just needs to quit smoking and he'll be good. And I'm sure he'll do it. Leticia and her son Ricardo are doing awesome, we just had to postpone their baptism for this coming Sunday because Leticia had an Interview with President Torres, a counselor in the Mission Presidency, and they decided that another week was necessary so that she could invite all her family to attend her baptism. Therefore, it shall come to pass shortly. Her daughter Nayeli (the one who cut off her 'arm'), wasn't able to come to Church with us because of her work...so she's looking to cut off that arm too and get a new one (AKA find a new job) so that she can come to Church with us. So that will be awesome.

So on Tuesday Elder Tadeo and I stopped at a store on the way home to buy more milk (you know how I love milk...and I'm famous for it in our Ward haha) when we walked by a taco stand and I saw a gigantic herd of GRINGOS!! We didn't stop to talk to them but I was left with the curiousity. By the way, gringos are americans, for those of you who haven't heard the term. Anyway, so we were walking on Saturday when I saw three of them walking down the street towards us, and I turned to my companion and said that I was going to contact them, and he told me not to, but I said yes! so I did. Haha. Turns out two of them are RM's and they're here as Exchange Students finishing out Chiropractor school (AWESOME), but they didn't know how to get to the Church. We told them we would pick them up for Church if they would help us do splits to pick up investigators, and they accepted. It was sweet. Their names are Tyler and Josh; Tyler served in the Moscow Russia mission and Josh in the Cebu Phillipines mission (no...he doesn't know John Crespo). Both of them are good guys and they offered us free treatment for our backs. No room for complaint there.

Family and friends, the Church is most true. I cannot express to you how grateful I am for the service I have been able to offer the Lord. My family already knows that they have received many, many blessings, as well as I have. We should all stand a little taller. Be a little more grateful. Our Heavenly Father has given us the amazing gift of immortality...we simply cannot waste one minute on things that just don't matter. Spend more time with your family. Mom, Dad, I love you, and I've felt that more than I ever have before. We're all eternal best friends.

Be safe, be smart, and remember to go to the Temple.

Elder Budge

I want to belong to your Church!

2010-06-07T11:21:00.000-07:00

Hello family!

If you´re wondering about the subject of this email...let me fill you in. On our way to the internet café a guy named Ricardo came up to us, threw his cigarette on to the ground and told us ¨Hey, I want to belong to your Church! When can we meet together?¨ Ha it was awesome. He told us he´s already been reading the Book of Mormon and wants to be a member of the Church, but that we have to have our visits ¨in secret¨ because his daughters don´t want him to be a Mormon. Haha so we have an appointment on Wednesday at a park by his house.

Mandy, thanks for the update! Sounds like everything´s going pretty well. Before I forget, Mom and Dad, has an RM named Jared Hunter given you a package yet? He´s from our stake and he just went home at the end of april and I sent a bunch of stuff with him to take to you guys. Just wondering. Anywho, back to Mandy, you and I are definitely going to do a TON of genealogy work together, I´m really just craving to do it. It will be sweet to get all the Temple work started for Mom´s side of the family. And what the guy said from your ward is true...you need to head out to MEXICO! Where the Coca-Cola´s cold and the salsa is spicy. Love Mexico. But we don´t drink Coke...don´t worry. And what´s this about Caitlyn Renshaw getting married?! That´s crazy! And awesome. It´s funny how I always think that everything back home is in ¨pause¨ mode while I´m out here serving. Nuts. And I´m sure John´s wedding is going to be bomb. Ah you´re all growing up so fast...

So anyway, Elder Tadeo and I had a pretty awesome-rough week. Just working like ¨bueyes¨ (oxen..) and qualifying for the Miracles. We found an AWESOME family last week, they were all down with coming to Church with us and everything...but, we found out that a few years ago they got in a fight with their next-door neighbors (members) and told us they didn´t want to go to Church if their neighbors were going to be there. So we told the members to go and apologize, but our investigator family didn´t accept their apology. So...yeah. Moral of this story: always be a good example to everyone, non-members and members alike. We also received a reference and taught a sweet family of five, but they had already made plans for Sunday and couldn´t go to Church. As difficult as it is, a lot of times, after we do all that we can do and don´t receive the result we desire, we have to accept the Lord´s will. It´s part of keeping your eye single to His glory. But man it´s hard...

So on the flipside, Leticia, Ricardo, and Raymundo did come to Church with us. Raymundo got confirmed (that was awesome....) and Leticia and Ricardo are very very anxious to be baptized this coming Sunday. We took Leticia and two of her kids Ricardo (11 years old) and Nayeli (27 years old) to the Visitor´s Center last night, and it was sweet. One of the Sister Missionaries at the Visitor´s Center asked Leticia, ¨What is it that would keep you from being baptized?¨ And she said, ¨Nothing! I just have to wait till next week!¨ Ha it was awesome. We´ve also been working with her daughter Nayeli, who was lives with her mom and three kids, and she just barely gave us some good news. She had been living with her boyfriend for two months, and we had been talking about the Law of Chastity with her, and of course, about what she needed to do in order to follow that commandment. Yesterday, she told us very excitedly that she kicked that guy to the curb! She told us ¨He was my right hand that was offending me...So I had to cut it off!¨ The only problem is that she hasn´t come to Church with us yet. But this week! This is where prayers are needed.

That´s pretty much all the news I have. President Bulloch is headed home in three weeks and we´ll be receiving a new Mission President--lots and lots of changes! I´m excited for what the Lord has waiting for me in the future.

Love you all, be safe, be smart, be clean, be humble, pray a lot, remember your covenants, and remember that the Dead cannot be saved without us and we can´t be saved without our Dead! So.....Head to your nearest TEMPLE!!!

Elder Budge

Paul McCartney in Mexico?

2010-05-31T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I guess Paul McCartney just did a crazy big concert here in Mexico, according to the news that's on right now in the internet cafe. Sounds like it was a pretty big deal! Anyway...

Thanks for the collective update Mel...sounds like everyone's keeping themselves busy. Panda, you should totally go to Baltimore to visit Melissa! I did the same thing when Melissa was in San Bern and it was way fun. Plus the East is so sweet. I love it. Haha that's sweet that Mandy won some tickets to an ice skating show on the radio. I've always wanted to win stuff on the radio...I got denied one time because I wasn't 18. Oh well. Mandy, Melissa tells me that you need some advice for some classes on Sunday about sustaining missionaries through letters or something like that? Ha and when was the last time you wrote me a letter....?! Well I guess one of the things I can tell you is that letters can be really helpful or be a huge distraction. Avoid things like "Did you hear that your ex-girlfriend got married...?" What interests me is to hear about the blessing you all are receiving while I'm away, like success at work, sealings in the temple (but not of ex-girlfriends...), things you've read in the scriptures. I think the thing I like most to hear is that you're staying close to the Church and changing and improving your efforts in scripture reading and prayers and things like that. And for your class on testimony...the thing that your class really needs to understand is that a testimony is found in the bearing of it. It's good to note that the commandment is "open your mouth and it shall be filled", and not the other way around. And it's important to remember that testimonies are simple, precise declaracions of what you know to be true. "I know that God lives.", "Jesus Christ is my Savior and Redeemer". "God called Joseph Smith to be a prophet." We get a little hesitant, as missionaries, about bringing investigators to Fast and Testimony meeting sometimes...because you never know what the members are going to say. "Last week, when I was headed to the grocery store..." usually isn't a good start to a declaration of eternal truth.

Sounds like Dad had a pretty good time with Shane and his little Jam Session last weekend. Melissa, you should ask the sister missionaries what mission they're from, and you should definitely invite them to eat with you more often. We always appreciate it :). And also...for the package. I could use some more socks...all of mine have holes, and I have to change them once during the day. bummer. Gold toes are always good. Also some CDs of some cool hymn arrangements or something...my favorite LDS singer is Mindy Glendhill. Use that knowledge as you wish.

So my week was pretty sweet. Elder Tadeo and I are having some pretty good success! It's so awesome working with a veteran. Elder Tadeo is such a crazy good teacher...I think that's one of the main things I'm learning from him. So our main focus of this past week was Raymundo...getting him living in his sister's house, getting him interviewed, and getting him baptized! We did all three...of course, with the help of the Lord. We've been telling him since last week that he needed to live with his sister (not with his girlfriend) while he works on his divorce and his marriage. We reminded him on Tuesday and told him we couldn't have his baptism until he moved in with his sister, and he said "Hey! You never told me that! I thought you just wanted me to live there so I don't live with my girlfriend. If you told me I could get baptized as soon as I moved out, I would have done it a week ago!" We told him that we DID tell him that, and he admitted that he just didn't remember. Haha. But anyway, we got him moved out, got him interviewed, and we baptized him yesterday. It was awesome. I have the picture, but I left my memory card at home. Sorry! Next week.

Anyway, that's all the news I've got. We're working with some new investigators we found last week and planning on bring them to the Visitor's Center on Sunday! I'll let you know how it goes....NEXT TIME! Same time, same station.

Elder Budge

Love one another as Jesus loves you.

2010-05-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

I've had that song stuck in my head for a very long time. It's definitely a good one.

Hello familia! Como estais? Todo bien?

There's a little bit of Spanglish for you. I can't believe it's still snowing in Utah...that's incredible. You should send some of that snowy goodness over here in Mexico because it is HOT! But at least it's not humid...that's the good thing. It's my last summer here in Mexico so I've got to work on the tan and soak up the Mexican sun while I can. I will have the sweetest farmer tan ever.

It's good to hear that all is going well with Ice, Dad. Dang I want to go to England. And it's good that all that Justin Beaune garbage is out of the way. What a dork. I was thinking a lot this week about all the blessings that have been received since I started my missionary service, and I remember something that Eli wrote me at the beginning of the mission. He told me that as a missionary, whatever good thing I ask of the Lord in benefit for someone else will happen. I've seen that so much as I've been here. Everytime I get rejected, our investigators fall through, or people yell swear words at us in the street, I just remember: more blessings for my family.

I forgot to mention last week that Elder Soza got transferred on Tuesday. Our time together was short but sweet, and now I have a new companion, Elder Tadeo. He's sweeet, and has a lot of experience in the mission. He only has one more month left to go, so President Bulloch told me that I need to keep him "alive" so that he can end his mission well. We've had a lot of fun working together; we were already buddies before (that's fun...having a companion you already know). The only thing is that I know we only have this short month together, then he's DEAD, and I'll have another companion. We're definitely taking advantage of the short time we have together. We'll just baptize the world.

Everything went SO WELL this week! That is...up until Sunday. Geez. We found a lot of really really cool people to come to Church with us on Sunday...and none of them came. It was really frustrating for both of us, because really the people we had found were so awesome. But, ni modo, we have to find even more even cooler people this week. I'm still not sure how but we'll be changing up the strategy and getting the members more involved in finding people with us.

Yesterday, we finally baptized Diana (the 9 year old), and it was really sweet. One of the Zone Leaders, Elder Delahunty, and I sang a hymn together at the baptismal service, and it worked out really well. I really love love baptizing. We're still working on getting Raymundo a place to stay so he can get batized this Sunday, so that's going to be our main challenge this week. Other than that there's really anything else to report. We went to play soccer this morning and it was pretty sweet...until another missionary kicked the ball over the fence of the chapel and the people on the other side stole it and said that it wasn't there. Needless to say, we had to stop playing sooner than planned.

I hope everyone is doing well; good and healthy and all that. Feel free to email me...let me know how things are going.

Love,

Elder Budge

Just be a good boy.

2010-05-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Hellloo Family, Friends, and...well other people who read this too.

I hope everyone's doing well, and sounds like everyone's keepin themsevles pretty busy. Miranda, good to know that school is getting done, but why on earth are you headed to five different states this summer?! I demand an explanation! It seems like you're just like me. I love traveling. And you should definitely try to get your passport so you can head to Europe with Dad! That's going to be so SWEET! Don't let opportunities like that pass by. And of course, take lots of pictures and send them to me. I love getting pictures.

Anywho, we had a pretty RAD week. Last week President Bulloch sent us some talks by Elder Bednar to read and study in preparation for a little reunion we had this morning (i'll fill you in on that in a few paragraphs) and I learned a lot about faith. It's funny the way we usually define faith...because we usually end up defning "hope" instead of true faith. Elder Bednar explains faith in a way that impressed me so much. (I suggest you read two of his talks... "Ask in Faith" and "Seek Learning by Faith"). He explains three different definitions of faith given by three different prophets: Paul, who explains faith as the hope for things which are not seen, which are true. Alma, who explains faith as the evidence of things not seen. And Joseph Smith, who explains faith as a principle of action in all intelligent beings. Elder Bednar explains that these three definitions explain the three basic elements of faith: 1. An Assurance, 2. An Action, and 3. The Evidence. I'll let you read the rest of the talk, but in a nutshell he says that true faith is when we have the ASSURANCE to do something, then we ACT, and we receive the EVIDENCE (or blessings) that in turn give us even more ASSURANCE to ACT even more. I obviously don't explain it as well as he does, but just read the talks prayerfully, and I'm SURE you'll feel what I felt as I studied those words. What a sweet experience.

So this week we were able to receive many blessings. Many, many blessings. We continued to visit with Miguel and Rebeca, and on Wednesday morning we had a lesson with them at the Chapel about Tithing and Fast offerings, which of course they accepted (that's just what the elect do all the time...), and a few minutes later our District Leader, Elder Walk, came and interviewed them both. Needless to say, they passed with flying colors, and we started to plan their baptism. This Sunday we had Stake Conference, and those of us that had baptisms stayed and had an awesome baptismal service after the conference. Between the four companionships, 12 people were baptized yesterday from our Zone. It was a really fun and beautiful experience to see so many people in white. I don't have the pictures with me so I'll send some next week. So Miguel and Rebeca got baptized yesterday, they'll be confirmed this coming Sunday, and they'll be ONE YEAR away from entering the temple. It will be a sweet going away present for me to enter into the temple with them next year just a few weeks away from heading home. Man I love the mission.

