Oreo McFlurries...make me feel fat.

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 "

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!

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

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.

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!

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?

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