I`m in CHINA!

Date: August 26, 2013 at 8:57:38 AM PDT

Hey familia!

I`m writing a bit early today for reasons that I`ll explain presently, so sorry to Mom who hasn`t sent me a message yet (ahem). Guess what? I`m fulfilling my lifelong dream to open up China to missionary work! China, Nuevo Leon that is. Which I`ve also said my whole mission that I want to open and train a new missionary.

It`s been a bit crazy this week. I up and left my home in Juarez and headed to the offices. We had our little get together that we have now for transfers, I played the piano, and all was going dandy. The Assistant Elder Larson started reading the list of transfers and what-not until he got to the point where he said ¨We`re also opening up a new area in China, which hasn`t had Elders for a while. You Elders serving there are lucky to have such a great branch to help you out. Elder Decker, you`ll be serving as Senior Companion and Trainer.¨ And I was all Very exciting stuff.

So I`m training an Elder Arzate here in China right now. Opening an area that hasn`t had Elders for about a year and a month. The field is white. We had about ten new investigators, six baptismal dates, and a whole lot of confusion this week. The Branch President Roman de la Cruz has been the leader here for about 35 years and most of the city knows the Church as ¨Roman`s Church¨ which is a bit of a problem. There are about two active Priesthood holders and three active families. We`ve been told that it was a bit of a crisis when they pulled out the missionaries. Many members stopped attending, others stopped attending because they`re friends stopped going, and it all sort of fell apart. We`re trying to work on that. It`s also a bit of trouble with the food because we eat with the same three families every week.

As to the members themselves, President Roman is a bit... interesting. He seems to be the mob-boss here in the town as he is known by everyone, owns a bunch of stores and houses, and seems to be loaded with money. His primary business is a pharmacy here that we visit daily to pass in back to his home. The active First Counselor Wido (yup) is also a great guy. His family has just come out of an economic crisis and so I feel a bit guilty to eat all the food they give us. He`s also the nephew of the Branch President. The Second Counselor (less active) is also having economic difficulties and so is working 24 hours (they say) overseeing some bridge being built here. Again, guilt when we eat at their house.

The town itself is a bit tiny. We`ve walked the breadth of it about three times in the past few days and feel like we`ve done everything humanly possible. The people are loving and kind, but have an interesting small-town culture. For instance, they have this weird commitment complex. There have been about five people who`ve rejected us because they are ¨committed¨ to a certain pastor and they can`t talk to people from other religions. President Roman told us that the pastors have a strong hold over the minds of the people here. But in the same way, they`re really accepting and loving. They always invite us in to sit down, give us something to drink, have gigantic (creepy) smiles, and say yes to about everything.

It`s really quiet here as we`ve been told by the President that half the town up and left for the United States a year back. Almost all of the stores are closed by the time we head back to the house, there`s only one car that goes around singing, and there are hardly any people in the street. Ever. 

So that`s the situation now. And I haven`t gotten the package yet. I`ve been told it takes a couple of months. And since we`re about two hours from Monterrey, who knows when I`ll know. Also, no cell phone here yet. Hmm.

Love ya`ll and it`s good to hear that everthing`s going well. Good luck in school, work, taking care of the kids, preaching the Gospel, and living life. I`m still praying for you guys every day.

Love you!

-Elder Brayden Decker

Let us all press on...

Date: August 19, 2013 at 9:50:41 AM PDT

¡Hey familia!

How´s it going everyone? From what I´ve heard from Mom and Dad purty well. And Masey already has a year in the mission! Crazy stuff. It´s weird to think that I only have 18 months left too. Very weird...

But anyway, I´m being transferred tomorrow (Yay!) so that´s new. Too long in one place makes you go a bit crazy. Hopefully Elder Baez´s new companion will be able to quickstart this area. Especially if he´s a greenie - or rookie as President Bird likes to say. There´s always a bunch of success when new missionaries arrive. I´m not that worried about the transfer because it was what I wanted and we don´t have any progressing investigators, but here´s hoping that all will go well.

This week wasn´t too exciting. Not many cool stories or anything to share. Elder Baez and I got along as well as ever and we only had one problem with an hermana not being home to give us food. Yeah...

I did finish Jesus the Christ this Tuesday. I had been reading it as a part of Elder Holland´s challenge to live the life of Christ. It truly helped me understand the life of Christ more than I ever have before. It´s a truly beautiful book that everyone should read - ignoring some of the doctrine that has been superseded by modern revelation like Christ visiting spirit prison. I have many pages of notes of revelations that I received while reading the book and now I can say ¨I know that Jesus Christ is my Savior¨ with more assurity than I ever have before.

Also, I´m leaving my area for a district activity for the first time in the mission. We´re going to a park here called Parque Fundadora which is apparently real purty. We´ll see, and I´ll make sure to take some pictures since I know I´ve been slacking a bit on that end.

Oh and happy anniversary Mom and Dad! 21 years and counting. Thank you both for being such great parents to me and for holding this crazy family together. I truly am blessed to have the two greatest parents in the world showing me an example of a marriage that´s as perfect as it can be. I love you both and pray for you nightly.

And sorry for the short letter, but I don´t really have much to say. I´ll probably have much more interesting stuff and pictures next Monday. Love ya´ll and wish you the best. Obey Mom and Dad, study the scriptures, pray every day, and you´ll all be all right.

Love, Elder Brayden Decker

A beautiful cloudy day

Date: August 12, 2013 at 10:53:03 AM PDT

¡Hey familia!

It´s a beautiful day here in Juarez. And by beautiful I mean that it´s not unbearably hot or sunny. We´ve had some pretty heavy rain for the past few days so it´s cooled down the ¨Canicula¨ which is the name they have here for the hottest month of the year. It´s about 80 here right now and much better than the 100´s that we´ve been having for the past week. The weather´s a bit loco down here. We had no idea it was going to rain two days ago nor yesterday, so we were a bit surprised when out of nowhere we were assaulted by buckets of rain. We got wet. It was fun.

Also, as I was writing this, we received a call from a sister in the Church asking for help moving some stuff out of her home, and it´s a symbol of a problem we have in the Church here in Mexico. The Handbook specifically states that our service shouldn´t replace the efforts of the ward especially when it comes to the welfare of members. Also that we shouldn´t do service projects in our Day of Preparation. 