We had a pretty sweet reunion with ELDER BEDNAR this morning, and that's why I'm writing so late :/ But it was absolutely amazing. Of all the missions of Mexico, we were invited to have a meeting with him, and I cannot express to you the things that were felt in that meeting. I love meeting with General Authorities. It was awesome because Elder Bednar said, "Elders and Sisters...I want you to know something. Here we have a few of the Seventy, Mission Presidents, a member of the Presiding Bishoprick (Bishop McNullen) and one of the Quorum of the Twelve right here in this room. There is NOTHING more important happening in Mexico than what is happening right here, right now, in this room." And it's so true, it was just absolutely incredible. Elder Bednar is an amazing, amazing person. I often look at people on the street and have to say to myself...how sad it is that they don't know that true Apostles of the Lord of Jesus Christ are here on earth again. And that's what motivates me to open my mouth.

I learned a lot, but it's hard to write down the things that I learned. Elder Bednar addressed some of the silly traditions we develop in the culture of the Church. He explained that we have the tendency to try to jot down every single phrase that is said, which usually distracts us from what the Spirit tries to teach us. And, we never ever go back and read those notes anyway! (How true it is...). Thus, I didn't really write down anything Elder Bednar said...just thoughts that came to my mind, and obviously, those things were personal :).

But one thing I will share with you. Just act. We cannot ask the Lord to do things for us that are well within our power. He gave us a sample prayer that could be said at the end of Sacrament Meeting, replacing the usual "please bless all the people who didn't come to Sacrament meeting so they come next week." He said we could pray something like this: "Father, we thank thee for the wonderful Spirit we have felt, and the many things we have learned as we have been here together. Father, we have noticed that there are many, many people who are not here with us as we conclude this Sacrament meeting. We're going to get them right after Church is over. We will head to their homes, find out if they are sick, if they have some other difficulty, and we will provide whatever assistance we can in helping them to Church next week. Now Lord, we are about to say Amen, so the only blessing that we ask is that thou would inspire us so we all don't end up at the same house, but that we all go to different homes and different families. Amen. Let's go." Notice how the second prayer is much more focused on us being AGENTS who use our AGENCY in accordance with righteous principles...instead of merely being objects that are acted upon. So...let's act. We'll see the blessing that come from doing so, and we'll have more assurance, and act more and more according to the Gospel of Christ. Isn't that cool? I think so.

Anywho, I just want you all to know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is exactly what it claims to be: THE Church of Jesus Christ. He directs it. He has called prophets and apostles for us in these last days. Do we not have reason to rejoice?

Yes. We do.

Elder Budge

What time is it? Give me everything you've got.

2010-05-10T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hellloooo Family!

Good to hear that mother's day went so well! And it was SO SWEET talking to all of you yesterday! You're right, Mom, the time goes by way way too fast. That hour was like nothing! But it was nice to feel at home again and hear your voices and all that good stuff. I feel like I can't even remember what we talked about because it went by so fast. Whoo. But, after talking with you guys, I got a quick reminder that I'm still in Mexico. I'll tell you how...after I tell you about our awesome week.

So this past week was just awesome. It started out as a pretty normal week, Monday we did our regular P Day stuff, nothing out of the ordinary. On Tuesday we went to Diana (the 9-year-old)'s house to talk about the details of the baptism we were going to have for her Saturday, when her Mom informed us that her father had just died only hours before. It was a rough situation, and we stayed for a little bit to remind her about the Plan of Salvation, and of the fact that her father was already endowed and so they needed to get started with the rest of his vicarious work and everything else. So they went to the Funeral in Chiapas (another state in Mexico...it's far) and they won't be back until sometime this week. So we postponed that baptism and hopefully they'll be back this week in order to do it.

Then that night we taught a new couple that the Lord brought to Church last Sunday (May 2nd), and the lesson was KILLER! They had awesome questions, we were able to answer them, explain the Restoration, and program them for baptism this coming Sunday. It was awesome. Their names are Miguel and Rebeca, and they have 4 kids (all of them under the age of baptism) and they are SUPER elect. So we left 3 Nephi 11 for them to read, and another Elder and I (we did splits) went to visit them on Thursday. When we started the lesson, the neighbors next door started playing "Enter Sandman" by Metallica VERY loudly, but it didn't get to us at all. I asked them if they had read and prayed about the Book of Mormon, and Rebeca answered and told me that she had read what we told her to read, and prayed. The next day, she went with her sick dad to his cancer check ups (he's had cancer the last few years and has lost his eye), and when the doctors checked for cancer, there was not a single trace in his body! Needless to say, she had accepted that experience as her answer about the Book of Mormon. Love it.

Then we asked Miguel, and he said "Look...I did read...but I also read the chapter before and the chapter after the one you told me to read. I looked up all the footnotes in those chapters and compared with my bible. And I did pray...but I didn't ask if the Book of Mormon was true. I didn't need to ask. As soon as started to pray, I felt the Spirit fill my body, and I know that this book is a book of God." You can imagine that I had a huge smile on my face when he told us that...it was awesome. Afterward, we talked about the Law of Chastity (I knew they weren't married) and invited them to follow the commandment. Really to no surprise to us, they accepted, and I told them I would return with Elder Soza the next day to talk about the details after talking with our awesome judge hook-up. We went back on Friday night and said, "Welp...do you wanna get married tomorrow morning?" They said yes. And we went.

The marriage was an adventure! We got to Nezahualcoyotl (or Neza for short) where our Judge buddy is, but Rebeca's birth certificate was NO BUENO! So we had to drive to the other end of Neza to take out an original copy of her birth certificate, and time was winding down! The guy who took us was driving like a stunt driver...it was awesome. We were weaving through the traffic, going halfway up onto the sidewalk and everything to return on time. It was sweet!!! And we did get their in time, and got 'em HITCHED! That was a fun experience for sure.

So yeah. So here comes the bad news...my reminder of the fact that I'm still in Mexico. After talking with the fam, Elder Soza and I headed to Elder Walk's house to report our numbers for the week...and we got mugged. It was so retarded. The guys didn't even have any knives or guns or anything like that, one of them just asked me for the time, and then put his arm around me and said "Give me everything you've got on you". Daaaang. So he took my watch (the one Grandma and Grandpa gave me), my money, and...my camera with my memory cards. It was bummer for sure. It was like a big slap in the face that said "HEY! Remember you're still in Mexico!" Don't worry I'm not hurt everything's good. I'm just one camera and some memory cards short now.

Anyway, we went to the Pyramids today, and I bought a disposable camera (HAHA!) and took some pictures. I'll try to get them onto a CD or something to send them.

love you all. Have a good week! Be safe!

Elder Budge

JIF Peanut Butter in Mexico?!

2010-05-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought it was impossible, it turns out you can buy JIF Peanut
Butter here in good ol' Mexico!

It's funny the way things work out. Bishop Flinders, thank you for your
email, it helps to know my family is in good hands at home! I truly am
grateful for faithful Priesthood Leaders who have cared for my family as
I've been away--especially because you helped my big sister enter into the
temple. I still can't believe I now have two endowed, sealed-for-eternity
sisters. What a great example to me.

The Lord has truly blessed elder Soza and I this past week as we have worked
in the Field sowing in the Promised Land! It's truly amazing the way the
Lord has opened the windows of Heaven and poured out a ton of blessing upon
this great people! We had a pretty sweeeeet district class with Elder Walk
this past week where he taught us to "leave our sickle at home and climb up
onto the TRACTOR!" We talked about the power and authority of our calling,
and he asked us, "Why would you use a sickle to sow in a field when the Lord
is handing you a gigantic tractor instead?!" The fruits of the labor have
not been few.

We had another hectic week figuring out the whole moving situation, signing
contracts, fighting with landlords, and everything else. But Elder Soza and
I definitely worked our buns off knocking and contacting and finding people
to teach. But it's always funny to me that I always forget something very
important--something I've had to learn at least a dozen times--THE LORD
BLESSES US IN HIS WAY AND IN HIS TIME! We didn't find a single person
knocking doors or contacting, the Lord just brought an awesome family to
church for us on Sunday! They stayed the whole three hours and loved it. So
we have a lesson with them tomorrow and we'll be programming them for
baptism. The blessings come in just the most unexpected ways. I had a good
chit-chat with elder Walk and he said "A lot of the times the Lord just has
to say 'these guys don't know how to find people...I'll just had them a
family to teach!" And it's so true. All we're doing is working really hard
and the Lord blesses us. Y ya se acabó.

So that was our fun week. I'll spare you the details but moving was a
nightmare, but we're all moved in and it's all good in the neighborhood.
Except we have some weird neighbors...like a guy that keeps a horse in his
house. Weird. And I'm not in a rural part of Mexico or anything...he just
keeps a horse in his house. Don't ask me why. Also our neighbors warned us
about a guy who usually answers his door naked...so we'll be doing our best
to avoid any awkward situations. haha.

I love you all, and fam, I can't wait to talk to you on Sunday. Sweet!

Elder Budge

Oreo McFlurries...make me feel fat.

2010-04-26T11:29:00.000-07:00

Hey family!

Thanks for letting me now how things are going on the homfront--sounds like everyone's super busy. That's really good to hear. I can't believe John and Jeremy already graduated from BYU. Time FLIES! Especially in Mexico. So John's headed back to Texas, that's pretty sweet, but not as sweet as Jeremy staying in good ol' PROVO! Man, I love that place. That's awesome that Miranda's running for Student Council...and did the SNL skit of Will Ferrel as a cheerleader! Just like your big brother, aren't you?! I'm sure she'll win the election...who can deny that beautiful face? Sounds like everyone had a good weekend with the parties and everything else. Everyone happy? Good!

This week was a pretty slow one for Elder Soza and I we had a lot of junk we had to do, so we really didn't have all of the time we would normally have to go proselyting. On Wednesday, we had an awesome Zone Conference, and the Zone Leaders taught us about the importance of investigators fulfilling their commitments as a sign of their faith and their sincere desire to repent. I've always been of the opinion that if the investigators can't keep the simple commitment of reading a pamphlet and praying, much less are they going to keep the covenant of Baptism, and much much much less the Covenants we take upon ourselves in the Temple! So if they don't read the first time, we give them time to read right then and there. And if they don't read the second time--well, we hope the missionaries have success in the future. At first, I thought it was a little unfair that we have such high standards for investigators, but I am completely converted to the idea that God has prepared THOUSANDS of people to be baptized in every area. The time we have is so short (eleven months aleady?!?! WHAT?!?!), and really the time isn't ours to waste. So we stick with the elect.

After our Zone Conference, I talked to President Bulloch about moving, because we've had a lot of problems with members coming to our house asking for favors and things like that. So we got permission to start looking for a new house, and the next day we had one ready to go. So that took a lot of time away from us. But we found a SWEET house (with an oven and a stove! Can you believe it?!?!), so we're figuring out the details and we'll be moving in on Saturday.

Like I said, we didn't have a lot of time this week to proselyte, so we were only able to find one new investigator during the week. Bummer. AND, she didn't go to Church, so we had to leave her as well. BUT, I believe the Lord saw our efforts of the past week, and decided to reward us a little bit by bringing people to Church by Himself. A young guy was sitting outside the Church when we came and asked the members if he could come to Church with us! It was sweet. We also received several referrals from the members and have a good week lined up. We'll see if this tree yields some FRUIT! I'm thinking it will.

Anywho, that's about all I have to report. We went to the mall today and I ate a McFlurry at McDonald's...so I feel really bloated and need to head home to relax and write some letters. Thanks for everything, I sincerely hope and pray that all is well in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, and that Healthcare hasn't gone completely down the drain. Love you all.

Elder Budge

Say it with me, " IX-TAH-PAH-LOO-KAH "

2010-04-19T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hellloo Family!

It's so good to hear from all of you! And when I say "all of you" I really mean Mom, and Dad...but they pretty much tell me what everyone else is doing too. Dad, it sounds like it's good to be back in the US of A...eating delicious hamburgers and milkshakes! You should go to Burger King and eat a tasty chocolate milkshake for me...I have yet to find a good milkshake here in Mexico. Dang. I can't believe John and Jeremy and Josh Louder are already graduating from college! It's crazy how fast time flies by. But sounds like Todd and Lori are going to be pretty busy these next few weeks. I can't wait to party in that house again! We'll have to play "Sardines" again when I get back.

Yes mom, I got my new specs, thanks! They're super comfy and...well they help me see. That really was the goal when I went glasses shopping last Monday. Mission accomplished. And yeah, I'm getting to know my new companion really well...he's awesome! We're like two peas in a pea-holder. We both have a really sarcastic sense of humor, and we both love working really hard...and the best part is, we're both madly in love with the same girl. Her name is BAPTISM...and we get to see her very often. But yeah, I guess he's lived back and forth between the United States and Mexico pretty much his whole life, so that's why he speaks english (technically he's American...because his mom crossed the border so he could be born in Texas!) haha. But yeah, we're having a blast out here in Los Heroes, and we had some pretty sweet adventures this past week!

So our main focus this past week was Adriana and her two kids, Oswaldo and Valeria. I don't remember if I already told you about them, but they're a referral we received from a Sister in the ward my second or third day here in the area...but anyways, they're really really awesome, and the past week we spent most of our time (at least once a day) visiting them, because we had their baptism planned for yesterday. So we teached everythang that needed to be teached and we set up their interviews for Wednesday night with Elder Walk. (I forget to tell you last week, Elder Walk, my companion from the MTC is our District Leader!! It's so sweet!!). Oswaldo and Valeria passed with flying colors, but Elder Walk told us we had to have a Special Interview for Adriana, but we wouldn't be able to have it until Sunday! He said he would let us know the details the next day to find out when and where. So we called him the next day, and he told us that the interviews were going to be in Ixtapaluca (you pronounce it just like it looks...), which was my first Zone. In other words...a good three hours away. And we had to get there by 12 o clock...but Sacrament meetings starts here at 10 o clock. So you can imagine that Sunday was way stressful for us. We finally found someone to take us on Sunday morning, we went to Sacrament meeting for ten minutes, and then started our road trip to Ixtapaluca!

