Elder Price mission blog: Happy Day of the Virgen!

Dear Family,

Hey family sorry I’m so late today we had some troubles earlier in the day getting to a cyber. It`s theDay of the Virgen here so it`s been pretty crazy and we couldn`t find a internet place before the district meeting.

Well this week was a good one for us. It`s always interesting going to a new area not knowing what it`s going to be like but I have to say that over all I like the area. We sure have a lot of work to do though here in the ward. The area is huge too because it is usually 2 areas but they closed one of the areas so now we have both (for some reason that happens quite a bit to me haha). My companion is really awesome though. His name is Elder Bahena and is from Guerrero Mexico and has one change in the mission. It is pretty funny because I actually picked him up from the bus station when he got here. He is really ready to work though which is what counts. This past week as well Elder Scott was with us a trio teaching us his part of the area. He left yesterday though to go to San Luis and in a week is going home.

This past week we spent a lot of time getting to know the members and visiting less active members and something that was pretty cool was that we had 15 less active members in church! That`s pretty good when in total only 70 members when to church. We also started teaching the aunt (Brenda) of one of the less active families and she seems pretty interested and went to church with the family. Also, we started teaching the cousin (Beti) of some recent converts that were baptized like 2 months ago and she and her husband (Omar) went to church as well. Beti really wants to get baptized and we still haven`t taught Omar but the only thing is that they need to get married first. If there is something I have noticed about this area this past week is that like 70% of the people are not married! I have no idea why not but I have a feeling that we`ll be teaching the law of chastity quite a bit.

The area is really good though and there are alot of families that are really good but just are lacking a little bit of a spiritual push to get activated good so we are really going to try and focus alot on trying to increase the activity level in the ward because supposedly like a year and a half ago more than double the people were going to church.

Something really cool that happened was on Wednesday I told the sister that gave us lunch that I was from Idaho and she said that the missionary that baptized her was from Idaho. It turns out that Elder Quinn (Michele Quinn’s brother) from good old Pocatello baptized her and her kids!! As a result, like 15 more of her family members have been baptized. They asked me if I could get his information and also to say hi for them. The sister’s name is Silvia Ojeda so if you could do me a favor and try to get his information. We are going to try to set up a family home evening with them next week as well. I know that for some reason I was put here in this area and I think that one of the reasons might be to help this family continue to grow. It`s definitely a testimony building experience.

Also this little city is pretty crazy as far as celebrating goes. There is a tradition here that every day of the week during the month of December a colony throws a huge party in all the houses and everyone is invited. So it is going to be a pretty crazy month here haha.

Other news is that Luis and Claudia from Leon should get baptized this week and Ana and Eva the week after!

Ezekiel 18:21 "But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. 22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live."

The forgiveness from God is a really important point in the gospel of Jesus Christ and is something very real. When we repent, our sins are forgiven and we are not held accountable for them anymore. I know this is true and countless times in my mission I have seen this principle of the gospel.

Love,

Elder Price

P.S. You should look up the story about the Virgin of Guadalupe up on the internet. It`s pretty interesting.

Elder Scott, Elder Price & Elder Bahena in Irapuato

A Little about Irapuato

Irapuato is a Mexican city (and municipality) located at the foot of the Arandas mountain (in Spanish: cerro de Arandas), in the south central region of the state of Guanajuato. It lies between the Silao River and the Guanajuato River, a tributary of the Lerma River, at 1,724 m (5,656 ft) above sea level. It is located at 20°40′N 101°21′W / 20.667°N 101.35°W / 20.667; -101.35. The city is the second-largest in the state (only behind León), with a population of 342,561 according to the 2005 census, while its municipality has a population of 463,103.[2][3] The municipality has an area of 845.16 km² (326.32 sq mi) and includes numerous smaller outlying communities. The city's main industry is agriculture and it is famous for its strawberries and the raising of pigs and cattle. The fruits and flowers of Irapuato's luxurious gardens are well known throughout Mexico.[4]