... Ah. Problem solved. I talked with my District Leader and he told me to tell the Bishopric, which I did. But it really is a problem here in our ward in that we have a gigantic ward of about 280 active members and 600 inactive (yup). We´re (read: I´m) trying to get the ward more involved with, well, the ward. I think Elder Baez is a bit angry at me, but it´s best that we not carry this ward as it only weakens it.

Anyways, that last paragraph took about fifteen minutes to write and quite a bit of amonestation and exhortation on my part. It´s the part of the Work that I like the least - our responsibility to inform people of their responsibilities. I´m trying to live by D&C 121:41-44 and the words of President Kimball:

 41 No power or influence can or ought to be maintained by virtue of the priesthood, only by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned;

 42 By kindness, and pure knowledge, which shall greatly enlarge the soul without hypocrisy, and without guile—

 43 Reproving betimes with sharpness, when moved upon by the Holy Ghost; and then showing forth afterwards an increase of love toward him whom thou hast reproved, lest he esteem thee to be his enemy;

 44 That he may know that thy faithfulness is stronger than the cords of death.

  ¨Jesus was not afraid to make demands of those he led. His leadership was not condescending or soft. He had the courage to call Peter and others to leave their fishing nets and to follow him, not after the fishing season or after the next catch, but now! today! Jesus let people know that he believed in them and in their possibilities, and thus he was free to help them stretch their souls in fresh achievement. So much secular leadership is condescending and, in many ways, contemptuous of mankind because it treats people as if they were to be coddled and cocooned forever. Jesus believed in his followers, not alone for what they were, but for what they had the possibilities to become. While others would have seen Peter as a fisherman, Jesus could see him as a powerful religious leader—courageous, strong—who would leave his mark upon much of mankind. In loving others, we can help them to grow by making reasonable but real demands of them.¨ http://www.lds.org/ensign/1979/08/jesus-the-perfect-leader?lang=eng

That´s a pretty tall order, but I´m working on it. The particularly difficult part is ¨reproving betimes with sharpness¨ because there have been times where I´ve been prompted to reprove but ignored it because I wanted...the person...to like me more than I wanted him to do what his calling requires. I need to remember to not be afraid to make demands that stretch the possibilities of those who are under my stewardship. Elder Baez won´t grow, the less active members I teach won´t return, and my investigators won´t progress if I´m afraid to invite them to be more than they are. Likewise, I need to be more than I am if I expect anybody else who I´m serving to do likewise.

Also, on a more positive note, Nestor, one of our investigators, is attending Church and is truly converting to the Gospel. He´s the boyfriend of a less active member of the church who´s pregnant with his child (problems), but, thankfully, they aren´t living together. He´s sincerely interested in the church and his prayers are some of the most powerful and simple prayers that I´ve ever heard in my entire life. He talks to his Heavenly Father as if he was face to face with Him, and it´s pretty dang powerful. I´m pretty confident that he´ll continue progressing and will be able to be baptized at the end of the month, though I could use some prayers for him and the others whom I´m teaching.

More good news, they´re going to put two more missionaries here in Barrio Juarez, so we´ll have three companionships working together for the progress of this ward. Even though I may not be here after the next transfer, it really is gratifying to see the progression of the ward I´ve come to love. They just need to step it up a little and within ten years this ward will be a stake.

And it would be great if Serph was the one to invite Brett to listen to the discussions. Something clear in missionary work is that there´s always more success when there´s a friend in the church who does the inviting.

Well that about wraps it up. I´m still communicating with the Ward leadership to send some help to this sister. Problemas... I love ya´ll and am praying for you every day. Say your prayers, read the scriptures, go to church, and help Mom and Dad.

Love ya!

-Elder Brayden Decker

Herro

Date: August 5, 2013 at 10:15:25 AM PDT

¡Hey familia!

Elder Decker reporting in from another speedy week in Juarez 2. And to answer your question Mom, we´re in the Juarez Ward, Andalucia Stake, and we have four missionaries serving here. And I´ll say a little prayer for the package. I think it should make it through fine. I think.

Anywho, it´s been pretty good here in our little (gigantic) area. For the first time in about a month and a half we have two progressing investigators (Yay!) named Ezmeralda and Geronimo (yup) Lopez. Ezmeralda is from Pachuca and Geronimo from Chiapas and they both had problems understanding my Spanish. I´d never had a problem like that until we talked to them. The thing is that they both speak different native languages in addition to Spanish so... yeah. They´re a really great family and really intelligent. Geronimo gave up an opportunity to go to school in the United States because of his mom. She was going to lose her home, so he moved here to Monterrey to work in the factories here so that he could send back some money to his mother. Really selfless and great guy.

Other than that it was a pretty normal week. It was really hot. It´s going to be hotter here this week than at home. And couple that with a little more humidity, and yeah. Many problems. We´re trying to convince the Jefe to let us have bike here in this ward since it´s gigantic and all of the colonias (neighborhoods) are really far apart.

Also, Elder Baez is really awesome. We have problems every once in a while, but it´s been a load of fun to be his companion. Even when he says words that I don´t understand and gets a bit ticked when I ask him what he´s saying, we get along really well. I want to experience other areas in the mission, but at the same time I doubt I´ll have a companion as chill as Elder Baez. So we´ll see what happens in a couple of weeks.

Time is really flying by. I feel like this last transfer has been about three days, not four weeks. Tomorrow I´ll start my sixth month in the mission and I only have 18 1/2 more. And it´s good that it´s going by fast. If it went by slow it´d all be a whole lot more boring.

And I think that CSNHS would be good for you, Colby. I´ve already told Mom that she should definitely consider sending you there. You could already have an Associate´s Degree when you finish High School. Really cool.

Also, thanks for all the pictures and such. I looked up the house in Google Map Streetview since I was having a bit of a hard time remembering it. Love ya´ll tons and can´t wait to see you again in a year and a half!

Con amor,

Elder Brayden Decker

Living without money...

Date: July 29, 2013 at 1:00:15 PM PDT

Hey familia!

Thanks for all of the emails and prayers that`ve been sent my way. It helps a lot to see that you`re all doing great at home.

So our monthly pay didn`t arrive today... It was supposed to come last Thursday but it didn`t. So we checked today y tampoco. What I had to do was take out more of my personal dough (again) and loan Elder Baez some money so we could have food this week. I don`t know what`s going on at basecamp, but we`re less than happy with the secretaries here in the mission.