Long story short, (I say that a lot, don't I?) we got to the interviews at 12 30ish, got her in the interview after waiting another hour for President Parra (counselor in the Mission Presidency) to get out of another meeting, and she passed! It was sweeet. We headed home, had the baptismal service at 7 o clock last night, and had a nice little visit with our girlfriend, Baptism. It was so awesome to see that the Lord had arranged everything so perfectly for Sunday...after many days of not being able to see the solution. I was pretty stressed out...but kept working and working and searching for a solution, and when Sunday morning came, in a matter of minutes the Lord had provided us with the means we needed in order to accomplish the task we had in front of us.

Everyone, please always remember that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is true. It's His Church. He knows what's going on and He can help us, always always, if we have the faith to motivate us to action, and we exercise our faith as a principle of power. President Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of our loving Heavenly Father. That is true.

Anyway, other than that we had a pretty normal week. On Saturday we had a sweet Stake Activity with the Young Men and Young Women...we taught English in different classes and the Youth rotated through our classes in groups. It was sweet. I gave out treats so I'm pretty sure everyone liked my class about the First Article of Faith the best.

Send letters! Send packages! Emails! Ties! Socks! and of course...lots and lots of love.

Elder Budge

The Heroes, Tecamac!

2010-04-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hellllooooooo! La La La...

Hey Family! This is your favorite missionary Elder J. A. Budge...checking in from Los Heroes, Tecamac! Yep, I had changes (transfers..) last tuesday and now I'm with my new companion. A bunch has happened this week so get ready--this email is going to be pretty sweet! And maybe a little long.

So on Tuesday Elder Escobar and I headed to Aragon (the temple) with my bags packed and my shoes tied to receive our new companions. I got transferred to a SWEET area with a SWEET companion, whose name is Elder Sammy Soza. It's not really Sammy Soza...just Elder Soza, but that's what I call him. He's awesome--has three months in the mission and his green energy is super contagious. When I sat next to him at the changes meeting, he turned to another Elder and starting speaking English! I said, "Whoa! My first american companion?!" And he said "nope, I'm mexican! I thought you were my first mexican companion!" It was pretty funny. Turns out he's from Casas Grandes (Colonia Juarez) Chiuahua, but has lived in the U.S. as well...he went back forth a lot. I still don't know the whole story there so I'll let yall know as soon as I know. But he speaks english really well so it's been a blast...we speak a TON of Spanglish during the day.

So we got to the area and started working right away. This is the NICEST area I've been in so far--not a single dirt road! The area reminds me a lot of Southern California, so I feel right at home. We live in a section called "La Sexta" (the sixth) and every single house is exactly the same, like a huge, gigantic group of condos. It makes it a little confusing for me to learn how to get around...but I'm getting there. The Bishoprick here is EXCELLENT and really really willing to help us out in anyway they can (the first counselor offered to buy me some new shoes...mine are pretty torn up from my last two areas) and sometimes they buy us boxes of cereal and stuff like that. It's sweeeeet.

So this past week we decided to figure out what we could do to baptize our first week together. Turned out that my companion and his Dad had a lot of investigators that had more than enough times at Church to be baptized, so we decided to round them up and get them in Baptismal Interviews. On Wednesday and Friday we had 5 baptismal interviews...but to no avail. The people passed their interviews...but flaked out at the last second. It was kind of a bummer, but we did find a new family, and they have their baptism scheduled for this coming Sunday. Their names are Adriana, Oswaldo, and Valeria. They're SWEET, so we'll continue to teach them, have their interview set up for this week and have their baptism on Sunday.

Saturday night we had an interesting experience...at one AM, we heard our doorbell buzzing and someone was shouting at our front door. My companion went downstairs (yes...we live in an AWESOME two-story house...que fresa...) and one of his old comanion's recent converts had gotten our first door open and was trying to get into our house! He said he needed "help" and that he had already gone to the bishop's house but they didn't open the door to him either. My companion told him to leave and he just sat there at our front door and eventually left. It was kind of crazy.

But anyway...that's all I really have to report. Mom, I received the package you sent, THANK YOU family for all the things you sent (including my "new" ties) but Panda, you said you sent your school picture but it wasn't there. Geez.

Hasta luego!

Elder Budge

LA PERLA NUNCA SE RINDE

2010-04-05T11:42:00.000-07:00

Hello Family!

Porque decis vosotros que nuestro Dios y Padre ha cesado de ser un Dios de Milagros? Ciertamente Dios dejaria de ser Dios si cambiara en Su naturaleza y las cosas que El afectua entre los hijos de los hombres!

This week has been absolutely full of miracles! This cycle has been an absolute rough one for us, but what has kept us alive is our consistency in working hard and staying anxiously engaged in the work of the Lord. In Priesthood session of General Conference this past weekend, Elder Uchtdorf spoke of patience--and that has been what has kept Elder Escobar and I (for the most part) sane during these rought weeks. I add my testimony to his that the greatest personal growth is experienced in waiting rather than in receiving. We never stopped working. We never stopped being obedient. We never came home at night and said "Oh..we can just do our planning tomorrow during companionship study...". And THAT is what has allowed the Lord to work miracles here in Xochitenco. I'll be sad to leave this area tomorrow, but am very excited as well to meet my new companion and get to know my new area. I'll let you know where I go next week!

So, want to hear about the miracles we had this week? Of course. Well, as you may or may not already know, we had been struggling all cycle to baptize Sofia, and in my letter last week I explained how I kind of "planched" her Dad about the reception of the Holy Ghost and other things. We had done everything that was within our power. BUT, the greatest changes started to occur when Sofia started to speak for herself, and not just through us. She told her parents that she was going to change, and that she wanted to be baptized with their permission. Her mom said she would sign the Membership Record if she was good this (past) week...but her Dad gave her a firm "NO. Not this week." We went to her house everday to make sure she was doing her chores, wasn't fighting with her brother and sister, and was doing extra things around the house in order to help her mom. She did everything and more, and on Thursday, she finally mustered up the courage to really talk with her Dad.

She looked at him straight in the eye, and said, "Dad, I want to be baptized." He said, in one way or another, that he did not support that decision and wouldn't sign the form. She then said to him, "Dad, I want to be baptized this Sunday, and I need your permission. Whether you give me permission or not, I'm going to continue going to Church, I'm going to continue changing, and I will NOT be the same person I was before. Do you want to sign this form or not?" He was completely silent. Without saying a word, he sat and sat and then walked away. We came by her house the next day, Friday, and she came to the door with a really sad look on her face. She said, "I talked with my Dad last night..." she looked down, and then pulled out the Membership Record Form---SIGNED BY HER DAD HIMSELF! It was awesome.

To make a long story a little less long, we had a beautiful baptismal service last night where all the youth from the ward, Sofia's grandma, cousin, and parent were in attendance. My Companion had the pleasure of baptizing her, and I was priveleged enough to be a witness.

God is working miracles among His children, but it requires the efforts by all involved. We missionaries could not do it alone. Sofia had to take a huge step of faith: then and only then was the Lord able to touch the heart of Sofia's father.

So I have changes tomorrow, I'll be heading to the Changes Meeting next to the Temple tomorrow to be assigned to my new companion and my new area. Sweet!

Love you long time.

Elder Budge

Attached are the photo from the baptism and some photos from Conference...I think.

It's raining! And I like it.

2010-03-29T11:49:00.000-07:00

Hello Family and everyone else!

Today it is raining, and it is exactly what we need in Chimalhuacan! A lot of the streets here are unpaved, so the rain does a good job of keeping all the dirt on the floor and out of my eyes. Plus I love the smell.

Plenty has happened this week, so I'll try to stick to the highlights. So, as I said last week, Sofia told us that she has the desire to be baptized, so Elder Escobar and I went to her house to talk to her parents, because we need their permission in order to baptize her. So we explaied (again) about the importance of baptism, about receiving the Holy Ghost, and eveything else. Her Dad told us that he will NOT give her permission until she completely changes in her attitudes and, basically, he wants her to be perfect in everything that she says and does. I explained that the receiving the Holy Ghost is exactly what she needs in order to help her progress, and he basically said I was lying and that you don't receive the Holy Ghost by Priesthood holders or anything like that, but we receive it once we look for it and find it. Wrong. I explained that the influence of the Holy Ghost and the Gift of the Holy Ghost are very very different, and that the latter is received by the laying on of hands by Priesthood holders. He told me I was wrong. I asked him if he had read the Bible. He said no. After a few minutes of trying to explain to him, he said: Well, thank you for the visit, and here is the door. Bummer. But we called Sofia's mom a few days later, and she told us that she would give permission for Sofia to be baptized this week, but only if she improves her behavior at home. We accepted the offer and have her baptismal interview scheduled for Wednesday. Please pray that everything will work out well.

So the other day Elder Escobar and I were knocking doors and totally found a recent convert from Salt Lake City! Her husband lives here in Mexico, and was listening to the missionaries before but had to come back to Mexico to renew his papers. Can you say MIRACLE? In Spanish?! If you can't, it's MILAGRO! So we'll see how things work out with him this week.

We had a sweet Zone Activity this morning, I'm sending some pictures, along with other pictures from our meetings with the Ward Mission Leader. Enjoy.

Hugs and kisses (psych...can't do that. I'm a missionary.)

Elder Budge

This work is not for WHIMPS!

2010-03-22T11:55:00.000-07:00

Hello family!

I never know how to start writing this letters, and I usually end up sounding kinda weird. So I'll just get to the good stuff.

This week has been pretty sweet for my Companion and I; our Zone Leaders gave us some new goals for the past week and things have worked out pretty well for us! We started doing 100 daily street contacts, and started having shorter, shorter visits with investigators, members, inactives, etc. We're starting to see things turn around so we're pretty pumped for the last two weeks of this cycle. This area is going to explode!

So we had a few cool events this past week-- on Thursday we had our interviews with President Bulloch, and of course, they were awesome. We had a really good interview about facing challenges and trials in the Mission. I always have to remind myself of what he said in a Zone Conference and repeated in our interview: This work is not for WHIMPS! And it's so true. We work really really hard, and sometimes see so little fruit; that's when we have to keep the chin up and trust in that the Lord is preparing a lot of blessings for us!

On Saturday we had an awesome devotional in the MTC here in Mexico with Elder Tenorio and President Ochoa (of the Young Men's General Presidency). I especially liked President Ochoa's words: "God loves His children so much that He's not going to give them to just any pair of missionaries," and "No one here has been called to fail." He spoke to us a lot about the things that usually stand in the way having the success and we and the Lord desire, and I was able to figure out some of the things I need to change in order to see even more MIRACLES here in Xochitenco. Elder Tenorio shared a story that I really really liked, about how the Lord keeps his treasures hidden from those who aren't really sincere. He told us that a reporter came to the Mexico City Temple a few days after it had been re-dedicated, and wanted to enter into the temple to 'check it out'. The people at the front desk told him he couldn't enter, but the reporter was very insistent. So Elder Tenorio came down to talk the reporter, and he told the reporter, "Of course you can enter! Let me teach you how!" He told the reporter about Faith in Christ, repentance, baptism, receiving the Holy Ghost, and if he would wait a until a year later, he would be able to enter. The reporter looked at him weird and told him he didn't want to do all that, he just wanted to go in. Elder Tenorio asked him, "Well, here in the Temple, sacred ordinances are done. Which one did you want to do?" The reporter told him he didn't want to do any, he just wanted to satisfy his curiousity. Obviously, the reporter didn't get to do even that.

If we're sincere in our desire to seek the treasures the Lord has hidden from the insincere, and we do everything that the Lord wants us to do, we'll be granted those great blessings that God has ready for us.

Yesterday was a pretty good Sunday; Sofia, who has been coming to Church for about 5 weeks or so, told us that she wants to be baptized this week. We had to stop teaching her because she had told us that she no longer had the desire to be baptized, but after our Gospel Principles class about baptism, she told us that she knew she needed to be baptized. AWESOME. So we'll be setting things up for her baptismal service this week, and we're praying that her parents soften their hearts and give her permission to be baptized.

That's about all I've got to report. Have a good week!

Elder Budge

I'm attaching a couple of pictures I took on the way to the Devotional on Saturday. The first one is of me and one of our Zone Leaders, Elder Tanner, and the other is of (from left to right) Elder Guzman (our other ZL), Elder Perez (my DL) and yours truly.

Can you say AWESOME Zone Conference?

2010-03-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

I can.

Hello family! Everyone! Thanks for the emails and the warm fuzzies I get when I read your words of encouragement!

So this week went a little better for us than the last, but Elder Escobar continue to make a lot of changes so that we can qualify to see more miracles here, in Xochitenco, Chimalhuacan. Mom, just so you know, Brady Crump's email address changed (like mine did) so if you can forward these emails to xxx now that would be sweet. He's having a good bunch of success, and I'm way proud of him. Man I've been so blessed to have such great friends!

So last week, as you can guess by the title of my email, we had a really awesome Zone Conference with half of the mission. It was really good for my companion and I because we figured out a few of the things we need to change in order to have more success. It always amazes me that when we pray and ask for answers to our questions, the Lord always provides us with the answer. BUT, we always to need to keep our eyes peeled for that answer, and pay attention to the feelings that come to our hearts when we hear the words of the leaders that the Lord has chosen to be over us--because He always inspires them in a way that will benefit those to whom they serve. So we're definitely making some changes--very small ones, but ones that will give us great results. I also have my interview with the President this week on Thursday, which I'm really looking forward to.

