Weekly Challenge - July 22, 2013

This week I want to challenge you all to keep a prayer in your heart. The scriptures tell us that when we do that, we will wax strong in our confidence in God and that we will have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion. As you let your mind wander, let it wander into prayer and the promise I received is that you will notice the difference.

We are starting this challenge together as I just received it yesterday and am working on it currently. I would love to hear how it all goes and how you all feel so if anyone actually reads this blog and does the challenge please feel free to send an email or something to me telling me how it goes.

July 22nd, 2013 - Raymondville, TX

Okay, So week number one in Raymondville. Forgive me because my email will need to be short because we are in a library and you only get time in 45 minute increments and then they kick you off and with Key indicator reporting and letters to the President I don't have a ton of time. Raymondville is quiet. It has a population about half the size of Mercedes but it is a good place. We also work 4 other little towns with like 400-600 people in them, the area itself is huge but the area worked is very small and very spread out. We drive about 30 minutes to church and so you can imagine that we don't really see other missionaries much, not like in Mercedes where you always had someone else to talk to. It is nice though, there is more English than I would like, it is like 95% English. At the present time I am the District Leader over 3 companionships including my own and I will be honest in saying the District is really struggling pretty hard. I have my work cut out for me which is good because I don't mind having stuff to do and what better thing to do than help other Missionaries bring people to Christ. I have realized that is the joy of Being a Leader is getting to see those around you succeed. We are already on the up and up, one companionship brought their first investigator to church in about 3 months, that is a long time to have no one at church. Apparently our District used to lead the Zone in Baptisms and I think it is about time to get that back the way it was. I am excited to have my first exchange this week in the new District with Elder Dance and his greenie Elder Smith.

My companion is named Elder Lloyd if I remember I will attach a photo. He is a great Elder, he has been here in Raymondville two transfers and so he is probably out this next one but for now he and I have the great priviledge of working together. He is pretty funny, his humor is really dry and we spend a lot of time laughing at the stuff that goes on in our daily mission lives. So far the best joke we have is about this man we talked to, he is less-active. Last week we had invited him to church because he has 2 young step daughters who haven't been baptized and figured that would be a good place to start looking for potential. He told us that he would definitely be at church and that we didn't need to worry. Even when we tried to set plans with him for it he assured us, that he would be at church it was fine. Well Sunday came around and he wasn't there so we swung by his home to see what had happened because sometimes legitimately bad things happen on Sundays that keep people from church, trust me as a missionary you see lots of stuff. So we walked up and were greeted almost immediately as we exited the car by his live-in girlfriend who told us that they hadn't been able to come to church because the piece of the toilet that lets it flush properly had broken and so they couldn't come. She then told us that her boyfriend wasn't home which we are pretty sure wasn't true, can't be sure but we have plans to go by and see why the toilet kept him from church. We hadn't heard an excuse quite that bad for a while so we had a good laugh about it.

Monday night as I spent my last night in Mercedes I got to spend the evening with all the converts in the area that I had the blessing of working with in a giant FHE. Man it was awesome, I am gonna miss them all so much. Some of them had a good cry but I reassured them I wasn't dying, I don't know if that made a huge difference but we had a blast. I have a few photos I will attach so you can see some of the great members of the Mercedes Ward here in South Texas. I think my time in Mercedes taught me a lot and now that I am gone I really kind of miss it. The Mission has a lot of bitter-sweet moments in it like getting transferred. You are excited to go and serve someplace else but you are sad because you have to leave all those people you love. It reminded me of how life works that way and how we need to do all we can to enjoy all the moments of our lives because unfortunately the come to an end and when they do we miss them. The Lord is constantly trying to teach us things, in all the good moments as well as the hard ones we just need to be willing to learn. Be teachable and try to look for the Lords hand in what you do I promise he works all situations for good if we let him.

This week I want to challenge you all to keep a prayer in your heart. The scriptures tell us that when we do that, we will wax strong in our confidence in God and that we will have the Holy Ghost as a constant companion. As you let your mind wander, let it wander into prayer and the promise I received is that you will notice the difference. We are starting this challenge together as I just received it yesterday and am working on it currently. I would love to hear how it all goes and how you all feel so if anyone actually reads this blog and does the challenge please feel free to send an email or something to me telling me how it goes.

