Hello from my new email address!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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.

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