Holy cow Dad...it sounds like you had an amazing birthday in Paris. I want one like that when I get back! Haha well I just really want to go to Paris. We'll have our 22nd and 46th birthdays the other way around, mine in Paris and yours in Mexico! Va? Va. But I'm glad you got to spend your birthday with a few of the people you love, and I'm certainly glad I did too.

This past week we still met many, many challenges, and I feel like I came home every night not wanting to do anything but plan for the next day and SLEEP. We came home exhausted every night, especially Saturday night, because we taught a bunch of lessons, met with a lot of people that were going to go to Church with us, and had to resolve a lot of problems with some people. I love coming home feeling that satisfying tiredness. One of our greatest challenges this week was with Eva--when we visited with her on Saturday, she told us that she no longer wanted to be confirmed. She said that after her baptism, her Mom called her and told her not to do it and all that jazz, so we had to go and talk to her, ask her why she didn't want to do it, and explain how much she needed it. Every reason for which she told us she didn't want to be confirmed was everyone reason for which she NEEDED to be confirmed and receive the Holy Ghost. She told us that she felt really confused, that she wasn't learning about the Gospel as fast as the rest of her family (the Fierros Family), and we explained that the Gift of the Holy Ghost was exactly what she needed! We kneeled together and prayed, and the three of us started to cry (Que Chillones!!) and she told us that she was going to do it. And she was confirmed yesterday.

We also were planning on having Veronica and her 2 kids, Karen and Cesar go to Church with us, but again they went to Hidalgo to visit family, and missed going to Church for the 2nd week in a row. So we had the "Charla Franca" (the Frank Discussion) with them, and explained that we would no longer be able to visit with them, and that there are thousands, literally thousands of people here who are already willing and ready to accept the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. We could see in their eyes that they knew that what they were doing was wrong, but told us that it would be hard for them to change their lifestyle. We left on a very friendly note, and she told us to come back whenever we wanted to come eat with her (haha) and we told her she would always be invited to come to Church. That's probably the hardest decision I have to make here on the Mission--leaving people who don't show the signs of the Elect and the desire to progress. But our time here is so short, and we really need to focus ourselves on those that the Lord has already prepared to accept the Gospel. That's just how it is.

I think that's all the news I've got for you. I'm sending some pictures from the Zone Conference (we took our MIssion Panoramic Picture). The first one is of my buddy Elder Nicolas and I, then the other is of Elder Allsen and I, the 4 Elders from our "generation", and I think that's it. Love you all and have a great week!

Elder Budge

One ROUGH week.

2010-03-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

I hope everyone is doing super bien and enjoying the many trials and stresses of our daily lives! I know I am. Haha.

As implied by the subject of this email, this week was super rough for Elder Escobar and I. We started out the week really well--we had people to teach, lessons, we were finding new people to teach, and everything else. Last sunday in the afternoon, we found a really cool family of 5 people who were really interested in what we had to say--actually it was a really cool experience. We were knocking a street, contacting people and all of that, when I saw that out of the next door we were about to knock, left four people in a VW Bug, so I walked by the door and figured that no one else was home. But, my companion stopped to knock the door, and an older lady answered the door. We introduced ourselves and asked if we could come in to share a short message, and she said yes. So we came in, and a few minutes later, the people that left in the car came back and told us that they decided to come back and hear what we had to say as well. We taught a really good lesson, and we were invited to return a few days later. So we did.

We returned the Tuesday afterward, and they stood us up. We passed by in the night again, and they told us to come back the next day to teach. So we did, they were there, and we taught about the Plan of Salvation, and a couple days later about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They told us that everything was fine for Sunday and that they were going to come to Church with us. So we had them, Veronica, Karen, Cesar, and two more new investigators (Mariana and Azucena) all ready to go to Church with us on Sunday. We went to the Chapel really early in the morning to do Splits with some members so we could pick all of them up, and one by one we found that they either weren't home, went to visit family, or simply did not want to go to church anymore. So we came to church with NONE of our investigators, including the investigators that have their baptismal date for this coming Sunday, which now has to be moved back until the next week. It was really frustrating for my companion and I, but now we can figure out what we've been doing wrong and what we can change this week in order to be more successful.

On the upside, I've made it yet another without dying (that's for you, Dad!), and I now have a total of 20 years of learning here in mortality. We went to eat with Sister Alicia Duran on Friday, and she had a sweet cake ready for me after we had our Comida. My companion pushed my face into the cake, and it was pretty delicious. I'll send photos!

That's about all I have to report on this week. Que tengan una buena semana!

Elder Budge

PS I'm sending another picture to show you how much weight I am losing!

Goodbye February, Hello March!

2010-03-01T10:58:00.000-08:00

Hey there fam!

This past week has been a really, really good week for Elder Escobar and I. We were able to participate in yet another saving ordinance yesterday, but not without experiencing plenty of trials and obstacles. Eva, the sister of a recent convert of ours, was our focus this past week and the Lord has blessed us immensely in helping us help her.

We had a few lessons with her last week, mainly focusing on the Restoration and the Atonement, to help her feel the need to be baptized, and how it was going to help her family. We watched Finding Faith in Christ with her, and she began to cry, and told us that she wanted to be baptized, but didnt want to do it right away. She told us she was afraid of being rejected by her family, and that her own children were telling her not to do it. It was really tough--most of the time Elder Escobar and I have to help people resolve problems that are very much outside of our personal experience. That is when having the companionship of the Holy Ghost really helps us out--we remember things we have learned and say words we really didnt have ready to say, and it has been a huge blessing and help for us. After talking with her for a while, she told us that she didnt want to be baptized that coming Sunday.

The next day, her sister, Veronica (our recent convert) told us that her sister had told her that she had changed her mind. We didnt know why, but Eva had decided that she wanted to be baptized, and soon. We visited with her, and she explained to us that she wanted to be baptized that Sunday (yesterday), and that her daughter wanted to be baptized too! She spoke with her daughter, Wendy, the day before, explained what she had felt when she was with us, and Wendy told her that she too wanted to be baptized. Long story short, Eva had her interview on Saturday, and was baptized Sunday. Now we´re working with Wendy so that she can start preparing for baptism too! We have been really blessed this past week, and have started our new cycle together in a successful way. We´ll be keeping the momentum up, of course, with the prayers of all of you to help us. Thanks a ton! Love you all!

Elder Budge

PS Grandpa and Grandma! I received the package you sent for my birthday. Thanks!!! Mandy...Im still waiting for that package from Christmas Time! haha.

Hello from my new email address!

2010-02-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

Hello family and everyone else!

You may have noticed that I am writing from a different email address. The Church just partnered up with Gmail to give us a sweet, new MyLDSMail account. It's pretty dang cool, we have a lot more space to store email and stuff like that...although I'm still waiting for all the email from my old account to migrated to this one. So if you want to email me, my new email address is: jacob.budge@myldsmail.net

This week Elder Escobar and I have had a few really cool experiences, especially with Amalia and Miguel, a couple that has lived together for 27 years but have never been married! Getting them married has been our main focus with them, and last week they both told us that they were willing to get their papers in order so we can head out to a judge (a friend of all the missionaries) in the next city over to get em hitched. But, there have been a few hiccups along the way. Last week, after teaching the Plan of Salvation, Miguel told us that he no longer wanted to visit with us, and that we should come back in a month to see if he's ready to begin to progress again. The next day, he was attacked by 12 dogs, and started to have severe problems with his spine--needless to say, since then he has willfully attended all of our lessons with his wife, has fulfilled all of the commitments we have left with them, and has been progressing very rapidly. Sometimes it's funny the way Lord lets us know that we're doing what's right or what's wrong.

This past week, we visited with Amalia while Miguel was sleeping (because of his back problems) and she told us that she didn't want to marry Miguel. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! After 27 years of living together, how could that be possible?! We read the Book of Mormon together, got on our knees, and had her pray to know if the Book of Mormon is true. She started to cry, and after the prayer, she looked at me and said, "Don't worry. Everything will be fine." We returned two days later, and both were ready and willing to be married and to be baptized. If everything goes as planned, we'll get both done this week. When we visited them Miguel told us, very sincerely, "What if you two are angels sent from God, and 10 years from now I'll be able to stand up in the congregation and tell everyone that God sent angels to my wife and I?" I was deeply touched by that comment, especially because that was a major theme of the Zone Conference we had on Wednesday. Elder Holland said (paraphrasing): "Welcome to the work of angels. In the eyes of God and in the hearts of the members who pray for you, you are those angels". I will not soon forget that day. And the memory of it will be even sweeter when we enter the waters of baptism on Sunday! Please, please pray that all will go well with them this week.

That's all the news I've got for you. I'm going to attach some pictures of the service we did this morning. One of them is of me doing my personal favorite of all the work positions...supervising! hahaha. But before then I was rockin the pickaxe like you wouldn't believe!

Elder Budge

Oh how lovely was the morning!

2010-02-08T11:08:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I'm feeling pretty good today family and friends. I had a dream last night that I was hanging out with John and Jordan Crespo and Jordan and I were speaking spanish so John felt pretty left out. Just thought I'd share that with you.

Last week I had the awesome privelege of receiving a good chunk of mail from the good ol' US of A. I got a package sent from the Primary (AWESOME) with a big poster and a picture of the Primary. I'm a fan! And I received mail from Sister Savage (thank you) and letters from Grandma and Grandpa and Ally and Emily, postmarked in November! I did enjoy feeling like it was Christmas again for a minute or two. Haha. Thanks a ton for the support!

This week has been a typical week--tons of work! We've been knocking probably hundreds of doors, and we're trying to figure out the best way to get the members to help us out to find new people to teach and to help re-activate less active families. It's a good time and a half! I can't believe how fast the days are flying by. The time I have here in the mission is so short.

Sunday was a day that I will not soon forget. Elder Escobar and I went to pass by for some investigators to bring them to Church, and when we got there, the Fierro Family was there, seated on the front row, ready to be confirmed. It was very reverent, as there was none of the usual noise and music from outside the Chapel, someone had decorated the pulpit with flowers, and all that could be heard was the chirping of birds (sounds lame but it's true!). It was fast and testimony meeting, which everyone knows can get a little risky with new investigators (because most of the time the members think that it's "Fast and Share a twenty minute story about something that happened to you this week" meeting). But it was especially reverent, and a very doctrinally-sound Tesimony meeting. I absolutely loved it. I can feel that this ward is really ready to begin blossoming the way that the Lord wants it to blossom.

My companion and I traveled a good distance to get to our nearest WalMart so we could get some pictures developed for our recent converts...but it was closed! Again! We were pretty bummed. Actually, today we've experienced a lot of adversity just trying to get things done here.

I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!

Elder Jacob Aaron Budge Montoya

La Perla Cuñao!

2010-02-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

Hey Family!

This week has been yet another excellent week here in the Perla. The work is moving right along.

But, this week was also one of the most challenging weeks of my life. As I explained last week, the Fierros Family had there baptismal date set for January 31 (yesterday), so it was a week of a lot, a lot of trials for them. They had some pretty weird, unreasonable, and awkward challenges this past week. This is what happened.

On Tuesday we showed up at the usual hour, 8 o clock, to share the Finding Faith in Christ video with them, and when we came in to their house, we noticed that Viridiana was not there. We watched the video anyway, and it was really really awkward. Afterward we asked a few questions, testified of the divine mission of Christ, and then asked them what was going on. They told us that there had been a huge domestic dispute between all of them, and that they thought that Viridiana might not be willing to continue in the Church anymore. Yikes! They told us that her mother-in-law had come in the morning, and had told her that if she gets baptized in the Church, people were going to go kill her and junk like that. So we went to Viridiana´s house and talked with her really well, and told us that she was firm in her decision to be baptized.

A couple of days later, we came to their home and had sort of an intervention with all of them, discussed the problem, had family prayer together, and a classic family hug afterward. Things were great. ...Until the next day. The following night they told us that their nephew had an evil spirit with him and that they were all freaked out about it. We called President Bulloch and asked him what to do. He told me very frankly: NEITHER YOU NOR YOUR COMPANION HAVE MY PERMISSION TO TALK WITH HIM, BE IN HIS PRESENCE, OR EVEN CLOSE TO HIM. UNDERSTOOD? I replied YES. So we sent a member of the Stake High Council and the High Priests Director over to his house to figure that out.

Their interview came, they all passed, and to make a long story a little less long, they were baptized yesterday. I am extremely content with the work Elder Escobar and I have been able to accomplish in the 3 weeks we have had together. I will never, ever forget baptizing them. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Remember that the Church is true; most of the time that is all we really need to know.

Elder Budge

The Fierro Family and a bunch of pictures. You're welcome!

2010-01-25T11:16:00.000-08:00

Hello family!

Some of you may have noticed that I didn´t write last week. Let me explain. I wrote a huge letter last week and attached a bunch of pictures, but when I went to click “Send” the power went out at the internet café and my letter got deleted with everything. Bummer. So I’ll try to cover the past two weeks in this letter—so it will be like the 2 episode special of your favorite television or radio program.

So last week was a pretty amazing week. On the 12th, Elder Cardenas and I headed to temple grounds, along with the rest of our district, to receive our new companions. I received my new, semi-green companion, Elder Escobar, and the work has been absolutely phenomenal. We have had a success that I have never seen before. Our first night together, we went to do “Celestial References” (aka knocking doors) and knocked a huge street called Xocoyotl. We knocked one side of the street, with little/no success, and started back down the other side of the street—again, with very limited success. We came to one of the last three houses on the street, knocked on the outside gate, and Luis Enrique answered the door. We explained who we were and what we were doing, and asked him if we could come in and share our message. He was really hesitant and told us we could come inside the gate and explain quickly because he was busy. We entered and were just about to start when his 23-year-old daughter, Vidiriana, came out of the house and said “Pasenle!” Which, being interpreted, means “Come in!”. Of course, we didn’t hesitate to accept the invitation and walked right past Luis Enrique into his home. We taught about the Restoration to Luis Enrique, his wife Veronica, and two of his children, Vidiriana and Eva. They all accepted the invitation to read and pray, and accepted their baptismal date of the 31st of January. It was great. But, it gets even awesomer.