As to the work, things are a bit rocky at the moment. We found six new investigators this week none of whom attended church. One is a Jehovah`s Witness boyfriend of a sixteen-year-old less active who`s pregnant with his baby, the other is a Catholic who refused to accept a baptismal date and who doesn`t have time to see us for two weeks, and another is a taxista (taxi driver) who`s wife doesn`t particularly like us.

But despite all those less-than-promising we also found one who`s really special. His name is Chewie (Chewbacca!) and he`s a 71 year old man who has a job repairing bicycles. He`s extremely humble, loves his wife, and wants what`s best for his kids. The Spirit is always ridiculously strong when we`re with him. The only problem is he`s a bit slow, and we need to spend an entire lesson explaining a single point to him. He doesn`t really know who Jesus Christ is and has difficulty praying. We need your prayers to be able to figure out how to teach him so he understands.

Other investigators that could use help are Eliza Quintanilla, Erika and Itatti, and Judith. All had or have baptismal dates but have various problems (jobs) where they can`t go to church. In Erika`s case we can`t teach her as she leaves to work before we leave the house and gets back past our curfew. Problems problems...

Other than that all is well. Elder Baez and I are really getting along well. We have plans to use my American money to buy up a bunch of land in Argentina and get filthy rich. It`s probably a better job-proposal than any I`ve thought of yet so who knows?

And Dad, it`s great to hear that you`re reference worked out. There really is a difference when the members help out with investigators and when they don`t. It`s not really effective to talk to folk in the street and pass by their often-false addresses. One of the blessings of being a missionary is finding out the best ways to help the missionaries back at home.

Thanks for all of the prayers, support, and love you`ve sent my way. I`m trying to send all I can back yours.

Love ya`ll!

-Elder Brayden Decker

Another day in Paradise. Well, Mexico anyways.

Date: July 22, 2013 at 10:26:56 AM PDT

¡Hola familia!

Good morning from beautiful Monterrey, Mexico! The temperature s high, the sky is grey, and the work is progressing. What more could we ask for?

So it´s been one of the fastest weeks of my life. Very different being a senior companion than a trainee and also much more tiring. I´ve been taking naps whenever I have the time and we´re not working. I had to beat the little-area mindset out of Elder Baez with plenty of walking. He´s convinced that there´s some other way to work without having to walk all day, and if and when he figures it out I´ll be grateful. I also need to get him to help out in all the record-keeping and planning. He wasn´t exactly trained as I had expected, so we´ll also have to work on that. Also in teaching him how to speak with American missionaries.

But besides my current situation with the dear elder, everything is going well here in Juarez. We have three new investigators who are fantastic. One´s named Judith and is the daughter-in-law to one of the less active members in the ward. This last Saturday she called us to ask if we could teach her as she´s been having some problems, so we rushed around trying to find a member to help us out, and we ended up going with the ever faithful Angel. It was a good lesson where we tried to boost her self-esteem with the knowledge that she has a loving heavenly father. She´s about twenty and I think could be served well with a lot of the talks from the young women´s general conference thingy.

We were also contacted by a lady in the street named Erika. She walked up to us and asked, ¨Are you Mormon Missionaries?¨ and invited us to her home to teach her. When we got there she showed us a Book of Mormon and informed us, much to our surprise, that she had read it all. It was filled with little notes and marked passages and everything. Also, during our lesson, her daughter Itatti walked in, sat down, and started listening. They both accepted to be baptized but, sadly, didn´t show up to church yesterday. But still, there´s hope.

Also, on a weird note, we had a cool little experience yesterday. We were walking from where a member had given us food (problems) to our house the other day (about a thirty minute walk) when President and Hermana Bird drove up and offered us a ride. I had been praying for a member to pass by, but I hardly expected it to be the Mission President. The Lord truly blesses us in ways that we don´t expect.

Also, most importantly, congrats to Grandma and Grandpa for their mission call to Moscow! They´ll truly be blessed in their service to the Lord. And in Russia too! Almost as great as Monterrey, Mexico ;)

Love you all and it´s great to see that you´re all doing great. Remember to help Mom and Dad and to continue being faithful in the small things so the Lord will bless you in the great things.

Love ya´ll!

-Elder Brayden Decker

A new transfer in Juarez

Howdy familia!

So I was wrong about my new position here in Juarez 2. I was assigned to be the senior companion here to Elder Baez, a missionary from Argentina who also just finished his training. It turns out that almost everyone who is here in Mexico Monterrey East are the greener missionaries while they sent all of the more seasoned to the border. Which I guess makes some sort of sense. There are two Elders from my generation who are training and District Leaders right now and nearly everyone else is coupled with missionaries from our same generation. We´ve been told by many that nearly all of us will be training.

A little bit about my new companion: Elder Baez is from the state of Corrientes, Argentina and, therefore, doesn´t have the stereotypical accent of the country. Very sad. Also sad is he says a lot of words I´ve never heard before so there´s a bit of a language barrier that I didn´t have with Elder Diaz nor the other Mexican missionaries that I´ve worked with. He´s a mechanic and, wait for it, a socialist... Very strange. Full-blown, red-blooded Marxist. Let´s just say we´ll avoid the topic of politics.

Also, it´s supposed to be really hot for the next month. They call it the ¨canicula¨ here and it should be interesting. The 10 day forecast says it´ll be around 90 all week so not as bad as I expected. But still, we walk. A lot.

It´s different being a senior companion and it´s pretty hard leaving the house at 11 instead of 12. The salvation of these people is weighing pretty heavily on my shoulders. I´m basically directing all of the work here in my little part of paradise, and my mind is always occupied with how we´re going to improve the work here. We don´t have the greatest numbers right now and it´s been a long while since any of our investigators have attended church. I put all the blame on the stupid husbands...

But I´m not discouraged! Tired. Dog-gone tired. But not discouraged. A member in the ward told us how amazing it was that missionaries never get tired and how much energy he had on his mission. I almost called him out as a liar, but I decided to let it pass. It´s true that we can persevere through situations others would find overly-difficult, but it´s only because we know our message is worth something. We´re exhausted. Many Elders lie and say that they´re not tired to try and impress the other missionaries, but the truth is we´re all groaning and dragging ourselves out of bed. But I think it´s worth it. So I´ll keep on going through these next 19 months until I finish. Or collapse. Whichever comes first.

