Hola AMIGOS!

Sorry i have like no time BUT this week was awesome! I saw tons of little miracles!

Gabriel is doing good because yesterday we got him to go into Primary for his first time and so Elder Hernandez and I spent the second hour of church with the kids which was fun. He's really opening up  thanks to the other kids. So Saturday night we go to contact a referral and guess who we find? Jose! The drunk guy who bought us food the other day. We had no idea where he lived. He let us in and was drunk of course. His wife was crying and so you know what that means. It was the weirdest lesson ever, because the whole time he talked like the whole world was out to get him. Long story short he gave us yogurt and said we couldn't have the closing prayer until we drank it. Yikes! So I blessed his home with all my heart so that no harm would come upon his wife and we ran home. To be continued...

MAYEROS

Thats all for now!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

This week really flew by! The highlight was yesterday because it was pretty eventful and spontaneous. First we went to the Stake Conference for the Cancun Stake where members and investigators filled up the Stake Center until there were people on the stage in the very back. It was awesome to hear all the messages and testimonies that were all really focused on the youth and families. There was a choir of youth from Cozumel, a ton of flowers covering the podium, and they even put up a camera to broadcast it to Cozumel and other wards that are too far to be there. President Kirkham talked about how he had three special witnesses (apostles) tell him that they and the first Presidency say that Cancun has the most potential to grow and progress than any other city in the world! That's pretty intense. Ha it got everyone excited and ready to share the gospel.

Then at night we had a lesson with a family with a mom, a brother and a sister. The mom and sister are already baptized and so we were trying to help the little 10 year old say his prayers. For like 10 minutes the mom and sister went off about how he always disobeys and how he pretty much never does anything right. Finally my comp finally said, "OK, can you two go in the house so we can talk with Gabriel privately?". They went in and Gabriel told us about how his parents are divorced and only his dad loves him and how he thinks its his fault that they are separated. He said he doesn't want to be baptized because he's afraid of the water and we helped him understand it all. In the end I gave him a HLJ (CTR) ring and told him it would always help him remember to do the right thing. It was sweet! The Spirit was there for sure. Then when we were walking back to our house a drunk guy off the street invited us to eat at a little restaurant off the side of a house. He told us that the last missionaries abandoned him and something about how his wife aborted his baby and went off on his tricycle without saying goodbye. That darned alcohol! Ha well that made the end of an eventful day.

I hope everyone has an awesome week! Make good choices! 

Ha oh and Christmas is coming up!

The mission tells us to tell our families that when they send packages they should just put "books" for the contents and to put pics of Jesus on the outside for safety's sake.

Have you read the Book of Mormon today? Helaman 3:27-28

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

FELIZ HALLOWEEN Y DIA DE LOS MUERTOS!

Surprisingly there weren't a lot of festivities here in Cancun. I only saw a couple of kids in the streets dressed up, but it was enough to make me miss home on Halloween. I love this time of year! Everything is already decorated for Christmas ha.

Our jack-o-lantern we made for Halloween!

We had the best baptism on Tuesday! There were testimonies, a choir of children, and lots of tears...of joy! The sister who got baptized is the most converted person I have seen when knowing just the basics of the gospel. Yesterday there was a rainstorm and barely any members came, BUT SHE DID. She got confirmed and basically everybody there shared their testimony which made for my most favorite fast and testimony meeting. Afterwards everyone went out to help the members with all the water in their houses. 

I'm out of time! I love you all!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

RAINY WEEK IN CRAZY CANCUN

It was an awesome week here in Cancun! Elder Hernandez and I are doing awesome working with the most excitement in the world! It really takes up our energy too because we are dead tired by the time we get home. The huge blister I have pretty much makes me walk with a limp haha. We have a lot of walking to do! We have a ton of people to teach, but pretty much all of them have to get married ha. They are all really excited though to have an eternal family. With that goal in mind, nothing is going to stop them!