Elder Bassett

Final Mercedes Family Home Evening and good bye pictures July 15.

July 15th, 2013 - Pics

Elder White and I

A beautiful, South Texas Sky

And a Member familiy with us 4 guys (Elders)

July 15, 2013

So they made us wait until this morning to find out, Usually they tell us Thursday or Friday before but the new mission president decided Monday would give us enough time. We got transfer news and it looks like Good 'Ol Elder Bassett has to leave the running for King of Mercedes a three way tie and move on over to Raymondeville to be the District Leader there. I have no idea what it is, where it is, what it is like, who lives there, how big it is, nothin. I know that the companion I will have Elder Lloyd was in my MTC zone, in fact I was his Zone leader in the MTC and he is a good kid. I am excited to see how he is and to be in a car during August because I am not sure if I mentioned this, It is hot here. Like really really hot.

I am bummed because Elder Casteel is my son and I don't get to finish training him and because all my recent converts are here, including The Guerrero family who I love so much, Mayra is going to die when she hears I am getting transferred in fact her 12 year old daughter Regina told me I don't get to leave Mercedes alive so we will see how that goes. Saying goodbye to everyone is going to be hard especially with so little time. We only get threee hours to work on Mondays because it is P-day and so saying goodbye to everyone may be difficult. Luckily I thought aheard and set up an FHE with everyone this evening so that they can all be in one place at the same time so I can spend time with them.

This last week was hard, we saw some super awesome stuff happen and then agency and Satan came and had to ruin it all. This family we have been teaching that has been terrified of church finally came to a church tour and met the bishop and loved it, then come Sunday they didn't show. That means my poor son and his new companion have to have a drop lesson their first day together. It made me sad because Elder Casteel is learning to really love these people and this family holds a special place in his heart because they are really the first family that he ever taught and had progress as a missionary so saying goodbye to them is going to be hard. But, that is mission life at times, it isn't all rainbows and butterflies, in fact it very rarely is either of those things. Elder Casteel is a great elder and is going to have a great time learning from this new Elder Wilding and I hope he goes on to be a million times better than I am.

I got to work with Elder White this week, one of my dearest friends in this world and we got to go on an exchange and it was awesome we had so much fun, See pictures. I don't ever want to be a Zone Leader but I do hope God sees fit in his infinite mercy to give me some time as Elder Whites companion.

I have learned a ton here in Mercedes about this work, about loving the people, about the scriptures and their purpose and importance. I have learned I can do hard things and that the Lord expects great things from each of us. I know now that for sure Christ is the savior and that this is his work. I got to give a talk in Spanish Ward yesterday for about 12 minutes about member missionary work and it went really well. Members are so vital to this work it was nice to be able to give them a push to go and do their part. I want to invite all of you to find your ward mission plans and find out what you can do to contribute to it.

I love you all

Elder Bassett

July 8, 2013

July 8, 2013

This week has been a pretty interesting one for us here in Mercedes. With Transfers a week away I am way excited we were able to have a baptism with the Niece of one of our Recent Converts. It all kinda just happened really unexpectedly. We just sat with her a few weeks back and asked if she wanted to be baptized and she said, "Sure" and we worked with her and worked with her and then had to make her feel not pressured into baptism and stuff but it all went really good. (See Picture for family) As for us we didn't have a lot of time to work this week because Monday was P-Day, Tuesday we spent a long time at the Doctor for Elder Casteel, Wednesday we had an Exchange so I worked somewhere not in my area, Thursday we were in McAllen until 7 pm for a surprise zone conference with the new president Maluenda and his Wife and we all had interviews and such with him. He is awesome, Chilean, and only really speaks Spanish so that is going to be great for a lot of the missionaries. He talked a lot to us about having faith and how we needed to, "Disfrutar nuestras misiones, no debemos sufrirlas. Hay momentos dulces y tambien amargos pero solo necesitamos aprender como amar los momentos amargos y dificiles." I can't tell you how many times he said that, just like a Hispanic person he repeated himself a lot but I think it was great because it gave the spirit a lot of time to teach me. In the mission there is a word I don't really like but it is what the missionaries use to describe a harsh correcting either by other people or the spirit, lo que sea. But the word is "Jack" and I have to say the spirit Jacked me a lot this last week, really these last few weeks. It isn't as bad as it sounds because the Lord tells us those whom he loves he corrects. Just like when he rebukes his best friend Peter and calls him Satan. Christ and his spirit do a lot of correcting and we just have to be ready and willing to change those things.