We returned a few days later to check with the commandments (Word of Wisdom, Chastity, Tithing) and halfway through the lesson, their other son, Mauricio, entered the room and sat down with us. We invited him to read the Restoration pamphlet and pray about it as well. When we asked the rest of the family if they had read and prayed, they all answered yes, and said that they knew that it was true! Vidiriana told us that she had had an amazing dream directly after praying about the Book of Mormon, and knew that she needed to be baptized and raise her children in the Church. Yes! We came back a few nights later, and Mauricio also had read the pamphlets (yes, all of them) and prayed, and told us that God gave him the answer that he needed to listen to everything that we teach, because it is true. They came to church that first Sunday, loved it, and had a ton of really good questions for us afterward. I have never seen a family progress so quickly.

So the next week (this week), we organized a trip to the Visitor’s Center in Mexico City with the Fierro Family (those five of whom I just explained) and they absolutely love it. We had a nice little tour with some sister missionaries, and sat down to watch a movie about eternal families. And what do ya know, the movie we watched in the Visitor’s Center starred none other than SHAUNA THOMPSON! Yep, Alexa’s mom! Ha I could stop laughing to myself. It was weird seeing her with an over-dubbed Spanish voice. But that’s pretty much the end of the story. They have their baptismal interview on Friday, and, if all goes well, will be baptized on Sunday. I’ll be sure to send photos.

Last week Beatriz and Rebeca were baptized, and that was pretty great as well. I’ve attached some pictures of soccer, when I received my Christmas package, our trip to the Visitor’s Center, eating tacos, and I think that’s all. Have a good week!

Elder Budge

Hi.

2010-01-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

I just got finished writing a big long email explaining this week. But the power went out and erased everything. I had also attached a bunch of pictures. Sorry. Elder Budge

Good week!

2010-01-11T11:29:00.000-08:00

Hello familia!

This week has been awesome! I've had a lot of good experiences and first-timers. This week I ate cow stomach (no bueno - not good), Ritz crackers with a pig liver spread (pretty good), and soy tacos al pastor (more or less...).

So this week we've had some pretty sweet victories as far as the work of the Lord is concerned. We found a really awesome, inactive family that has some un-baptized members, so we've been spending a lot of time with them, answering questions, teaching, etc. They're muy buena onda (really cool) and we have had a really good time teaching them. The names of the family members that haven't been baptized are Beatriz and Rebeca. Please keep them in your prayers as well! They came to church with us for the first time in years this past Sunday, and we have an appointment with them for later today. I'm sure all will go well!

We also found another very cool family knocking doors on Friday night, and we had an awesome, awesome lesson with them. I always seem to forget the huge difference there is between teaching a truly elect person and someone who really isn't interested in what we have to say. Anywho, they weren't able to come with us to Church this week because they went to Veracruz on vacation, but they will be joining us this coming Sunday.

Other than that, I really don't have much else to report. My companion, Elder Cardenas, has transfers tomorrow (actually...everyone in my District has transfers tomorrow, so I have to bring all the new Elders to their houses tomorrow!) so I'll be receiving a new companion. Crazy!

I love all of you. Keep it up. And write me!

Elder Budge

Prospero Año y Felicidad! I don't remember if that's what I titled my last email.

2010-01-04T11:31:00.000-08:00

Happy new year all!

Elder Cardenas and I had a very tranquil New Year's Eve this past year, and a very productive one as well. We had to be in our house at 6 in the afternoon (because all the crazy's come out at night and get "happy"), and our mission president provided us with a really cool, three and a half hour companionship activity to pass the time. We were able to sing some hymns, reflect on the success we had in December, and set goals for the month, and the rest of the time that is left in our missions. It was a really good opporrunity for us to grow a little closer together and set some good, challenging goals for us. The best part was that we could truly feel that the Lord had confirmed the plans and goals we made, and I know this year will be a year of great success. That night, I slept like a baby, inspite of all the very loud music from the "Pachangas". My companion wasn't as fortunate.

I would like to share a very small, very awesome experience with you. This week has been a week of rejection and we have been stood up several times. But, we dedicated most of our time on Friday doing street contacts in a very simple way: bearing testimony and asking for an appointment (this is the new way that has been established in this mission by the President of the Area of Mexico). We made several appointments--many of which fell through. But, we arrived to an appointment we had made with a young(ish) girl, but ended up talking to her mother instead, because the girl had "gone to the market" (along with everyone else in Mexico City). But we introduced ourselves anyway, told her about the Restoration of the Gospel, and she said something to us that entered into my heart so profoundly. She said, very simply, "Oh, that sounds interesting. I would have a lot of questions about that." How true that is! The message of the Restoration of the Church IS interesting! How could someone not be interested to hear that the Heavens have opened again, and there is a living prophet like Moses or Abraham again on the Earth! Our message is worth a few minutes of listening to. The only difference between this kind lady and everyone we had talked to was that she truly listened to what we had to say.

But apart from being interesting, the message of the Restoration and Joseph Smith also has the benefit of being true. God's authority is once again on earth so that we no longer have to walk in darkness. Isn't that great? I think so.

I know this work is the work of Angels.

Elder Budge

Prospero Año y Felicidad!

2009-12-28T11:32:00.000-08:00

Hey family!

There really is not much to report this week. Seems like it was just a pretty normal one. So that´s why I think I will just focus on responding individually this week!

Elder Cardenas and I had a pretty great Christmas. We had a Zone Activity in the Zone Leader´s area; we went to the Metro and sang in the cars, and contacted. It was pretty awesome. I was able to contact a really cool guy, and gave him a Book of Mormon with my testimony written inside. Then, of course, I was able to talk with my family, which was really really really awesome.

I love you all so much, and I hope you set some good, challenging goals this new year. Make one of your goals be to read the Book of Mormon. I am pretty sure that last sentence has some pretty terrible grammar, but I cannot think of how else to say it. Sorry!

Elder Budge

My first baptism with warm water!

2009-12-21T11:33:00.000-08:00

Hey family!

I just want to start off by saying that we had an awesome game of soccer this morning, and I'm looking more and more Mexican every time we play. I scored 2 goals.

This week has been packed with cool stuff to tell. Basically, we just had a really really good week here in Xochitenco. I had the opportunity to do Divisions with our District Leader, Elder Renteria, on Wednesday, and we had a really good time together. We found some really cool investigators--one of which speaks English! Usually when people in Mexico say they speak english, they really don't, they only know how to say 'hi' and 'how are you', but Angelica really knows how to speak fluently. It's a first for me.

Then on Friday, Elder Cardenas and I headed to the Zone Leaders' area so I could have my interview with the President. He's one of the most amazingly spiritually receptive people I have ever met. Mom, Dad, I'm going to invite him to dinner with you guys when he heads back to Utah in June so you can meet him. Anyway, the interview was a good re-fresher for me.

We also had an awesome ward Christmas dinner, and we were able to bring investigators and some inactive members with us. Elder Cardenas, the other companionship from our ward, and I were asked to join the Relief Society in singing some hymns before the dinner. We sang like a 1000 songs, and every time, the lady who was 'directing' us sad that it was going to be the last time. I have some sweet photos...but I forgot to bring my camera with me. I'll try to send them next week.

And, to top off the week, we had a baptismal service held for Elizabeth yesterday. It was so great. She's 13 years old, and has experienced a lot of junk in her life that's forced her to grow up faster than normal. I had the privelege of baptizing her, and when she came up out of the water, she had the biggest smile on her face (she never smiles), and asked me if we could do it again. I felt and feel very very content, and I'm sure our Heavenly Father is as well.

Merry Christmas everyone! Be sure to ask for gifts from Santa, because apparently if you ask for gifts from the Wise Men, they don't come until the 6th of January. Bummer! Mexico makes me laugh often.

Elder Budge

The Temple, Soccer, and Pool. Good week.

2009-12-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Fam!

How's it going? I'll pretend that I heard you all say "really well, Elder Budge!"--Oh that's good to hear. I'm glad to know that you're all doing well, and I hope you know how much the Lord is watching over each and every one of you--if you don't believe me, read DyC 101:1. It's a good one.

This week has been pretty awesome. Elder Cardenas had the privelege of visiting the House of the Lord last Tuesday--and can I tell you, it was so refreshing. It had been months since I'd been to the Temple last, and it was so amazing to participate in that hugely important part of the Lord's work in these last days. Like I said last week, GO TO THE TEMPLE! It was especially sweet because I got to see my companion from the MTC, Elder Walk, and we were able to talk a little bit in the Celestial Room. I also got to see my Dad, my Grandpa, and my Great-Grandpa, and we took a family picture. I'll send it when I find the time.

Grandma and Grandpa! I received your package on Tuesday as well! It's awesome, thank you so much! I have my stocking hanging above my bed in our apartment...and I've already opened all the presents inside haha. Mom and Dad weren't here to stop me. And yes, I read every scripture before opening them, and I got a really good lauch out of it. Very clever. Thanks again so much, I love you both like crazy. I'll be sending a letter as soon as I get my hands on some American Postage stamps. Mom, I still haven't received the package you said you sent me! Looks like I won't get it until January. Bummer.

This week was a pretty normal week; my companion and I are learning a lot about each other. We have a mountain of work to get done, and it always seems like there is never enough time to do it.

So there's not much more to report this week...although I must say I was rockin it pretty hard when we played Fast Soccer today...and yes, I scored a goal. I felt like a pretty big hot shot. After playing soccer we headed to the local pool hall and spent a couple hours playing some 8 and 9 ball. I love Preparation Days.

But not as much as I love you! Thank you for the emails, letters, all that good stuff. We'll see each other pretty soon.

Elder Budge

Xochitenco, La Perla!

2009-12-07T15:44:00.001-08:00

Hello from very dusty Chimalhuacan!

As I said before, I had changes last Tuesday, and I've been transferred to La Perla Stake, in the Xochitenco Ward--I wrote from Chimalhuacan because that is what the city is called. And there are maybe a total of 5 paved roads in my area, which always makes walking in windy weather an adventure. My new companion's name is Elder Cardenas (accent on the a), and he's got two more cycles left before he heads home to San Luis, Mexico. We're having a good time.

We had a baptism yesterday, a lady named Nancy, who has been attending church here for about 6 years. She hadn't been able to be baptized because she wasn't married, but she finally convinced her husband to tie the knot and they were married on Saturday. Although I don't know her very well, I absolutely loved being able to watch her be baptized by my companion after so many years of waiting.

We have some pretty cool investigators--Adrian, Maria (who need to get married); Berenice (who also needs to get married); and Mauri, who is really really really awesome. Please pray for them so that they may have the means necessary in order to be able to be baptized. I can't tell you how important your prayers are to the work we do here!

There's not much more news from my end. We're headed to the Temple to have a session, eat dinner, and have Zone Conference tomorrow, and I'm really really really excited, I haven't been able to go to the temple in 4 months! Take advantage of the many opportunities you have to attend the temple--to do sessions and to do baptisms and confirmacions for the dead! I can assure you, there are thousands and thousands of people anxiously waiting to be able to receive a Remission of their sins and other saving ordinances on the other side of the veil. Remember, our dead cannot be saved without us, and we cannot be saved withouth them.

Love you all, and I hope you're listening to Christmas music every day.

Elder Budge

The changes touch me!

2009-11-30T11:37:00.000-08:00

Hey family!

Yep, that's right, me tocan los cambios (the changes touch me...that's the really weird Spanish way to say that I have changes tomorrow!). I'm almost completely packed up and I am headed to the Stake Center next to the Mexico City Temple tomorrow to find out who my new companion will be, and where I'm headed off to. I am ridiculously excited.

So my last week of my 4-month stay here in Atlicpac was pretty excellent. We ended with our highest numbers yet, and with 5 baptisms in this cycle (making 11 in my mission thusfar). I feel very content with the things Elder Pastrana, Elder Cab, and I were able to accomplish together here in Atlicpac.

We had two baptisms this past weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday. Saturday was so sweeeet, it was so great to be able to see David enter the waters of baptism after investigating the Church for so long (over a year and half, with one month in which he did not attend Church, and told Elder Pastrana and I that God told him that the Church isn't true). I feel like he's going to be a great leader in the future. Eduardo was baptized on Sunday--he's the brother of a less-active family that just barely started coming to Church again four weeks ago. Elder Cab and I were able to teach him, and he quickly accepted his baptismal date.

Truly, the Lord is fulfilling the promises that He made with the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon--and they are blossoming like a desert flower. I feel so blessed to be in the Promised Land, and to know that the field is especially white and ready to harvest here in Mexico. We don't worry ourselves with carrying seeds with us--just a good sickle. I love all of you and hope you had an awesome Thanksgiving, and are making all the necessary preparations in order to remember and commemorate the birth of our Saviour. For God so loves YOU, that He gave His only begotten Son.

We certainly do have reason to be grateful.

Elder Budge

Boliche!

2009-11-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

Hello Family!

This week has been very very weighted! That's how we say busy in Spanish! I can't believe that this cycle is already winding down, and on Friday I'll be burning a Tie to commemorate my Sixth Month-aversary. Time really is flying by so fast! I can hardly believe it.