Sounds like ya´ll are having a good time at home and good to see that EFY gave everyone a boost of the spiritual. It always did that for me. The key is to keep that spiritual adrenaline high and not crash. And yeah, Masey, it´s extremely hard for me to think/type/talk in English. I can only imagine what it´s like for the missionaries who are at the end of their missions.

Love ya´ll tons. Keep the prayers coming and I´ll keep sending them your way. Hold to the rod, keep the faith, endure to the end.

Love, Elder Brayden Decker

Very jealous

You guys got to see Glenn Beck!?!?!? What the flip?

Oh...

Hey familia!

Anyways. I´m a bit jealous that ya´ll got to see one of my heroes. I guess I´ll be able to go to an event of his when I get back.

We have transfers tomorrow (I had to think for about ten minutes before I translated ¨cambios¨ to ¨transfers¨) and all that I know is that I´m staying here in Juarez 2 and Elder Diaz is leaving. We don´t know where he´s going or who our new companions are, if we´re training: nada. Elder Bird changed the way they do transfers here. Now we get a notice from our leaders if we need to report at 9:00 in the offices on Tuesday. That´s it. Elder Diaz was mad and I was just a bit disappointed that I´m staying here in Juarez. I was throughly convinced that I was going to be transferred.

But the work progresses. Sort of. We haven´t had an investigator in sacrament meeting for about a month despite all of our work. We did have one less active member attend, so there is that. Hopefully with the fresh blood of my new companion the work will get a bit of a boost.

Oh, we´ve had some weird experiences with a family named Castilla Villejas (still not used to the whole two last name thing) that we were teaching the other week. It was one of those ¨missionary experience¨ moments. We were heading back from a failed contact when a shirtless man rushed out of his house and invited us in to teach him, and, being misisonaries, we obliged. After he put on a shirt he and his wife related how they had been in Las Vegas (home!) the other week and had tried to visit one of our chapels when it was closed and that they wanted to learn more. 

We started in with the First Lesson and watched as their excited faces transformed into nervous and confused faces. When we comparted the First Vision and asked them what they thought the formerly shirtless man said ¨The Bible says not to listen to angels.¨ And they were very skeptical and hesitant to agree to reading the Book of Mormon, but we eventually got the wife to agree to read which pushed the husband to do so. We comparted our testimonies, tried to get them to commit to baptism, and left a bit discouraged.

A few days we returned to the house to teach them again. We were greeted by the visibly shaking, nervous formerly shirtless man. He invited us in and we began talking about the Book of Mormon and asked if he had read it. He said ¨No, but I want to show you guys something.¨ He then turned to the computer which had been playing a pastor´s speech and changed it to another video. It was a grainy, grey, obscure picture of two missionaries with a voice talking in the background about how evil we were, how we believe in salvation through works, how we don´t believe in the Bible, yadda, yadda, yadda. Then, still shaking, he told us ¨Tomorrow you´re going to remember what we talked about today.¨ I responded with probably the most heartfelt testimony I´ve ever given about the truth of the Gospel and the ability it has to pierce the darkness that exists in this world, including the lies of ¨locos¨ (I used that word) in YouTube. He sent us on our way and we have no plans to return.

Not exactly a happy story, I know, but it´s a story of how a man who was given all the opportunites in the world to accept the Gospel and completely rejected it. It´s an example of free agency and the fact that God and his servants can do all they possibly can, but sometimes people are just to deeply steeped in the darkness of this world to accept the truth. It was a bit of a wake-up call for me and gave me a little boost of energy to keep on trying to bring light to a world that has a little bit too much darkness.

Still very jealous that you guys got to see Glenn Beck. And you kids are flipping old. In 4 months you´ve all gotten so old. It´s a bit sad but good at the same time. It´ll be interesting to compare the before-and-after-the-mission pictures.

I love you all and am still praying for you guys every day. Remember to pray for me. Here´re a few parting words from the Prophet Joseph Smith that I´ve memorized in the last few days:

"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 independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done."

Love, 

Elder Brayden Decker

Movies and President Bird

This was originally a response to Mom, but I decided Dad and Masey would be interested on how my new President is:

Yeah we can still watch movies. We´re going to watch one today with the Zone Leaders. They asked the mission president and he gave the ok. For music, all he said when we had a meeting with him was that we need to avoid hard rock and rap and to listen to edifying music. Also that we were going to go forward more or less as President Walker did with a few rule changes. He´s not really changed any of the rules... Oh! I have to buy a one-strap bag today. It´s not officially a new rule yet, but the Zone Leaders gave us a head up that it´ll be implemented soon so we´re trying to get ahead of the game.

Hmm... I like Despicable Me and Kung Fu Panda, so yes. Both would be good. Oh! And the Incredibles. Basically Pixar and Dreamworks movies are given the okay. 

Elder Diaz told me that he thinks that President Bird will be a bit more liberal than President Walker. President Walker was a bit stiff and very formal, strict, and straight-laced, but still very loving and impressive. President Bird (from what we saw in the zone conference) is laid back, funny, and very loving. Him and his wife just radiated love when they spoke to us. When he started to speak my heart was immediately filled with loyalty and love, very much a manifestation of the Spirit. 

I´ve gotten a bit testy with the other missionaries who´re complaining about the changes that President Bird is putting in. The Mexicans are having a hard time trusting a man who has such a strong accent (it´s REALLY strong) and whose wife doesn´t speak Spanish. Elder Diaz said, ¨He has to do a lot to earn the respect of the missionaries,¨ to which I responded, ¨He should already have our respect.¨ I feel like a lot of demotions are going to come in the next transfer judging by the reactions of some of the Zone Leaders to the President.

So yeah. I have faith that these next 19 and 1/2 months will be amazing with President Bird. I sustain him just as I sustain the First Presidency of the Church.

I´ll get off my soap-box now. So yeah. Pixar and Dreamworks. And we get stuff from the mission home about every three weeks or whenever the Zone Leaders head to the offices. Also, on a random note, protein powder is twice the price here than in the United States so it looks like I´ll be sticking to ham and the food from the hermanas as my source of protein here in Mexico.