 

My son Elder Casteel is doing really well, his Spanish is improving which it needs to do a lot and so is mine, it also needs a lot of work. I have a hard time learning real Spanish from the people and I have a hard time studying Spanish because I get distracted but it is coming along things are moving I feel less stupid now when I talk to people. Sometimes I feel stupid still but that is to be expected. What I hate is when I am trying to find a word so I ask a "Native" and I get a response like, Lockear. To lock. I don't really know but I really don't think Lockear is a word so that is where I get a little lost in my Spanish Learning.

 

So, this last Sunday, yesterday I got to see something super cool. I told one of my converts that this may be my last fast sunday there at the ward with her family and I guilted her into bearing her testimony. It was awesome and I don't feel like I used unrighteous dominion or anything. When she got up so did her daughter and I was beaming because I got to hear them both bear their testimonies. That is the one plus to being in an area so long, you get to see so much progress in lives of those you teach, it is amazing and humbling. Makes me want to be better, that and the fact that the Spirit has begun to correct me like 10 times a day.

 

So this last week we received a commitment to show the new church website to Boss member families and invite them to really make plans to share the Gospel with other people like in the I'll go where you want me to go video which you should all watch. That really is my invitation, of all the things I could ask of those of you who read this blog the most important thing is that you are trying to share the Gospel. The site will help you learn how and will help you develop the faith necessary to do it. I don't get to follow up with you all, all 6 of you or however many read this but I really hope you have taken some of these challenges and carried them out. Commitments are extended to help us repent and be better and I promise that as you do these things you will be blessed.

 

I love you all very much,

Elder Bassett

July 8, 2013

This week has been a pretty interesting one for us here in Mercedes. With Transfers a week away I am way excited we were able to have a baptism with the Niece of one of our Recent Converts. It all kinda just happened really unexpectedly. We just sat with her a few weeks back and asked if she wanted to be baptized and she said, "Sure" and we worked with her and worked with her and then had to make her feel not pressured into baptism and stuff but it all went really good. (See Picture for family) As for us we didn't have a lot of time to work this week because Monday was P-Day, Tuesday we spent a long time at the Doctor for Elder Casteel, Wednesday we had an Exchange so I worked somewhere not in my area, Thursday we were in McAllen until 7 pm for a surprise zone conference with the new president Maluenda and his Wife and we all had interviews and such with him. He is awesome, Chilean, and only really speaks Spanish so that is going to be great for a lot of the missionaries. He talked a lot to us about having faith and how we needed to, "Disfrutar nuestras misiones, no debemos sufrirlas. Hay momentos dulces y tambien amargos pero solo necesitamos aprender como amar los momentos amargos y dificiles." I can't tell you how many times he said that, just like a Hispanic person he repeated himself a lot but I think it was great because it gave the spirit a lot of time to teach me. In the mission there is a word I don't really like but it is what the missionaries use to describe a harsh correcting either by other people or the spirit, lo que sea. But the word is "Jack" and I have to say the spirit Jacked me a lot this last week, really these last few weeks. It isn't as bad as it sounds because the Lord tells us those whom he loves he corrects. Just like when he rebukes his best friend Peter and calls him Satan. Christ and his spirit do a lot of correcting and we just have to be ready and willing to change those things.

 

My son Elder Casteel is doing really well, his Spanish is improving which it needs to do a lot and so is mine, it also needs a lot of work. I have a hard time learning real Spanish from the people and I have a hard time studying Spanish because I get distracted but it is coming along things are moving I feel less stupid now when I talk to people. Sometimes I feel stupid still but that is to be expected. What I hate is when I am trying to find a word so I ask a "Native" and I get a response like, Lockear. To lock. I don't really know but I really don't think Lockear is a word so that is where I get a little lost in my Spanish Learning.