As I said, this week has been very very busy. A few highlights:

Multi-Zone Conference. Holy incredible! The Area President of Mexico, Elder Johnson came and taught us for nearly three hours on Friday, and it was absolutely incredible. We discussed the 4th Article of Faith, and I've never ever learned so much in so little time. I couldn't believe we were able to spend so much time learning about such a seemingly basic principle of the Gospel. Zone Conferences are always such a great Spirit Re-Charger for me. We are so lucky to be led by leaders who are led by our Heavenly Father through his Holy Spirit.

Baptism! Elder Cab and I were able to have another baptism this past Saturday. Her name is Sandra, and she's the Ward Missionary Leader's daughter. She has met with missionaries off and on for the past year, and her parents thought it was impossible that she would want to be baptized. When we told them that we set up a baptism for her on Saturday, they were completely shocked and really didn't believe us. But her father was able to baptize her, and it was a really really great experience for all of us. She's such a great convert--always answers the questions in Principles of the Gospel. I love it! Love the work! If all goes well, we should have two more baptisms this week.

Today was definitely a day to be remembered. At 9 this morning, we went as a Zone to go bowling (or Boliche...heh heh), and I went to a mall for the very first time in Mexico! Our area is way out in the boonies, and a lot of it doesn't have paved roads, and we only have one commercial store. So I was pretty pumped about seeing a real Wal Mart and a really big, really nice mall. Parts of Mexico remind me of Southern California, but a lot less green. So anyway, we went to Burger King and the mall while we waited for the bowling alley to open at 12. We waited until 12 30 and realized that it doesn't open on Mondays...bummer. But we had some good laughs and took some good pictures. So we headed back to the Metro Station to go to our areas, when some Policemen on the side of the road stopped the Combi (small VW Van--public transportation) we were in. He opened up the sliding door and asked us if the Driver of the Combi was driving safely, and if we had smelled anything weird. I was pretty confused, when he asked us all to get out of the van. And then, yep, you guessed it--"Spread your legs and put your arms above your head." He frisked all of us, searched our backpacks, and then sent us merrily along our way. That's one thing checked of my list of things to experience in Mexico--be frisked by a Mexican police officer. We went home, and now I'm here, writing this letter. I really do have an ever-increasing love of Mexico.

Welp, as that one pig says, that's all folks. I hope everyone has a great week, and reads the Book of Mormon every day! I can't tell you how much it helps.

Love, Elder Budge

PS. Mom, my companion's full name is Humberto Efrain Cab Garrido. He's from Merida, Yucatan, and he's absolutely crazy. I love him very dearly. haha.

B! Y! U!...Pumas?

2009-11-16T16:34:00.000-08:00

Hello familia!

This week has been a pretty interesting week, to say the least. Elder Cab and I have been having a tough time building the Kingdom of God on the earth. But sometimes, we just need to plow through days like these with all of the energy of our hearts, and if we endure it well, God will bless us beyond our imagination! (see D&C 121:7-9).

We did have one pretty exceptionally awesome experience this week. These past few weeks, we have been teaching a lady named Sandra, who is the Ward Missionary Leader´s daughter. She is a really closed, private person, and we have a hard time figuring out exactly what she needs to hear. But this week, Elder Cab and I decided to have the Charla Franca (the frank discussion) with her, and tell her that we would no longer be able to visit with her if she couldn´t complete with her commitments. Elder Cab talked about how really, there are only two Churches in this world: The Church of Jesus Christ and the Church of Satan. I then explained to her why we work so hard toward baptism, because we know of its importance, especially when the Lord told us in Doctrine and Covenants that with greater knowledge comes greater condemnation. As I was speaking, she started to cry and cry, and after I finished, I asked her to share what she was feeling. After a few very long minutes of silence, she explained to us that earlier that morning, she had had a dream in which she saw Jesus Christ. She saw a big drop of blood fall from His body, and then saw two churches: The Church of Jesus Christ and the Church of Satan. We then spoke of baptism a little more—she´s going to be baptized this week. I cannot tell you how incredible and unbelievable that lesson was. Truly, this is the Lord´s Church. His only one.

I love you all, and hope you are praying and reading every day. Remember, those who have scriptures that are falling apart, usually have lives that aren´t. I know that that is true. There is Prophet of God Himself living on this earth—a man that receives revelation to guide the Living Church of Christ! How great are our blessings from our loving Heavenly Father.

I´ve attached some pictures—some cool graffiti, my new Pumas (cougars) jersey, and some others. Zion is growing!

Love, Elder Budge

Hey Family!

2009-11-09T20:45:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone!

I hope everyone is doing great this week. I can’t believe the way time flies here. P days come so fast. This week I had a really good experience that I want to share with you. Ok? Ok.

So the other day, Elder Cab and I were knocking doors, and having little/no really awesome super success, and it was very hot. I was getting a little impatient with knocking doors, because I feel like it’s the very least effective thing we can do as missionaries. I walked up to a door with Elder Cab, and heard people talking on the other side of the gate. I knocked the usual knock and they continued to talk without answering the door. I knocked again and said “buenas tardes!” but yet again to no avail. Elder Cab turned to me and asked me “Do you think they’re going to be cool?” I thought for a moment and then replied: “No…I don’t think so. Let’s go to the next house.” As we were turning to go to the next door, a thought came to my mind (in Spanish…heh heh) and said “No vamos a saber si seran chidos a menos que hablemos con ellos”. That being, roughly translated: “We aren’t going to know if they’ll be cool unless we speak to them.” I stopped, knocked on the gate again and said, almost shouting, “BUENAS TARDES!” A woman answered the door, and I introduced my companion and myself, explained why we were there, and asked if we could come in to share our message with them. She looked back at her husband, and then at her Dad, and there was a moment of awkward silence. Then, almost simultaneously, the three of them said “Yes, come in!” We had a really good lesson with them, and they’re going to come to Church with us this coming Sunday. I will never forget that simple phrase that came to my mind; and from now on it will be my motto. God has thousands of His children prepared to listen to the Restored Gospel RIGHT NOW; we only have to do our part to find out who they are. And how will we know who they are unless we talk to them?

I’m sending a bunch of pictures today, including one of the package Elder Cab received earlier today—his mom sent me American Candies and a sweeeeet tie!

Love you all.

Elder Budge

The Day of the Dead

2009-11-03T07:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Third day of the dead everyone!

Yes, here in Mexico City there 3 days of the dead: the 31st, the 1st, and the 2nd. They remember their dead in categories: one day for those who died naturally, one day for those who died before their time, and one day for unbaptized babies. I'm pretty sure those are the categories..but I could have understood incorrectly. And also, while the kids are trick or treating, they yell SKULLS! and you have to give them candy...and if you don't have candy at hand, they accept money as well! It's funny...and cost us a few pesos. But all is well here in Mexico State. And no Mom, I haven't been sick ni una vez!

Sofia was baptized yesterday, and I had the privelege of performing the ordinance. She's going to be such a great member--she's always reading the Book of Mormon and always asking questions. My District Leader, Elder Acuna, told me that Sofia and I look like brother and sister. I strongly disagree, and unfortunately I do not have my camera with me to send photos.

I hope everyone is looking forward to this week, because I am! Thank you for your prayers and everything else that you've done to help us here in the Mexico East Mission. Love you all.

Be safe and be good!

Elder Budge

PS sorry this letter is kind of short...I spent most of time sending individual replies. Manos a la obra!

It's the end of October and we're already listening to Christmas songs!

2009-10-26T20:57:00.000-07:00

Family, Friends, and my other spiritual brothers and sisters:

Hi!
It´s me, Elder Budge. This week has gone by fast, I can´t believe it. Tomorrow I´ll have 5 months in the mission. El tiempo pasa volando! As I said last week, I had Changes last tuesday and I received my new Companion, Elder Cab!

So a little about Elder Cab: He´s 20 years old and has 17 months here in the mish. Needless to say, I´ve been learning a lot from him and his plethora of experiences. He´s from Merida, Yucatan. He loves to try to speak english, and I laugh so so hard at night when he tries to tell me something in english. We have been having just a really good time together, we get along really really well. He´s always happy and laughing, which makes the harder times a little easier to get through. I´m sure we´ll have even more success as time comes and goes!

So this week was a pretty normal week, like the last. Sofia wasn´t able to baptized yesterday because she couldn´t get work off--we had kind of a frank discussion and I challenged her to stop working on Sundays entirely--so we´ll meet with her tonight to see what´s up. I explained to her that feelings of apprehension to do what´s right can only come from one source--yep, that old serpent Satan. The Lord ALWAYS provides us a way to accomplish what is necessary in our lives, but that doesn´t mean that the way He´ll provide will be easy. We just have to trust Him--He is perfect, after all.

Jessica, the girlfriend of a member here, was baptized yesterday, which was really really sweet. Miguel (the member) was able to baptize her, which made the baptism extra special. She´ll be confirmed next week!

I hope every one is doing unbelievably well. Love love love you.

Elder Budge

Hello Temple!

2009-10-19T20:59:00.000-07:00

Hi family!

Honestly, this week I don't have much to report. We had a pretty normal week--we taught a bunch of lessons, had some investigators come to church, and we spent a lot of time looking up records of inactive members. Juan, who was baptized last week, was confirmed yesterday. That means a completed family--and they can start preparing to enter the Temple. In a year, Elder Pastrana and I can enter with them. Sweet! Those are the only opportunities we have to go to the Temple in the mission--so I plan on going a lot after I hit my year mark. All is well.

This cycle has ended, and I can't believe it. For those of you who don't know, a Cycle is a period of 6 weeks--and at the end of each cycle, we find out if we're being transferred or not. Elder Pastrana has Changes tomorrow, which means we get to head to Temple Grounds for our Changes Meeting! We've been together for 2 cycles already, and I'll be receiving a new companion tomorrow. I'm really excited, and at the same time a little sad that he'll be leaving me. The Lord know what He's doing.

That's about it, really...Sofia will be baptized this coming Sunday, which is sweeeeet. She has been reading the BOM like crazy and asked me for a copy of Doctrine and Covenants. Golden!

Love you all!
\
Elder Budge

God's elect! They're right here!

2009-10-12T21:01:00.000-07:00

Hi!

Just want to answer a couple of questions that have been made. Yes, Mom, the food is very different (yours is WAY better). Mandy, just teach your kids how to roll their r's (just make the sound whil they're babies and toddlers) and they'll be good to go. And a challenge to all: Give refferrals to your local missionaries! I know you know someone who needs to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ! Read DyC 88:81.

This week has been utterly amazing. The best week of my mission so far. We have two of the most amazing investigators in the world. One, named Sofia, is particularly unusual (in a very good way). Since we first visited her, she has read every pamphlet we have left with her, and done the additional study found in the back. She has been reading the Book of Mormon like no other, and knows almost all of the Testimony of Joseph Smith (where it explains how Joseph Smith received the plates), and best of all, knows it is true. I went with one of our Ward Missionaries to pick her up for Church yesterday, and she told me everything that she has read so far. When we got to the Chapel, she took a deep breath, let out a huge sigh, and called it "her other house". She has been a blessing to us this week.

Our other really cool investigator is Paty, who lives really close to Sofia in the same colony (San Jose Las Palmas). After teaching the first lesson, explaining the Restoration, and answering a few questions about what we believe about music, dancing, parties, etc.; we invited her to read the Book of Mormon and come to Church. She promptly replied: I'm going to do what you've asked me to do. But you've already convinced me. Needless to say, she is a blessing as well.

The Book Of Mormon is true. It is a witness that God still speaks to us today, through his chosen Prophets, as stated in Amos 3:7--that God will do nothing save he revealeth his secret to His servants, the Prophets. What a blessing we have to know that God hasn't (and will never) change.

Love,

Elder Budge

PS- We baptized Juan yesterday! After his confirmation, he and his wife, Angelica, can prepare for the Temple and go after a year. Sweet!

Holy incredible conference, Batman!

2009-10-05T21:04:00.000-07:00

Hello once again my family and other loved ones!

This week has been just incredible. I´m continuing to learn and grow every day; the Lord has blessed me in many ways.

Elder Pastrana and I had another successful week--Claudia was able to be baptized yesterday between the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference. It was awesome, even though the water was really cold and I messed up the Baptismal Prayer for the first time! But I nailed it the second time, and all went well. I´m grateful that I´m able to feel a small fraction of the joy that our Heavenly Father feels when one soul is brought unto him. Next week, if Claudia´s dad doesn´t work on Sunday, he´ll be baptized as well--which means a family completed and working towards going to the Temple. We had a really sweet lesson about temples and eternal families last night. What a blessing. It reminded me of when I entered the temple with my family. I can´t imagine Heaven without my family.

I was able to learn a lot this past week--I had Exchanges with our American District Leader, Elder Winters, and we had a blast. It´s no wonder he´s one of our leaders; he´s a great example. We knocked the entire day, and yet another drunkard in the street tried to talk me (my companion says i´m a drunkard magnet). It was a really good experience. I´m grateful for my leaders here.

Ok, so Conference was just amazing. Yes Mom, I was able to watch it--all 5 sessions. It was incredible. I especially liked the Saturday sessions; everyone seemed to talk, one way or another, about the nature of our Heavenly Father. We truly have a Father in Heaven that loves us more than we can understand, and we have the commandments He has given us because He knows it´s the best way for us to progress. Elder Oaks explained the difference that exists between mercy and justice, as it pertains to the love of God. He said something to this effect: "If one thinks that having God´s love is like having a license to disobey, that person neither understands love nor obedience". And it is absolutely true--He asks us to obey because He loves us. Mercy cannot rob justice--He knows that only through obedience can we become perfect like Him. In Elder Jorge F. Zeballo´s talk, he explained that the Lord does not expect of us that which we cannot achieve--and He commands us to be perfect. He does not require more than our best; neither does he accept any less--for both would be unjust. Elder Uchtdorf explained that He has promised us all that He has; and if that isn´t enough of a reason to love Him, we must love Him because He loved us first.

I am truly and eternally grateful for my Heaveny and Earthly parents, who show me the greatest love I could ever receive. Thank you.