Love ya´ll! (Again)

-Brayden

Learning Opportunities

¡Hola familia!

I have some sad news: Yibran wasn´t confirmed yesterday.

It was pretty stressful. Yibran had been telling us that he wasn´t sure if he´d be able to go to church yesterday due to a carne asada (barbecue) his dad was going to have for the Mexico World Cup Game. We explained to him the importance of his confirmation all week long and even called him at 10 yesterday to make sure he was going to go. He told us to pass by, and we did, but his grandma told us he had left with his dad, and she didn´t know where he had gone or when he would come back. His dad doesn´t really support him (or even live with him) and didn´t want to see Yibran´s baptism or confirmation. He needs a lot of prayers.

Also, we found out that Yibran hasn´t gone to school in a month. Apparently he was being bullied for being fat and listening to us. His classmates told him that we were teaching him lies and that he shouldn´t have anything to do with us. They also mentioned that he shouldn´t listen to Chilangos (people from Mexico City aka Elder Rivera) or Larrys (Americans aka Me) because we only lie and take advantage of people. From what we heard from Yibran, they also call him and us some sort of terrible swear word that sounds like Mormon. So due to that and his chubbiness, he stopped going to school. We´ve already told the Ward Mission Leader who talked with the Bishop who should talk to the school about this issue. Yibran is a really smart kid and we don´t want him to lose a year of school just for some idiot kids.

Yibran´s struggles brought to mind the words of Christ in the Sermon on the Mount and to the Nephites in 3 Nephi 12:

 10 And blessed are all they who are persecuted for my name's sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 11 And blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake;

 12 For ye shall have great joy and be exceedingly glad, for great shall be your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets who were before you.

Anyways, ya´ll can see that it was a bit of a rollercoaster ride this week. We felt good at the end because we can say that we did all we could to follow the counsel of our leaders and be as diligent as possible, but it´s still tough.

The world (and far too often those in the Church) tend to measure success using numbers and statistics. I´ve come into contact with many members of the Church who feel the need to talk about how many people they baptized on their mission, what positions of leadership they had, and how much influence they had over other people. I can´t stand to hear that. It makes me cringe every time a missionary brags about their baptisms or mentions that a certain companionship is ¨successful¨ just for baptizing a bunch of people.

The Lord measures success by conversion: by personal effort on behalf of his servants to bring about his work. As Howard W Hunter said in True Greatness (read the whole talk, it´s great): https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1982/04/true-greatness?lang=eng&query=success

As we evaluate our lives, it is important that we look, not only at our accomplishments, but also at the conditions under which we have labored. We are all different and unique individuals; we have each had different starting points in the race of life; we each have a unique mixture of talents and skills; we each have our own set of challenges and constraints to contend with. Therefore, our judgment of ourselves and our achievements should not merely include the size or magnitude and number of our accomplishments; it should also include the conditions that have existed and the effect that our efforts have had on others.

Well those are my two cents for the week. I know it may not have been the most positive email you´ve gotten from me, but just know that I´m happy. I´m praying for you guys. I love all of you and wish you the best. Be good and find true success in the little things. D&C 64:33

Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

Love, Elder Brayden Doyle Decker

Everythins changin

Hey familia!

Great to see that you all had such a good time up in Utah. I really want to head back to Zion´s when I come home. And Colby, you´re huge! Probably going to be bigger than me when I get back. Not that I can help it, we don´t really eat as much here as we do at home.

This is my last week of my training. 11 weeks in Mexico. Still feels a bit weird. I´ve become really comfortable with my area so, obviously, it´s time to shake things up. Next week we have exchanges and Elder Diaz and I feel like they´re going to split the area, and we´re both going to stay in Juarez training new misionaries. They´re splitting the ward at the end of this month so we´re pretty confident in our prediction, but we´ll see.

Also, President Walker is officially out and President Bird is in. We´re all waiting with bated breath for the new rules that are going to come. We´ve already been told that we can´t wear backpacks with two straps, so I´m probably going to go buy a shoulder bag after this. Also Carl´s Jr. (Flip yeah!) but that´s beside the point. I have faith in the new President, but it´s a little hard for the old guard to trust him right about now. Especially because we haven´t heard from him or seen him yet. Very interesting that he didn´t write us this week.

The area is progressing in a weird way. We had 8 new investigators last week but only have one baptismal date. We´re trying to figure out how to keep the investigators we have and get them to sacrament meeting. Problemas problemas. We´re also having a meeting with the bishop this Wednesday to coordinate our efforts with the ward, but with the ward splitting at the end of the month we can only do so much.

Our one progressing investigator is a lady named Juanita who´s paralyzed from the waist down and whose husband abandoned her. She´s been taught by two pairs of missionaries in the past but seems finally ready to be baptized. Not sure how we´ll baptize her, but we´ll figure that out when the time comes.

I wish we had members like you guys here in the ward. Apparently Elder Diaz and his old companion got a few donuts every day from an hermana in the ward, but, thanks to Elder Diaz, I don´t. He has a weird belief that members shouldn´t give us food... He told me that he feels like they don´t look at us as missionaries anymore when they drop food off. (?) Then he told me about all of the cheesecakes, pies, and pizza he´s gotten from members and how much he hates it (loony right?) With the hermana with the donuts he told her ¨no¨ and then paid for his donuts. Understandably, she stopped coming by with free donuts. After hearing this, I was a bit peeved, and now every time I hear her shouting ¨DONUTS!¨ in the street I think that I could be eating them if it wasn´t for Elder Diaz and his weird beliefs. I also pretend to shoot him. 

I´m always hungry...

So yeah. My story of the week. I´ve gotten kind of bad at writing/speaking English so if there´s anything in that block of text that´s poorly written, I´m sorry. Elder Diaz told me that all of his American companions had difficulty speaking English, and that one even had to have his brother-in-law translate for him while speaking with his family. Loony stuff.

Well that´s all for now. I love you all and are praying for you every night. Thanks for the prayers and keep on working at being the best you can be.

Lots of love,

Elder Brayden Decker

¡Happy Independence Day!

I almost forgot, Happy Independence Day everyone! The more time I spend here in Mexico and see all of the poverty and hear about the crime at the border I´m reminded of how much I love the USA. I really am proud to be an American and my heart calls out often for the motherland. I´m planning on listening to some talks by President Benson that are in my iPod during my exercise time this week. One is ¨the Constitution: a Heavenly Banner¨ and something like ¨This Nation Will not Fall¨.