 

So, this last Sunday, yesterday I got to see something super cool. I told one of my converts that this may be my last fast sunday there at the ward with her family and I guilted her into bearing her testimony. It was awesome and I don't feel like I used unrighteous dominion or anything. When she got up so did her daughter and I was beaming because I got to hear them both bear their testimonies. That is the one plus to being in an area so long, you get to see so much progress in lives of those you teach, it is amazing and humbling. Makes me want to be better, that and the fact that the Spirit has begun to correct me like 10 times a day.

 

So this last week we received a commitment to show the new church website to Boss member families and invite them to really make plans to share the Gospel with other people like in the I'll go where you want me to go video which you should all watch. That really is my invitation, of all the things I could ask of those of you who read this blog the most important thing is that you are trying to share the Gospel. The site will help you learn how and will help you develop the faith necessary to do it. I don't get to follow up with you all, all 6 of you or however many read this but I really hope you have taken some of these challenges and carried them out. Commitments are extended to help us repent and be better and I promise that as you do these things you will be blessed.

 

I love you all very much,

Elder Bassett

July 1, 2013

Alright so this last week was pretty interesting. We had two super long meetings during the week, Zone Conference and First companionship training. Both we excellent and both were super sad for us as missionaries. Our beloved President Trayner and his wife ended their missions this last Friday as the Texas McAllen Mission received it's two new faces. President and Sister Maluenda. Still haven't met them, we will work on that one but I am stoked to meet them both. As for Zone Conference it was amazing as always it went a little long but the spirit just spent all day half rebuking half teaching me a lot of things. I made some realizations about becoming more consecrated as a missionary and working really hard to make this service counts. Once it ends, it is over. That is a super sad thought. Also, President Trayner asked us not to use names of investigators and members and such in our emails so I am going to have to refrain from that one because this email gets posted as a Blog so the names are gonna have to go.

At first comp training I realized that my companion and I get along really well. There is one portion of the training where they separate trainers and greenies so that we can talk about issues we are having. I didn't really say much, I realized however there is a lot more I should be doing to help my companion grow into his full potential so I will be working on being a better Father to my son.

As far as the events of this week not a ton happened, we had a confirmation and it was amazing, I love getting to be a part of those things because it is just a really special and spiritual experience and the recent converts love it when they get to feel the spirit so strong with their missionaries. As well we hit our zone goal for baptisms and as a mission we baptized 106 this month, that is awesome and it feels great to know my companion and I managed to contribute to that number. This next month the AP's have committed us to find, teach and Baptize a family and we have been struggling in that department. We met 4 different families this week and none really panned out but Elder Casteel and I aren't getting discouraged, we have to baptized all of Mercedes if I ever want to get out of here. I told you my plan I am sure, go all enoch on Mercedes just get it translated so they have to move me. There is still just a little work that needs to be done here to hit that goal but we will keep our vision high.

Our members here are super great, they are all mostly women which has made it hard to fellowship men but it is great to fellowship women who have difficulties. It is amazing for me as a missionary to get to see so deeply into a lot of these peoples lives and see how the simple fact that they have others supporting them that truly care about them helps them move along with faith, sometimes and a full sprint, other times dragging themselves along but they don't stop moving forward. I think if every one of us reached out to be that support for just one person the world would be a much much much better place. You should see the Family home evenings these sisters put together. They have so little some of them and yet when it comes to spending time with their brothers and sisters in the church they always manage to bring together. As we sit in the dusty humid heat we play games, teach lessons. Have dinner and feel the spirit. You should hear it when they all try to sing, Man we struggle to carry a tune but the spirit is always there to fill our souls with his sweet love, it is truly amazing. The day when I actually leave Mercedes that will be one thing I miss a great deal is the unity here. The members here are few, very few, but they are powerful and loving, and christlike even though they would all deny it. My prayer is that we can all be a little more like Mercedes and reach out to help eachother. That is why the Church exists.