Love, Elder Budgefference that exists between mercy and justice, as it pertains to the love of God. He said something to this effect

El tiempo da buen consejo.

2009-09-29T21:07:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

This past week has had its ups and downs, as usual. Luckily we have a calm P Day to recuperate and start fresh tonight at six.

We have been working with a number of Investigators, all of whom are really really cool. We have three baptisms scheduled for the coming Sunday; all three of them have scheduled baptismal interviews for Wednesday and Saturday. Their names are Irais, Claudia, and Angelica. Claudia is the daughter of Angelica, and Irais is a refferral from a member in the Ward. Yep! It's really sweet to have been able to see the great improvement in this Area.

The following Sunday is the tentative date for the two young guys, Jose and Eric from the AA group. They're bothing having trouble giving up smoking, but we're doing what we can to help them.

It was pretty crazy yesterday (Sunday) because Elder Pastrana went to pickup three investigators in three different places to no avail. It was frustrated, but we were instantly blessed with having Angelica, Claudia, and the husband of the family Juan attend sacrament meeting, along with Irais. We met a man named Vicente who attended for the first time yesterday, by himself. This is RARE. haha. He told us that he has passed by the chapel a number of times, and curiosity (and we could say, the Spirit) brought him to the Church. He is really awesome, he was asking us for a Book of Mormon by the end of Priesthood meeting and told us we could baptize him whenever we wanted. It was so great haha. We told him we're going to teach him a bit and then we can baptize him. We have an appointment with him tonight in the Chapel, along with our new Ward Mission Leader.

Gotta love this work.

Elder Budge

PS/ Mama Crump, thanks for that picture of Brady! I was dying of laughter. I'm doing to develop it today :)

Oh, and the picture attached is just one I took while we were on our way to play soccer last p day. I thought it turned out pretty sweet!

2 months in Mexico? No puede ser...

2009-09-28T21:05:00.000-07:00

Good afternoons!

That´s what we say in Spanish. Don´t ask why its plural because I do not know. I can´t believe another week has passed; time flies so so fast when you walk as much as we do, I suppose. Yesterday was my four-month mark, and I feel like I´ve been here for a week. It´s a good sign, I guess, because it means we´re working hard and keeping busy every day. And we´ve been seeing an abundance of miracles.

Yesterday, Elder Pastrana and I had the privelege of providing the saving ordinance of Baptism for two of the Almas of God (souls). It was so great, I love seeing our investigators in white--the change in them is just astounding. I´ll try to attach a picture, but the card reader on this computer is a little finicky. I baptized Irais and Elder Pastrana baptized Angelica. It was a sweet experience. We have two baptisms programmed for the following Sunday for Vicente (our miracle walk-in investigator, who is really awesome) and for Claudia, Angelica´s daughter. If all goes well, Juan, Angelica´s husband, should be baptized the following Sunday (11th).
It will be really awesome because we´re going to the Stake Center to watch General Conference next Sunday, and we´ll have the baptisms between the two sessions of conference, along with the other missionaries in our Stake who have baptism scheduled as well. I know, right?

Just by the way, we had our Zone Conference last week (the 22nd), and I received letters from Miranda, Elder Jace Ross, and Kristie Martin (Kristie, I have received every letter, don`t worry). The letters I received were sent from BEFORE August 17th (do the math...that means over a month after they were submitted to DearElder). Just to let you know the approximate time frame. But thank you all, it´s great to know how everyone is doing.

We finally got a Ward Mission Leader called in our Ward, and we had a really good training meeting with him on Saturday. We received the list of Ward Missionaries on Sunday, and Elder Pastrana and I are preparing a training meeting for all of them on Saturday of this week. The Lord is definitely blessing us here in Atlicpac with the help of the members. Do your best to try to give at least one refferral to the missionaries this week--the work is so much more effective with the help of the members.

I love you all, and hope things are going just swimmingly for you. Suerte!

Elder Budge

PS- Nope, I couldn´t attach the picture. Dang.

Nephi had to slay Laban...and we had to break into a chapel.

2009-09-14T21:12:00.000-07:00

FAMily! Hey!

Thank you for your emails! Mandy and Eli, I´m glad you finally got your own place. I know what it´s like moving in with Mom and Dad again after...well, not living with Mom and Dad. Different worlds. On the one hand is the free food, and on the other...well it really isn´t important. I´m happy for you! I think Brady Crump´s brother and sister-in-law might be in your ward, they live right by there as well. There names are Dustin and Starlee Crump. Just by the by.

I´m glad things are going well for everyone that I´ve heard from. And I hope things are going well for the others. Things have been excellent, as usual, in la Misión México Este, the best mission on the face of the earth. We have definitely had an interesting week. Elder Pastrana and I went to the Doctor last Monday, and Elder Pastrana´s ear drum is fine! When we went a few weeks ago, the Doctor said there was a hole in his ear drum, but now it´s closed up! Which means no more need for surgery. Thank you for all your prayers; I know a surgery would have interfered greatly with the work we´re doing. He still has an infection, but he only has to take some medications and junk like that and all should be well.

So this past week we had our District Class with the other District of our Stake (in which are the Zone Leaders). We all went to a Chapel about 30 minutes away from ours by car, and when we arrived, the keys that the Zone Leaders didn´t work on the chapel doors. All the doors have locks with Finger Print Scanners, but the manual keys weren´t working. We found an open window on the second floor of the chapel, and an Elder in the other district lifted one of the members that was with us up into the window. It was so great, I have some sweet pictures of it. I can´t send them because the computer i´m using doesn´t have an SD card slot (bummer) but I´ll try to send them next week!

Elder Pastrana and I did some Celestial Contacting this past week, and It has been awesome (I don´t have time to explain exactly what that is right now). We found some really solid people, we have been teaching a ton. We contacted a lady that told us she had lived in Utah for three years before just barely coming back to Mexico! We made an appointment for the next day with her, and we went and visited her. Elder Pastrana and I started teaching the Restoration, and we started to teach her about baptism. She got this huge grin on her face, and explained to us that she had already been baptized. We were like, ´but have you had the oppportunity to baptized in the way that Jesus Christ taught us?´ She said yes, in the LDS Church! haha. She told us she was too embarassed to tell us the day before, because she knew we didn´t know who she was because she´s been inactive for a good chunk of time. We invited her to come to the Chapel with us this coming Sunday, and she agreed. She´s a really awesome lady, very kind. She showed me a bunch of pictures from when she lived in Utah--pictures of Orem, Spanish Fork, and Salt Lake. It was so weird talking to someone who knew the area in which I used to live. She gave me a picture that she had taken of Bridal Veil Falls up in Provo Canyon. It´s sweet! It´s funny how things play out.

Welp, I don´t have much more to report. We´re still teaching the two young guys from the AA group who are really cool. We have a tentative baptismal date for the 27th of this month, as well as another investigator we have named Irais. We´ve also been teaching a really sweet mother and daughter, named Claudia and Angelica, who also have a baptismal date for the 27th. We´ve seen incredible improvement in this Area, and plan on seeing this desert flower blossom even more. Man, I´m poetic.

I love you all and I hope you are doing the greatest things ever!

Love, Elder Bood-hey (that´s how some people pronounce my name--i´ve embraced the fact that no one will ever be able to pronounce my name).

My first cycle is already over...crazy.

2009-09-07T21:13:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! I hope you´re doing well.

Because I am! This week has been hectic for us here in Atlicpac. We confirmed Daniela yesterday in Sacrament meeting, which was awesome, and we completed that family! It´s an awesome feeling. She´s doing great, she is going to baptisms for the dead on Thursday. I´m excited for her. She already wants to head to the baptismal font again. The Lord has allowed us to see tremendous miracles in this area.

This week has been hectic because Monday through Friday Elder Pastrana and I went to the City and We only had Saturday and Sunday to really work. Elder Pastrana has had some medical problems, so we went to the Federal District (that is what I refer to when I say ¨the City¨) a lot to have exams and all that good stuff. On Friday we had to go to a laboratory in order to get a Tomagraphy of his ear, which was actually pretty cool, apart from taking up all of our time last week. Nevertheless we had some good success on Satuday and Sunday; we have two new investigators who are really really cool, who have a baptismal date for the 20th of September. I´m really looking forward to that. An inactive member brought both of them to Church last Sunday; they´re part of an AA group, and have been searching for Religion. It´s awesome to see this sincere desire that they have to change their lives for the better--more than anything I could see in their eyes that they really wanted to find our Father in Heaven. I´m excited for both of them.

There isn´t much else to report on... we´re head to the Federal District again to pick up the results from Elder Pastrana´s tomography--which will let us know how complicated the surgery is going to be (the fact that there will be surgery is inevitable). Pray for him, please. We don´t want it to interfere too much with the work.

I love you all, and I love the emails. Keep em coming. By the by, if you receive an Email from me, that means that you can reply to me through email as well. Thanks!

Elder Budge

Fotos: the Baptism of Daniela, Elder Pastrana and I with our rain gear (it has been raining like crazy here), and me doing some street magic for the enjoyment of the viewing public.

Hey!

2009-08-31T21:17:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

This week has been awesome and crazy. I might have to keep this letter short because we're heading to the City to go to the doctor. I'll try to be brief...but chances are I'll end up writing a lot. haha.

So this week has been sweet for a number of reasons. On Wednesday, I had exchanges with my District Leader, and we had a really really good time. He came over into my area, and my trainer went over to my DL's area. It was kind of like my 'test' or something like that. It went really really well--I didn't get us lost once! At the very very least I was grateful for that. We worked together really well and I got some sweet tips for how to work more effectively. He falls really well with me.

On Thursday, Elder Pastrana and I had to go to the Immigration Offices in Mexico City so I could sign some forms and leave some fingerprints and whathaveyou. It was cool because my roommates from the MTC had to go as well at the same time, so I got to see them. The only one who didn't go was my companion from the MTC, Elder Walk, because he had Zone Conference that day. Bummer. I was really looking forward to seeing him. But, life goes on, and so does the work. And did it ever.

We had been teaching an investigator named Daniela for the past week or so, and things had been going alright with her. She didn't really seem enthusiastic about it, and had a hard time answering some of the questions we would ask in our lessons. BUT, this past week we taught her twice, and she committed to being baptized. SWEET! So I baptized her yesterday, and she is doing just awesome. She goes to Seminary, and the Firesides on Sundays and all that good stuff. It was a really special experience for me, because she is the first person I've baptized that I've personally taught. I am really grateful that the Lord is allowing us to see such amazing miracles in our area. This is His work! We only need to be ready and willing to be His instruments in it. So yeah, that was awesome. It was funny becuase when we told her she could decide who would baptize her, she told us that I give her fear because I'm so serious all the time hahaha. She flipped a coin to decide, and it landed on the side of my Companion, but then she grabbed it and flipped it over so it would be on my side haha. I told her that I was going to have a really grumpy face in our picture when we baptized her. I guess I'm serious most of the time because we didn't really learn 'joking' spanish in the MTC. I'm working on it. I figure the least I can do is make some funny faces.

Well, I don't have much to report; we're still getting a lot of new investigators, which is part of the miracles we've been seeing lately. Also, it's been raining like MAD lately. Saturday night we came home soaked to the bone--it was a good time. And by the by, our water boiler doesn't work, so we have to heat up water in buckets to bathe in the morning haha. Good times. Oh, and if you want to see where I spent my morning today, google Centro Historico in Mexico City--it's a ridiculously gorgeous part of Mexico City (in the South Mission) that looks a lot like Versailles to me. We went really early this morning with Elders Puch and Israelsen in the Subway; it was a blast. There's a huge temporary Dinosaur Museum in the middle of the plaza right now which was really really cool. Anywho. Lex, you would have loved it--there was a SWEEEET, huge Cathedral that was just beautiful inside.

Love you, hope you're doing great. Email me!

Elder Budge

Be careful what you wish for...because you might get hugged by a drunk man

2009-08-25T18:05:00.000-07:00

So this week was pretty awesome for a number of reasons. Last P-Day, Elder Pastrana and I headed to Aragón (the colony in which the Temple is) for my interview with the President. What an amazing man. Our interview went a little over time...but was just incredibly inspiring. We talked a lot about my difficulty with the language, and he made me some promises. He said: ''In our very first interview when you arrived, I promised you that the work was going to be difficult. And it has been; now I'm promising that you're going to learn the language faster than you can imagine. Do you believe me?" It's true; I absolutely trust every word he said. His first promise came true very very quickly. I'm excited for the next.

After my Interview, Elders Pastrana, Larsen, and Ramirez had the rest of the night to be in the heart of Meixco, DF. That city is just SWEEEEET. It's so huge! We went and saw the Angel of Independence (google it), which was pretty cool. Not too exciting...it was just really really big. haha. Also, on the sidewalks of Mexico City are all these sweet sweet benches made of different things. It's hard to explain, I'll try to send pictures next week. Just fyi, I'm not in "Mexico City'' (other wise known as DF), but I am about an hour away from it. I'll be heading there again this Thursday to the Migration Offices. I don't know why yet--pray that I don't get deported hahaha.

So the reason for the title of this email is...well, a good story. So since the time I arrived, I've been hoping in the back of my mind to find someone that speaks English while contacting. Sometimes we knock on houses that have signs that say ''learn English here'' and things like that. But, to no avail. So thursday, we were stopped by a man who was just ridiculously drunk--he acted a lot like Jack Sparrow haha. He was telling us that he's a sinner and things like that. And then on Friday, we were introducing one of our investigators to some members that live near her, and we were stopped by two EXTREMELY drunk men (it was about 1 in the afternoon). One was asking us if we could help him stop drinking (in so many words), and the other was trying to get him to leave us alone. This other one starting talking to us as well, and then he realized that I wasn't understanding much of what he was saying. He said to me, "do you speak english?" (in English) and I said yes. He then started talking to me in English, asked me where I was from. I told him I was born in California, and then he kinda freaked out and yelled "I was born in California too! My brother!!" And then he came in real close and hugged me for like 10 seconds. Needless to say...I was uncomfortable, and I'm sure I smelled like Alcohol afterward. We left after a little dispute about why they couldn't come to our appointments with us, and I just thought, ''ok...maybe it's best if we just stick to Spanish.'' It was really funny...and made me wonder how all these drunk people are finding us recently haha.