Love ya´ll!

Me and President Walker

My District minus the Zone Leaders

This is us at the last conference with President Walker:

The times are a´changing

Hola familia!

Well lot´s of things are changing here in México Monterrey Este. It´s President Walker´s last week here in the mission so everyone´s sad to see him go, but we´ll be getting Larry Byrd the end of the week so that´s exciting! This is also week 11 of my training so in about two weeks from the day I could be: training, staying here with a new District Leader, transferred to a new area, or be sent to the offices. So many possibilities! Make sure to pray that I get what I wan... I mean what the Lord wants!

Also, the announcement wasn´t all that gigantic yesterday, but it was still pretty exciting for us here! We´re probably not going to enjoy the Facebook missionary work that´s going to roll forth seeing as Mexico still isn´t quite in the digital age. It´s on the brink, but not quite there. Most homes don´t have internet and the majority of the time spent on the computer is in cyber cafes (like this one!) So I don´t know what´ll happen with that.

More exciting is the emphasis on the ward taking control of missionary work, and it looks like Craig was right about the ¨big¨ announcement.. Elder Diaz and I are pumped to hand over our planners to Hermano Zavala (our Ward Mission Leader) so he can fill them up! ;) But really, it should be great. We´ve already talked with the Bishop and he told us that it was going to be the top priority in the ward. We had about 80 from our ward attend the broadcast so hopefully there´s an increase in members working with us. 

The broadcast was definitely an answer to our prayers seeing as we only had one new investigator and about two lessons this week. The work is really drying up and we need the help of this gigantic ward to find new people! Also, the videos and music were filled to the brim with the Spirit. Really powerful stuff.

Also, on to a new subject, Mexicans are convinced that caffeine is against the Word of Wisdom. I´ve been fighting these Elders in my District (including Elder Diaz) over the topic for weeks. They´re convinced that the reason we can´t drink café (coffee) is because it has cafeína (caffeine). I say it´s a problem with the language that they don´t understand the problem with their line of thinking. They say that because coffee has caffeine, we can´t drink caffeine. My rebuttal was coffee also has water, does that mean we can´t drink water? Also my chocolate defense didn´t hold up. I ended up comparing their beliefs to the Pharisees while they called me an apostate. Even the Church News report talking about how caffeine isn´t mentioned in the Word of Wisdom didn´t change their belief.

By the way, this all started with me drinking a Monster (which they have here, Colby, by the way). They also have Chinese food which is fantastic when the members give us money or don´t feed us.

I´m working hard on not letting the opinions and attitudes of other missionaries get in the way of how I work. Being a trainee is a bit tough because everybody treats you like less than a missionary. I have real respect for people, like the Zone Leaders and President Walker, who talk to me like an equal. It´s hard going from having every adult talking to you as an equal (at home) to having people who are the same age (or younger) talking down to you like you´re a moron. 

One of the blessings of the mission is I´m more at peace and tolerant than I think I´ve ever been in my life. I really feel the peace of the Lord in my life now more than ever even with all of the troubles I´ve had with the work, my companion, other missionaries, the heat, and exhaustion. I´ve gone from getting angry when Elder Diaz chews me out for falling asleep in church (I´m becoming more like Dad every day) to just brushing it off.

Also, getting the May and June Liahonas was like Christmas. And they´re in English too! I had no idea the Liahona was in English before coming here. Here are two articles and one talk from general conference that I particularly love:

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/06/worship-the-true-and-living-god?lang=eng

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/06/dear-are-the-sheep-that-have-wandered?lang=eng

http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/05/the-savior-wants-to-forgive?lang=eng

Well that´s about it. I love ya´ll and are keeping you in my prayers every night.

Love, Elder Brayden Decker

Hmm...

Hmm...

Another day, another baptism.

Howdy familia!

So this email may not be as long seeing as we only have an hour to type today - we had to cut our hair for zone conference this wednesday - so I´d like to start out by saying Happy Father´s Day Dad! I´ll try sending you an email today, but if I can´t for sure next week.

So we had another baptism this week of an 11 year-old girl by the name of Fatima. I had the opportunity to perform the confirmation and apparently, according to Fatima, I was shaking. Which was probably the case. I´m still freaked out by giving blessings and such in Spanish.

Also, Juan Carlos - our other convert - didn´t show up for his priesthood interview (gah!) so we had to plan another one. We taught him about patriarchal blessings and eternal marriage yesterday which went interestingly. His wife understands (she´s a recent convert from March of this year) but he´s not really getting it. We got them commit to push for June of next year to go to the temple. I also reminded them to invite me XD So here´s hoping that they reach that little goal they´ve made.

So this entire mission is having trouble finding and teaching. We´re not getting any new investigators, me and Elder Diaz only had one lesson last week, and everybody´s a bit on edge. For example, the Assistants to the President told our Zone Leaders that they (the Zone Leaders) are ¨mediocre¨. Yeah. The reason is that our zone used to be the highest baptizing in all of the mission but now it´s, well, average. I feel like if the AP´s took a look at our efforts here and what we´re doing they´d have a different opinion, but it is what it isn´t.

In preparing for my talk that we have to prepare in case we have to speak in Zone Conference, I´ve been studying about the power of humility. I started thinking about the most powerful event in history - the Atonement - and, in it´s roots, it´s an act of the most supreme humility. The Son humbling himself before the will of the Father. In an act completely bereft of pride, self-concern, or vanity, the Son took upon himself the sins and pains of infinite worlds. And this was done through the power of humility. The world would have us think that when we humble ourselves we are sacrificing power, influence, and standing for a position of weakness. But, in reality, we are gaining the power of Christ´s atonement. The power to astonish and convert.

So yeah. It was better worded in my journal last night. But that´s basically the theme of my talk. And it may be the answer to all of our problems.

Also, on a lighter note, my speaker broke the other week so I had to buy some new ones for 100 pesos (about 8 bucks). Also, we can apparently watch certain Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks movies so we´re having a party today before the District meeting where we´re watching Ice Age. A little lightheartedness to brighten the District.