This week I have been getting spiritual corrections on cutting corners, I got an email this week from a great friend of mine and in it they made a great observation about David and Goliath, "before David faced Goliath, he didn't have to go train for a few weeks or go and spiritually prepare for a couple days, but he was ready RIGHT at that moment to face Goliath. I guess I'd like to think that if I am faced with a challenge, that I am ready and have the courage to face it right at that moment. I had just never looked at that story that way I guess! Obviously we know what happened to David later on, but I still think it's a cool story." What a powerful observation that is made here. It is true, David was always ready to answer the call of his lord and ready to call upon his great power without fear because he knew he was righteous. If we cut corners we allow the devil to cheat us down to hell one small step at a time my invitation is to remove these shackles he binds us with. Shackles of procrastination and corner cutting. It is an awful habit. One I am working on eliminating from my own life. I love you all so very much and I will work on trying to find things to take pictures of. I keep getting asked but really nothing that different has been happening. It's still Mercedes and the dogs that attack me aren't going to let me stop and snap a picture of them while they are trying to bite my legs off so bear with me just a bit.

I love you all

Dale,

Elder Bassett

June 28, 2013 President and Sister Trayner departure letter

28 junio 2013

Dear Elders and Sisters,

We write this last general email to the greatest missionaries in the world, the missionaries of the TMM!  Time is quickly approaching for the arrival of the Maluendas.  They have been called of God to lead you and this mission forward in one of the greatest days to be a missionary.  These are exciting times.  We know that you will love and sustain the Maluendas.  We know the Lord will sustain you and them as you move forward.

In our recent conferences there were some tears shared.  You now understand even better why the reuniting of Alma and the sons of Mosiah provoked such emotion in those missionaries.  Our bonds and ties have been welded strong as we have worked and grown together in this work.  We were glad that there were many smiles and laughs at the conferences as well.

Let us move forward.  Let us build on the past.  Let us truly take the restored gospel to the people of South Texas (and don’t forget to involve those members!).  The Lord reminds us to thrust in our sickle with all our might.  The field is white, ready for the harvest.  Remember that every day is “game day” in the eyes of the Lord as He works with us in His vineyard.  Let us lift our vision of what can surely be as we give Him our whole hearts, minds, might, and strength.  Have faith in the God of miracles!

We pray that you will cherish you memories of the past while working to create even more powerful and miraculous memories in the future.  Have that perfect brightness of hope of which Nephi spoke.  Let your hearts be filled with charity.

We leave this mission feeling like some great good has been accomplished.  We leave this mission knowing that on the foundation that has been laid, even greater things may be accomplished.  We look for that day when every young man and young woman grows up with the desire to be a TEXAS McALLEN MISSIONARY!

Our message is true.  Build your lives upon Christ.  Now you be true and strong in your defense of truth and light.  Let your light shine.  Stay true.  We know the words of the Prophet Joseph will be fulfilled:

"The Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame. But the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and dependent till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, until the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah will say, ‘The work is done.'"

God be with you until we meet again our dear brothers and sisters.  We will never, never forget you.

We express our appreciation to your great parents as well for sharing you with us and the great people of South Texas.

Con mucho amor y éxito,

Presidente y Hermana Trayner

June 24, pics

June 24, 2013

Okay so this week was a pretty good one we had some good stuff go down as a companionship and I will do my best to run through all of them quickly because a recent convert just called me and burned a few minutes of my email time so this one may be a little short so forgive me.

 First of all this week we had a baptism, the Baptism of Maria de Jesus Lopez who is a wonderful woman who overcame a lot of opposition to get baptized. That is really awesome for us as missionaries to see that there are people out there who are incredibly faithful and have real desires to change and get closer to God. She wants it for herself and a lot for her family too which is awesome because she is already ready to do some member work which is super important for all of us to be doing. We are going to work with her family this next week a lot and see if we can't get more of them involved. Quetzali especially she is a brilliant lady herself and just needs to stop giving heed to the adversary, more on them this next week. Plus Elder Ellsworth came down and got to speak at Marias Baptism and she was so happy about that, so was I. I miss him and was happy to meet his family, he isn't Elder anymore he is just Taylor which is weird. His mom is a nice lady and thanked me a bunch for serving with her son. I dunno why, but I was happy to see he is doing well, he will probably be married soon.