Things in the work are improving; we had 7 investigators attend Sacrament meeting yesterday, which is a HUGE improvement. We have appointments with all but one this week, so we should have a productive week. Can't wait. Thanks for everything.

Elder Budge

Hola!

2009-08-17T12:42:00.000-07:00

Hey fam!

Crazy week. We had our Zone conference last wednesday, which was sweet, needless to say. President Bulloch and his wife are so sweeeeet. We had interviews with the President right after, and right as he and I started to interview, he suddenly had to go to the hospital. Yikes! He has some pretty bad kidney stones...so i'm heading over to Aragon (the colony where the Temple is) to interview today. Please pray for him that all will be well. Thanks!

So dad, real quick, my schedule is the normal missionary schedule, minus dinner. We don't really eat dinner because we're usually working. But i wake up at 6 30, personal study at 8, comp study at 9, language study at 10. From eleven to 2 we're proselyting, tracting, or going to appointments, if we have them. from about 2 to 3 we have La Comida (which is getting better now that everyone knows that i don't eat that much), then from 3 to 9 we're proselyting, going to appointments, tracting, everything. We have a list of former investigators that we try to visit, from when we review the area book. Every day is just a mix of everything. When we get home, I usually have a bowl of Zucaritas (mexican frosted flakes), we plan, I read a little from Jesus the Christ (amazing) and then we hit the hay. Not literally...haha.

Not much has really happened this week...we have 5 new investigators, none of which attended church this week. It's really tough when no one shows up. We're really praying to see miracles this week. Oh and we dropped Hirma and Lourdes because they have been avoiding our appointments...although they both have received an answer about the Book of Mormon. It's rough, they just told us they don't have to have to change their lives. Please keep them in your prayers that their hearts will change.

We have a new investigator named Jorge who is an alcoholic. He approached us while we were tracting and asked us if we could visit him after we were done talking to his neighbor. We did, and found he has had a rough life. Please pray for him so he can have the strength to do what is necessary. For his sake i'm not really including details.

Also we've been meeting with the neice of one of the members, who is really really cool. She has a couple of kids, and really has the desire to know the truth. She only lacks the motivation to follow through with the truth. Please pray for her as well. Her name is Magaly. Our visits with her are always, always awesome.

I really love everything here, there is no greater work on Earth. I'm definitely getting used to the culture here, and am really starting to love it. We just passed through a street market (called "Tiangi's") where they had some sweeeeet hand-made Marvel Heroes figures. I may have to invest. I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Budge

PS Mom, please let Jordan Crespo know that i would love to get an email from him. Por favor le da mi correo para que pueda hacerlo. Gracis como un monton!

Another week has passed...yikes.

2009-08-10T21:23:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!

I don´t have a whole lot of time so i´ll have to make it short. Dad, you wanted to know about my livings conditions, the different culture, etc., and Hirma and Lourdes. My living conditions: humble--i´ll send pictures, because it´s tough to explain. But we live above the stake patriarch, who´s a really nice guy. The truth is I really love our pink apartment. We really don´t need much to do the work. The culture is different in a lot of ways, mainly it´s the way things are said, how and where things are sold (like in the streets...I bought a sweet Nike knockoff watch today for 120 pesos---less than 12 USD.) Also we ride around in these VW vans called "combis", it´s like a bus, but a small VW van where everyone just piles in. it´s a good time. Also, there´s so much trash everywhere, and I always try to not litter, but there aren´t any trash cans ANYWHERE. So i usually have trash in my pockets or in my bag. Also, Mom, you´ll be glad to know that you aren´t alone in your "singing abilities"--no one hear can carry a tune. It´s awesome on Sundays because no one know how to play the piano in sacrament meeting, so we always sing a capella. Dad, you would get a kick out of it for sure. Nevertheless, I love it.

Lourdes and Hirma are having a hard time progressing--they canceled our last appointment, and haven´t been keeping their commitments. We have an appointment with them today, where we have to give the "charla franca"---the frank discussion. The standards for dropping investigators in this mission are steep. We may have to drop them. Which is always sad, but happens. We´re trying to do all we can, thank you for your prayers.

I had my first baptism yesterday, which was kind of crazy. The boy we baptized, Alexandro, wanted me to baptize him, which i thought was SWEET. Then i realized that I didn´t have the baptismal prayer memorized in Spanish. But all went well, and he was confirmed yesterday as well. I love it! Pray for the family Rosa Flores as well, the oldest son is baptized, and his mom wants to be baptized, but won´t unless the father is baptized as well. We know they both want to, and we know it would be a huge blessing for them if we could complete their family. Thanks!

So today we played some sweet soccer with our zone; i loved it. Our zone leaders are sweet, and everyone in our zone seems really cool. We have Zone Conference on wednesday, where I get my mail. I´m stoked! I love you all, don´t hesitate to send letters.

Love, Elder Budge

These Spanish keyboards are crazy...

2009-08-03T23:39:00.000-07:00

Hello family!

Holy intense week! This week has been just crazy. Almost as crazy as this weird Spanish keyboard. It took me ten minutes to find the apostraphe key. Anywho, my trainer is named Elder Pastrana, he's sweet! He's really funny (as far as I can understand...maybe he isn't haha), and he's super obedient, and he doesn't speak english AT ALL--the three things I wanted in a trainer. We have been working crazy hard. I've never worked so hard or eaten so much. I'm having difficulty adapting to the culture, but other than that all is well. There are many things that are super different.

Every day we have "la comida" around 2 o clock, which is the largest meal of the day. And it is HUGE. It's usually three courses, and one serving of one course is big enough to feed all the kids in Rwanda. I can barely handle it, and my companion has 2 plates! It really is ridiculous. It was funny because yesterday we ate at a Sister's house (every Comida is provided by a ward member) and I was barely close to finishing the first course, and she said "i know comida is a new thing for you, it really is ok if you can't finish it, i won't be offended." I said okie dokie and she took the plate. Then she went and grabbed an entire plate of cut-up watermelon for me to eat! haha I thought "i couldn't even finish the first course...what makes you think i can begin the second?!" but, because i am so polite, i started eating it. Yikes. Now i always carry pepto-bismol with me. Seriously.

So to answer a question Elder David Budge asked me, we call the disobedient missionaries "fritos" and the ones who don't work at all "muertos". Highlights of the week: Elder Pastrana and I were contacting in a colony called "Tecamachulca", and we just weren't having any success at all. After another rejection, I told him we should pray to find someone who was willing to listen. He looked at me like I was crazy and said "what do you mean? Like, right now? We already prayed when we left the house." And said, "well, let's pray again so we can find someone to teach". And then he said "I guess...if you want." Ha it was awesome. So I prayed, in English, that we could find someone. Afterward he said "Well...that was my first prayer in the street." But, lo and behold, we found an AWESOME lady just a few houses away from where we were who invited us in to teach. We taught her and her mom, named Lourdes and Hirma, respectively. It was awesome. We visited her again on Saturday, taught her about tithing and how our church is organized and such, and she loved it. She thought it was sweeeet the way our church is set up. Which is true! We visited her again on Sunday, but she said she was too busy to come to church. Bummer. But she wants to come next week, and Elder Pastrana and I both feel impressed that she will be baptized. So yeah. Worth every blister on my feet (and there are plenty...).

I've learned some useful phrases that I hear all the time here among the members. My favorite is when members turn to my companion and say " he's from utah? but he looks mexican...". haha I picked up on that one pretty quickly. It happens at least once a day. I also know now why Mom always has lemon in her water, because EVERY comida we have smashed-up lemons in our water, and on everything else. And it's funny because we're in an extremely humble part of the city, but as soon as you walk into someone's home, you can always find a really, really, nice stereo with a bazillion other speakers in the house. It's really funny.

To give you an idea of what my area is like, or rather the entire mission, I'll share something President Bullock shared with me. He said, "If this mission was New York City, we would be in the Bronx and Brooklyn". Yep. And our area is on the humbler end of the spectrum. But I love it. Melissa would absolutely hate it here. haha.

I have a lot more to say, but alas, I have to go to la comida. To stuff myself silly. I love all of you, and hope you're doing well. By the by, I receive mail every two weeks at Zone Conference. Just a heads up. :)

LOVE, Elder Budge

PS- Wal-Mart here is CRAZY!

I'M GOING TO ATLANTA!!!...then Mexico.

2009-07-20T06:04:00.000-07:00

Hey! You!

So, as you may or may not be able to tell, I got my flight plans this past week! Ridiculous! I can't wait, I will be in the Salt Lake airport exactly a week from now. I can't believe it. So, home, I will be calling you from the airport somewhere between 8am and 11am--cancel every plan you have during that time on next Monday, the 27th, so you can be there when I call. I also have a 2 and half hour lay over in Atlanta, GA, so if I don't get the opportunity to call in the morning, I'll call in the afternoon. Basically I need you to sit at home and wait for me to call. Maybe all day. But anyway, I'm stoked! I can't believe it's already here. Anyway, besides that, my week has been awesome.

Elder Walk and I went to the RC on tuesday, as usual, but this past week was especially awesome. I was readily available at the phone, waiting to receive inbound calls and chats while Elder Walk was making a number of outbound calls to no avail. Although, he does consider it a success when they have Ring-Back tones, haha. But anyway, all of the sudden I get a phone call. I answer it. It's this girl named April from Houston, Texas. I teach her almost the entire Plan of Salvation over the phone. It was sweeeeeeet!! She has some friends who are members, was browsing Mormon.org, and just decided to call. I was awesome. I got a teeny tiny taste of doing missionary work with an actual investigator, and it was incredible. It was the best feeling in the world. Anywho, we made a return appointment for the same time the next day (Wednesday), but she never called in again. I was bummed. But all in all, it was a really good experience. And thus it is.

Elder Walk and I taught our Progressing Investigator again this past week, it was sweet. He's been living the Word of Wisdom, and we taught him the Law of Chastity because he and his girlfriend live together. We left him a pamphlet and a commitment to study and obey the law with his girlfriend. Then, I saw him in passing later in the week, and he told me his girlfriend is pregnant! It's so awesome! Obviously, we're going to teach him about marriage and the like. I'm excited. This week has been crazy exciting. Esta obra vale la pena.

So my District is just awesome. We always say American sayings in Spanish that do not translate at all, and our teacher is always really confused all the time. Haha it's awesome. We always say "¿Qué en el mundo?!" Which in English means, "What in the world?!"...but it really doesn't mean anything in Spanish. We love our American Dichos. We said it to some Mexican natives the other day and they were so so confused. It's really funny. I love learning the culture, we learn Mexican sayings in Spanish all the time.

Oh yeah! I forgot, up until this very instant that I have another amazing story to share. So my Branch President (who is ridiculously amazing) brough me a Kit-Kat and said it was from his wife. I didn't know why she wanted me to have it, and neither did he. So President Dean pulls out his cell phone and calls his wife. She answered the phone and he handed it to me! It was crazy! I haven't spoken on a telephone, let alone a cell phone, in two months! I was extremely happy about it. Turns out she felt bad because I was in an interview when she brought cake to the Branch for her birthday. Both President and Sister Dean are amazing people.

Anyway, I hope everyone is doing well. I love all of you! Family, I will talk to you next Monday!

Love, Elder Budge

Hey again!

2009-07-13T14:26:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

I hope everything is going well! This week has been pretty sweet, needless to say. Not really with events or anything...I've just felt pretty fulfilled.

Elder Walk and I started teaching a progressive investigator in the Teaching Resource Center last Tuesday, and it's been awesome. He's tough, knows the Bible really well, but is receptive to the things that we're teaching. He drinks and smokes, and we asked him to not to do so when we came to visit. He got kind of offended, but respected our desire. His girlfriend also lives with him, so we're going to work on the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity along with the Plan of Salvation this Tuesday (tomorrow). He said he would invite his girlfriend to join us in our next lesson, but it is unlikely that she will come. His name is Mario (Hno. Shulca). We're excited. Having a progressive investigator is really helping Elder Walk and I to focus our daily and weekly goals on our purpose, which is to invite others to come unto Christ. So it's fun. Hno. Shulca is one of my favorite teachers here at the MTC. It's a really realistic experience for us to have.

Elder Walk and I had the opportunity to go to the temple again this morning, and it just keeps getting better. I love learning in the House of the Lord.

I really don't have much else to talk about...I heard Cory Beighley is back, I don't have his e-mail address but I really really want to get in contact with him. Oh and Mom, I forgot to mention last week that the author of "The Work and the Glory" series spoke at our devotional last week, he was awesome. I thought you'd enjoy hearing that :)

So I've been reading the Book of Mormon like mad this past week and half or so. It's crazy, I've never read the Book of Mormon this quickly, and I've never realized how small the Book is. I read all of Helaman and half of 3 Nephi yesterday, and it's amazing. It's been pressed upon me lately to do the opposite of what the Nephites were doing at this point in the Book of Mormon--they only would repent and praise God when bad things were happening, and scorned the Prophets that testified of their iniquity when they were lifted up in the Pride of our hearts. It's so important to heed the Lord's council through His prophets during prosperous times as well as in times of humility.

Anywho, I love you all, I hope you are all doing well. And I hope to hear from YOU very soon! You know who you are! I leave the MTC in 2 weeks...so do not procrastinate the day of your letter-writing.

Love,
Elder Budge