I love ya´ll and wish I could have eaten some of that cheesecake (yum). Be good and helpful to Mom and Dad up yonder at that one place ya´ll are going (I forget the name and it´s too much trouble on this computer to load up the email). Also, good luck as always Masey. We´re having problems too so don´t worry you´re little head. Good luck and keep encouraging Brett to come to Church. That would be awesome if he was baptized.

Love you guys!

-Elder Brayden Decker

It's hot.

> ¡Hola hola familia!
>
> Well it´s been an interesting week. It´s hot. And we´ve been working our behinds off.
>
> Well, to start, thanks for all the pictures! It really is great to see everyone enjoying themselves back home. And I swear everyone looks older. Everyone. but it´s only been three months! Weirder and weirder. Also, don´t be surprised if you guys get emails later on today. We´re doing an hour here while we´re waiting for our laundry and an hour yonder where we´re going to eat.
>
> So I was a bit down this week. Mostly because Elder Diaz as the new District Leader is very... hard on himself and on me. He´s always had issues trusting other people with planning and so on, but lately he´s been a bit loony. And it´s tiring. But we have been doing street contacts like never before partly due to my suggested goal of 25 a day (haven´t done that yet) and the encouragement of the Zone Leaders. We´re finding a lot of the elect in our contacts. For other areas. Which is great! For them. And for the Lord, I suppose.
>
> Also, we´re having the same problem as Masey with our investigators. They aren´t coming to Church. Juan Carlos, our recent convert, didn´t go to Church either because he was partying hard with his family all night. So he doesn´t have the Priesthood. Which is disappointing because we were going to have him baptize one of the investigators from the other area in the ward to encourage activity, but ah well. The others weren´t home for the past few days for whatever reason and our pass-along cards were still stuffed in the door.
>
> But guess what? We have a baptism this Saturday! Her name is Fatima and she is an eleven year old daughter of less actives from the state of Veracruz. They´re a great family but not very supportive or converted to the Gospel, so we´ve been trying to reactivate them through cultivating faith in the heart of their daughter. She told us last week that she didn´t feel ready to be baptized, but after coming to church on Sunday she says she´s excited. They also always have delicious juices of pineapple, pineapple rind (yup), and, well, oatmeal. Very good.
>
> As you all know, I´m not a fan of sunshine. And that hasn´t changed here. In fact I despise it. I don´t understand all of the songs like ¨There is sunshine in my soul¨ and ¨An island in the sun¨ and ¨You are my sunshine.¨ If the people who wrote those lyrics ever spent a day walking around the city of Monterrey they would understand that the sun is the enemy of all righteousness. It´s also going to be in the high 90´s all week, so pray for me por favor. My body isn´t made for heat.
>
> Also, do missionaries in the states only get 140 dollars a month? I had to pull out hundred of my own last month just to pay for food and travel. It´s loco. I´m trying to find ways to not spend my own money, but I have to eat! Despite what Elder Diaz says about how food is a destraction from our investigators (whack) and that the Zone Leaders don´t eat dinner (whickety whack). A talk from Elder Holland from about Liberty Jail has helped me a lot.
>
> So yes. Thanks for alll your prayers ya´ll! I may be sending more emails to you guys in a couple of hours. Time´s up here.
>
> Love you guys! Remember who you are and what you stand for!
>
> -Elder Brayden Decker

¡Hola hola!

Howdy familia!

Thanks ya´ll for the emails! And for those of you in the family that didn´t write me, why the flip not? Nah. I´m good. I especially love Shekynah´s ¨It´s summer, so that means we get to do whatever we want.¨ Ha!

Like Masey, our numbers were less than fantastic this week, but I feel, like her, that we´re fulfilling our purpose. It´s hard sometimes to feel that way when you´re only having about five lessons a week, but I really do feel that we´re doing as much as we can with what we have.

Well, if you were all expecting pictures of the baptism that I mentioned we were going to have, you´re out of luck. We didn´t have a baptism Saturday... we´re having it tomorrow. So yay! Elder Diaz will be performing the ordinance for Fatima while I´ll confirm her a member of the Church on Sunday. I´m happy that he´s the one doing the ordinance, seeing as he´s had 15 converts but has only baptized 2. And that makes him feel sad. So now he´ll be happy. Which means less trouble for me and more unity in the companionship. Bien con ganas para mí. ¨Con ganas¨ means ¨cool¨ here, by the way, not ¨wanting¨ like Google tells me.

So we have some new rules here that are causing quite a bit of havoc for, well, everyone. We can´t eat with sisters when a man above the age of twelve isn´t present. Now, you might say, ¨That´s in the handbook,¨ to which I´d respond, ¨We had different rules here.¨ Basically what it means is that we can´t eat at members´ houses the majority of the time seeing as we eat at two in the afternoon and many hermanas don´t have any priesthood-age folk at home. It´s a bit of a bother. We were told also by the Zone Leaders that we have to eat either in our house or the chapel, not in parks. Muchas problemas.

And also, check this out: http://www.lds.org/church/events/the-work-of-salvation-missionary-broadcast?lang=eng. We´ve been told that it´s pretty big and I´ve been wondering if it has anything to do with Masey´s gossip about a gigantic announcement this month. We´ll see, but ya´ll should watch with us to see if it is. President Monson, President Packer, and other Apostles are going to be speaking so it should be big. I´m excited.

We also have a zone conference this month that´s giving me a bit of a panic. Elder Diaz told me horror stories about missionaries who gave lack-luster talks and are stuck as Junior Companions because the President lost faith in them. He also told me about Elder Love, one of the Assistants, who shot up in ranks after a good talk when we was being trained. I don´t really like the whole system of having to impress so-and-so to get such-and-such position, but it´s the system I´m stuck with. We´ll see what passes.

Time really is starting to fly by here. My Spanish is improving to the point where it´s getting difficult to speak English, which is a problem, and I can understand 90% of what´s being said and have no problems 80% of the time saying what I need to. Very good this. Also I really am finding joy in the work. I don´t think about what I´d be doing if I was at home or feel world-sick anymore. I also absolutely love teaching and seeing people gain a testimony of what I´m saying. It´s truly amazing to hear somebody say that they believe in your words and that they feel the Spirit testifying to them.

As to the problem of the front room at home, if my word carries any weight I vote for making it a theater room, but Mom and Dad are the bosses so whatever they say goes.