This week we found a few new people to teach, including the Reyna Family a family of 5 who we met while Alma, the mother, was watering her yard. Her 16 year old Valerie wants to know why there are so many churches and so tonight we will be teaching the whole family and they will feel the power and the spirit of the Restoration and will accept BD's and will all be baptized together in July, I have it all planned out already. Also, we met a young man this week named Angel who is 13 and who really likes church and stuff and we met him because his 10 year old brother, who teaches classes at his church, called us over to ask us how many people were going to make it to heaven. Apparently he thought we were, "Catholics trying to go around and teach people lies about God." He was ready to throw down with us it was pretty awesome. But he softened up after he found out we weren't a couple of liars and we were able to place a Book of Mormon with his brother Angel who was really interested in the message it contains and the chapter we left him about the 2,000 stripling warriors. We are going to go visit him soon as well because he comes from a family of 10, and they are baptists which are a coveted baptism because baptists are hard to convert because they are very faithful to their beliefs.

We also saved a puppy this week. We were biking on this dirt road and some crying was heard from the brush and so we stopped to see what had happened, well someone had dumped a little puppy looked like a pitbull mix on the side of the road to die. So Elder Casteel and I, not being able to bring ourselves to leaving it there picked her up and took her over to the nearest members house. Maria Guerrero was very happy to take her in and was happy to know she would be having a new friend. It was kind of a neat experience because my son is a softie for dogs and made me pray to see what we should do about the dog. I think I am going to name it Reeses.

Crazy story and I wish I had a picture, elder paulsen does so I will send it ASAP, we were on exchanges and we found this bird dead in a fence. We decided it had to have flown down too low and tried to fly through the fence and failed miserably. It was a sight and so we stopped and took a picture. Also a huge pitbull attacked my new shoes this week luckily they are just fine and are steel toed so when I kicked its face it left me alone.

Okay so this week we got to watch that leadership broadcast and my invitation is to go watch it and pray about what you can do in your lives to help the Lord Hasten his work. The work goes so much better with Member help and I promise that as you do what you can to help the missionary effort you will be blessed and you will be a thousand times happier. I love you all, sorry it is short I am not really sure what else happened this week.

Elder Bassett

June 17, 2013

Alright, new week. This week has been a little rough because the District has been struggling with the new no door knocking things. The members keep asking us, "Then Hermanos, how are you ever going to find people to teach?" *Face Palm* We have a ton of work to do with the members especially Elder Casteel y yo porque most of nuestro miembros son recent converts, entonces todavia no entienden real well the importance of sharing the Gospel con los demas. The ZL's have been on me a bit for not being able to hit our goals but this week is a new week and this is the week that we show the zone that Mercedes may be small but we mean business. I just have to work on getting my District Pumped.

This last week we had among all the rough stuff some really awesome miracles, first of all Elder Casteel and I were going by some formers and some potentials and ran out of stuff to do. The spirit prompted me to stop and see if one of our formers JT was home and lo and behold he was. As we were having a good lesson with him we received a phone call from this unknown number and turns out it was Melissa. Now, Melissa is Mayra's friend and we have been trying super hard to teach her for the past 6 months but her husband didn't ever allow it and so to be honest we had kind of given up on the idea. Well she called and told us that she had finally escaped her husband and that she wanted us to come by and talk with her and so we did. We set a BD for the 14th of July which is the last Sunday of the Transfer and will continue to work with her until she gets baptized on that date.

We just got Maria Lopez interviewed for next Sunday and I am super stoked to get to baptize with mijito lindo. I remember baptizing with my Dad was awesome so I am glad I get to do the same with my son. I got a Fathers Day cookie too yesterday it was funny. Maria is awesome, she talks a ton though so her interview took like an hour or so. That's a long time. The ZL's came and did the interview and were excited to see that she was as ready as she is. She is going to be the key to many more baptisms because she is super stoked and set on getting her family to join her. Now, we just have to teach her how to share it without being overbearing or freaky weird like some people. I love it.

As for her Daughter in Law Quetzali, she is aprehensive for some interesting reasons that are new to me, I thought I had seen everything but we are working super hard on getting her solid and sitting with us consitently. We will get her. Just like we will get Karina, Mayra's step niece (sp?). There is just a ton of potential in this area right now I just need to get back to the drawing board because I am running out of Ideas. We are working on an area fast and getting our few members involved in the fast and breaking the fast together in a giant Mercedes Family home evening, it'll be something of a "Nacho de Hogar" Should be great.