PIGS HEAR NO EVIL

 Oh and I forgot to mention that last week when I had my first week back in the same church as my Bonampak ward I got welcomed by one of my favorite families. Leti already went to the temple for baptisms and the sister that I was getting ready for baptism for 3 months got married and baptized! They looked soooooo happy!

chile amigos americanos with Elder Cornia (from BINGHAM)

Yesterday was daylight savings time but since we are cut off from the world we woke up a hour early and brought an investigator to church a hour and a half early haha. We sent her to the other wards Relief Society and then went to the three hours of her own ward ha. It was pretty funny, but it hurts me to know I passed up a free hour of sleep.

SHOUT OUTS for my buddy Glen whose birthday was the 22nd! My mom, Travis, Baby Prez, and Kenzie sent me the best package complete with hot cheetos and sour patch melons! AND CONGRATS TO MY COUSIN STEPH WHO GOT ENGAGED!

One more thing! I'm making my blog a little more safe by making it private. So tell my mom if you still want to be spiritually inspired every week!

Mosiah 16:9- READ IT

HAVE A SAFE & HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE. I'm going to make a jack-o-lantern now! BYE

Love,

       Elder Adam Shurtliff

HOLA AMIGOS Y AMIGAS!!!

This week might have been the fastest week of my mission! My area is ginormous, but the people here are so awesome! More than half of them just have to get married already! It's no problem though for the Holy Ghost. Been there done that! I already have good relationships with a bunch of them. I feel like there isn't really an awkward getting to know each other stage anymore like there was before. 

Elder Hernandez and I are doing really good together. He and lots of the people here have a hard time understanding me though for my accent ha so I'll be working hard on my Spanish.

 

My mission President told me that there's a reason I'm back here and that it's my job to find out what it is and to get Elder Hernandez excited and ready to work!

Oh and I forgot to tell you about the church open house that we had two weeks ago in Espita! (a tiny village) It was so great to see how excited the members were to get an actual church building and I got to invite people in from the street! Yesterday was my first primary program in Mexico! Kids are fun to watch no matter where you are in the world!

SHOUT OUT for my Grandma Due, Nicole Wills, AND SaraHenretty for my awesome letters and cards!

I love you all! 3 Nephi 13 is rocking my world right now! It's the best!

Love,

       Elder Adam Shurtliff

CANCUN BOUND PARTE DOS

Yup that's right! I'm back in Cancun! I'm in a new ward but in the same building as my last area in Cancun so I'm excited to see what happened with the investigators I was teaching three months ago. To tell the truth I'm a little bummed that I didn't get to train this transfer and that I'm leaving my little city, but I know that the transfers are inspired by God. In every area I have served in I have seen my personal testimony and character grow and progress so I know that being here is going to help me even more. My new comp is Elder Hernandez who has like ten months and so it will be my first time as senior comp. It doesn't really make a huge difference but I'm excited to get working. He's from Puebla, Mexico but he's just as white as me ha. Sorry I didn't bring my camera memory card again so there are no pics but I have a ton of good ones to send. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the fresh fall weather and are studying up on their General Conference! We listen to the talks in the house on my little speaker and I love it!

Scripture of the week: 3 Nephi 9 I can't remember exactly which part but I just read it on the long bus ride and its SWEET!

I love you all mis amigos!

Love,

       Elder Shurtliff

HOW 'BOUT THEM MESSAGES?!

 

Ha. Yes it was indeed a glorious conference weekend! Ha I really have received a new appreciation for General Conference on my mission and now every time feels different. It probably has to do with where I am, who I'm teaching, and my own conversion. I loved being able to actually watch in Spanish on the big screen in our church with all my investigators and members. One awesome experience I had was watching the face of one of my investigators that learns really slowly. When he feels the Spirit he has the best smile and kind of a glow about him. I saw this in him while he watched the Prophet talk during the Sunday morning session. I asked him if simply if he liked it and he said in the best way, "siiii!" Ha it was pretty sweet. It was also awesome to see our investigators from Chemax travel to see every session. Every session had at least 3 investigators minus Priesthood. It was SWEET! Ha I really want to share what I learned, but I'll just say that my favorites Elder Holland, Bednar, and Scott never disappoint and the one from the Seventy that talked about teaching. That's some good stuff!

Scripture of the week: Mosiah 5:7-10

Have a good week everybody! Now it's time to put all you have learned into practice!

Love,

       Elder Adam Shurtliff