Don´t lose your minds now that it´s Summer and remember who you are and what you stand for. Love you all tons and look forward to your emails every week.

Con amor, Elder Brayden Decker

Thought you might be interested...

President Walker sent us his monthly message that I think best sums up how much I don´t like the weird power-struggle in the mission. Thought you might be interested.

En su reciente visita a nuestra misión, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland nos advirtió sobre una trampa de satanás que puede afectar a los misioneros y robarles su progreso espiritual.  Hoy quiero hablarles un poco acerca de esa trampa.

Tristemente me he dado cuenta que algunos élderes y hermanas en nuestra misión no ponen todo su corazón en la obra del Señor.  No me refiero a aquellos de ustedes que luchan honestamente por tener la compañía de Espíritu, que buscan aprender y prepararse para declarar nuestro mensaje con poder y autoridad.  Tampoco me refiero a aquellos que batallan con pensamientos impuros y sienten que no son dignos de ser misioneros.  Ni siquiera me refiero a aquellos de ustedes que de vez en cuando sufren de ocio o pérdida del tiempo, que les cuesta levantarse a tiempo por la mañana y no aprovechan el tiempo sagrado que tienen para estudiar y prepararse espiritualmente.

Lo que me preocupa es la hipocresía—aquellos que profesan actuar como representantes de Jesucristo, pero que en su interior no poseen el deseo de vivir los mandamientos de Dios.  Aquellos que se burlan del Señor mediante un comportamiento engañoso y mediante el encubrimiento de su desobediencia.

¡El Señor reservó sus admoniciones más severas para los hipócritas!  ¿Porqué?  Porque el corazón del hipócrita no puede recibir al Espíritu Santo.  No puede tener progreso alguno, no puede cambiar, hasta que haya arrepentimiento sincero y el hipócrita decida desechar su engaño.  El profeta Mormón dijo: "¡Oh vosotros, corruptos, vosotros, hipócritas, vosotros, maestros, que os vendéis por lo que se corrompe! ¿Por qué habéis mancillado la santa iglesia de Dios? ¿Por qué os avergonzáis de tomar sobre vosotros el nombre de Cristo? ¿Por qué no consideráis que es mayor el valor de una felicidad sin fin que esa miseria que jamás termina? ¿Es acaso por motivo de la alabanza del mundo?"

Algunos de ustedes desean y buscan la alabanza del mundo (de sus padres, sus líderes, sus compañeros, y todos los que han engañados) más que la aprobación de su Padre Celestial, que igualmente todo lo sabe y todo lo ve.

A parte del daño que se causa a usted mismo por ser hipócrita, se convierte también en una piedra de tropiezo para su compañero.  Él o ella busca ver un ejemplo en usted, pero en cambio les ve intentar encubrir sus pecados y engañar a los demás.

Les escribo hoy con palabras de reprobación, a fin de invitarles a arrepentirse para poder poner en práctica la invitación de Elder Holland.  Lamento que los que hacen las cosas bien tengan que leer estas duras palabras.  Llamo al hipócrita al arrepentimiento sincero, a desechar sus pecados y su desobediencia, y a colocarse "toda la armadura de Dios".

Les aprecio, les admiro, amo estar con ustedes en la obra del Señor.  Cristo ha sido misericordioso con nosotros y nos está bendiciendo enormemente.  A medida que seamos obedientes con exactitud y sirvamos unidos Él estará preparado para derramar Sus bendiciones y otorgarnos el gozo y la paz que vienen de servirle diligentemente.  Se los prometo con todo al poder de mi manto como su presidente de misión.  Que el Señor les bendiga ahora en Su obra, y siempre.

Con amor sincero,

PRES. ALAN R. WALKER

A few more...

Fwd: A lot and not much

> Hola Familia!
>
> So I´ve been thinking about what to write about... and I´m not exactly sure. Here it goes.
>
> I had my first baptism this last Saturday! And I dropped him... Yup. I probably should have expected it. I didn´t have a firm grip on his back so he kinda fell. And then I slipped when I tried to pull him up. It was only a bit of a disaster. I was a little focused on making sure that he was really immersed and kind of forgot about holding his nose and everything. I told everyone that his baptism was more complete than others. Since his insides were immersed too. XD
>
> But yeah. It´s all good. They´re a great family and I should be around for their sealing in a year if they stay active and do all that they have to.
>
> Oh, we had our first day of exchanges today. I lost Elder Domon. He was part of my generation and I told ya´ll about him when I called. He had a bunch of medical issues so is flying home today. And with him goes my last little connection to America. It´s probably for the best. I also lost his companion Elder Reyes who I like quite a bit, but he´s still in the mission. Just not in my zone.
>
> Speaking of which, the missions are going to be pretty much created this week. Reynosa already has the Assistants to the President and Secretaries assigned. Now they just need their mission president. It´s official on July 1st. Then Larry Bird will be my mission president. He served in the Uruguay mission apparently, but he´s 56 years old so probably a while before your time over there, Dad.
>
> Also, Elder Diaz is the District Leader now. So I´ll be working a lot with the Zone Leaders. Yay... The new Senior Zone Leader Elder Audaz is a bit, well, audaz (bold). He and the old ZL have been on our case over having too many baptismal dates (weird, right?) but we had a little study session with them where I was pretty impressed by them.
>
> They told Elder Diaz that they expected me to train after I´m done being trained (yikes) so that gave me some motivation. I told Elder Diaz that my only real leadership aspiration was trainer, and apparently the news traveled up. I´m not exactly sure why they want me to train, but let´s hope it all works out. I want a padawan.
>
> One interesting experience to share: We said ¨buenas tardes¨ to a guy on the street to which he responded, ¨Buenas ta... no. NO. NOOOO!!!!¨ and ran away. He saw our name tags. It was funny.
>
> Hmm... That about sums it up. Thanks Kate and Shekynah for the letters! Sounds like ya´ll are having loads of fun back home. We don´t have breaks here so a little bit of jealousy there. Also Kate had to put that you guys are watching Iron Man 3 today. I already had to put up with Elder Domon saying ¨Man of Steel¨ about a million times. Nah. Just kidding. All´s good here.
>
> Love ya´ll and hope to have lots of fun, successful stories to share. Thanks for all the prayers!
>
> -Brayden (Elder Decker)