My son doesn't speak the best Spanish but I love him he is doing great. He had his first really bad door contact yesterday and I laughed at him just like my Dad did me. Training is fun, sometimes you have to really fly almost solo but I have been learning a ton from my son.

This week I just want all of you to do your best to think back on the day you were baptized. A member shared a very speacial experience with us about symbols and how he remembers his baptism and it made me realize that I don't think about mine. It shouldn't be that way, we made those covenants for life and we should cherish that memory as we would a "Pearl of Great Price". That ordinance is a beautiful thing and we should do our best to help others take that step as well but I think that would be easier once we realize for ourselves what it means in our lives. I love you all so much. Keep up the Good work and keep learning Gospel stuff.

Dale

Elder Bassett

June 10th Pics

June 10, 2013

Holy freak this week has been nuts! Satan is working doble time aqui en la gran ciudad of Mercedes. So I guess first things first I will start with the departure of Elder Ellsworth or I guess now...Taylor, super weird. Tuesday Morning we all got into the car and packed his things and headed off. As we got to the Mission Office I was nervous about who the heck my companion, my son, was going to be. Well, his name is Elder Casteel and he is a giant. Six foot five inches and he looks like Superman, so things could probably be worse. He doesn't speak the best spanish but he manages to let people kind of know what he means. Luckily for us people down here kind of understand english. The weirdest thing about that day was that our Permagator Juan called us and asked us to baptize him that morning. After Explaining that that isn't quite how it worked we told him Taylor would be back down in a few weeks and he agreed to be baptized then. Woohoo! Well, almost, he didn't come to church so we can't baptize him that day that he wants to be baptized.

Also, I dunno if I mentioned this, we can't knock anymore here in McAllen at least for the month of June so our focus is to work with the members. Well we have very few members and most of them are our recent converts so we had plans to go by them to get them excited to share the Gospel, here is just a brief rundown of what happened to each of these appointments. First, Mayra's son broke his foot as we walked up to the door so naturally they went to the hospital. The next day as we went to go by, Mayra's step son wrecked the car so we weren't able to go by. Maria Guerrero has a husband who is some sort of monstrous heathen who loves to cause problems so he took her away from her home and we couldn't have an appointment, Mayra then got sick for church and Maria didn't show either for who knows what reason. Frank and Kayla can only meet Monday and Tuesday but this last weekend her friend gave birth and so they had to take her to the hospital where they stayed till 6 a.m. so they weren't able to come to church because they were tired. I hate Satan. He uses everything everything everything to ruin stuff. I wish I could punch his face. We are praying really hard that this week will go better because it is kind of hard to find back ups when you can't just go knock some doors when all else fails.

As for our investigators currently we have Maria Lopez, she is a boss. She decided that she didn't care if her family wasn't going to come she found her church and that is where she was going to stay, she proved that to us and the Lord this Sunday as she attended church by herself. She was tired as was bobbing a bit in Sacrament but she came and she loved it. She just needs to start reading more in the Scriptures, I don't know what it is with people down here and not reading man, no one does it. It's weird.

Then we have Quetzali who we are currently working hard with. She is a bit stubborn and gets angry easily and isn't married, but we did find out why she wouldn't accept a BD. She hears a voice that tells her not to do good stuff and she listens to it. So we will be rebuking it or something soon, more on that probably next week.

Things here are doing okay we are struggling a bit in some areas I won't lie but I have faith that the Lord will help us out. This whole new list of responsibilities I now have can be a bit overwhelming at times but I am surviving. If you can survive one follow ups with the Zone Leaders you can survive them all right? I do have to give my first training tomorrow, that'll be fun. Hopefully I can help this district hit is potential and realize the miracles it deserves. Being a Missionary makes you learn a lot of stuff, especially what it is like to have tons of responsibility. Also what it's like to get door contacted by Jehovahs Witnesses during you morning study and then to make them super uncomfortable. Kinda Awesome.

I wanna leave a challenge to go through this last conference and read at least one talk this week by our Leaders. Share what you learn with someone who doesn't have the gospel or is struggling. I promise you that you will find personal revelation and you will learn a great deal and that your testimony will grow. Those talks are scripture and they are inspired. Just don't be afraid to Open your mouth, as you do so the spirit will bless you and those that you teach. Also, if you don't have a subscription to the Ensign or Liahona para los que hablan espanol, get one. I love you all and wish you a great week.

Elder Bassett

June 3rd - Pics

Some photos of Danny longoria the leaving missionary, me with my new DL binder and Elder Ellsworth in his rain suit

June 3rd, 2013

Okay so this week is going to be a bit crazy for me and I will tell you all why. So I knew for a fact that I was going to be a DL, Elder Ellsworth was dying so that meant that I was getting a new companion. Well, come Thursday evening during coordination we get transfer news and lo and behold I am giving birth. They are giving me a greenie and president made it a point to keep it a secret even though you usually go to new trainer training at the same time as District Leader Training. I don't know what I am going to do, I feel as though I have no idea how to be a missionary and now they are giving me an hijo. That's kind of a huge deal because your trainer kind of lays the groundwork for your whole mission...I don't know who he is or how his spanish is or his name or if he is a visa waiter or not. Ojala que no es un visa waiter because that could mean 6 in Mercedes. Pray for me.

Other than that this week has been pretty good, Sunday was a good day for us because Maria Lopez finally freaking came to church and she loved it. Her and Quetzali came and it was a relief I gotta say. I think a huge part of it was the fact that we had an FHE/Church tour at the chapel last Monday and taught about the Restoration again because we felt the understanding of it and it's importance was a little weak. In her prayer Quetzali thanked Heavenly Father for guiding her to the truth and it was such a powerful statement the spirit just bathed the room it was awesome. She is still a bit iffy on Baptism but we will just have to drop another Goku style spirit bomb on her and change that. Maria is all good, she has decided that she wants her whole family to join her in God's church and that means that she is going to be great for referrals. Which is good because our President just announced no more door knocking which means more member work. Problem is, with the exception of like 2 families all of our members are recent converts, which means they are like infants in the Gospel but this will give them the opportunity to find joy in missionary work. We are super stoked.

Juan Arriaga our friendly neighborhood permagator told us we could baptize him Tuesday morning before Elder Ellsworth leaves. If he had been coming to church regularly I would say, "Plug the tub and Fill'er up!" But he hasn't so we can't. However the time is nigh and if we can get Juan to go down Mercedes will end up being taken like the city of Enoch. Then they will have to move me.

So, this last week we had a few really powerful experiences that caused me to reflect a lot on the Gospel and families and what is required of each and every one of us. There is a sister in the area, Sister Martinez who has been very inactive due to her mother who has been in constant care and is bed-ridden and just very ill. This has been the case since before I got here to Mercedes so at least 6 months. Well we received a call the other day to go and give this sister  Maria Carmen De la luna Martinez Gabriel a priesthood blessing because she was in immense pain. We did as we were asked but I couldn't deny the feeling the spirit gave me that this sister was soon to go.

A few days passed and we received a prompting to go to the house and so we did. On the way to the door, Alex the grandson came out and talked with us for a while about the situation. Carmen was no longer responsive and was basically just in a coma. The family had gathered and they invited us in. They asked us to sing a hymn for their Mother and Grandmother, one of las pioneras de Mercedes so they called her. As we sang they asked us to sing another hymn, then another, soon we had the family or at least part of it gathered together, joining us in singing this sisters favorite hymns. When the time came for us to move onto our next appointment the spirit had surrounded us and I could feel the love of God.

Last night we had the priviledge as the missionaries to sing at the memorial service of this Sister. She was prepared for her passing and had her service all planned. It caused me to think about the plan God has for us and what it is we must do to return to our Heavenly Father. Through the words of his son Jesus Christ he has laid it out very clearly for us. We must have faith, repent, be baptized, receive the holy ghost and then endure to the end. If we don't do these things we can't return to our Heavenly Father or be with our families. Alex, the grandson caused much of this thinking because he is admittedly not living the Gospel. If we don't do these things the outcome is simple. We forfeit our place in the Celestial Kingdom with God and our loved ones. This week I just want you to think about that. Think about what you would give up to be with your family forever. What things still need to be given up if we want those blessings. I will repeat with the same admonition the words of Alma the prophet in saying not to procrastinate the day of your repentance. The Gospel is true, the blessings that come as well as the consequences. This I leave with you in the name of Jesus Christ, even the holy one of Israel. Amen

Elder Bassett