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)

Some Pics first:

Here´s the family, mission leader, me, and Elder Diaz in a few pictures. 

The Day After...

¡Hola Familia!

Glorious things are happening/have happened here in Monterrey! So let´s get started:

I had the opportunity yesterday to learn at the feet of a holder of the Holy Apostleship, Elder Jeffrey R Holland. Jeffrey R Holland. The Man. The Apostle. The Legend. And I did more than just learn at his feet, I got to shake his hand. And guess what? He stroked my face and talked to me. Here´s how the conversation went:

Elder Holland: ¨Looks like you got some sun there¨ *Strokes my cheek under my eye* ¨That´s good.¨

Me: ¨Yeah! It is...¨

Very exciting. And like always, I didn´t really no how to react to the whole thing. I was a bit stunned and I´m not very good at talking to people in the first place. But yeah. He stroked my face.

We then heard from President Walker, Sister Walker, Elder Gutierrez (Area Seventy), Sister Johnson, Elder Johnson (Jefe of the Church in Mexico and Seventy), and then finally Elder Holland. Elder Johnson told us about how when we teach with the Spirit our words are scripture and that we are not to teach if we don´t have the Spirit. There was also a big theme of the Doctrine of Christ (Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost, Enduring to the end) throughout all of the talks.

Elder Holland then got up and said: ¨Well I´m going to change everything that I was planning on talking about.¨ He then felt like he could talk at a higher level with us than with others and that he was impressed with the theme of our mission being the Doctrine of Christ. He then talked about how much missionary work has improved over the years and then gave this lesson on a white board:

The World                                             ^

The Old Church                                      l

The Restoration                                      l

The Doctrine of Christ                              I

(Faith, Repentance, Baptism, Holy Ghost) l

The Life of Christ                                   l

The bottom (The life of Christ) was the theme of the talk. And I can´t really do it justice here, but let´s just say it was really intense. It was Elder Holland after all. The point was that we need to live the life of Christ in order to teach with the power to astonish. His challenge to us was to leave each lesson having astonished our investigators. And how do we do that? By following the Lord´s invitation to ¨Follow thou me¨ and live like he did.

What does this mean? Well, he said, it means that we´re going to face the same rejection, hatred, disgust, and trials that he faced. He said that ¨The path to Salvation leads through Gethsemane¨ and as servants of Christ, we accepted with our call to suffer where he suffered, cry where he cried, walk where he walked, and go where he went. So when times are hard, remember that that´s the whole point. Life is hard. The Gospel is hard. Missionary work is hard.

Well, I was obviously astonished. And I also received an additional testimony of Elder Holland´s position as a prophet, seer, and revelator. It´s because of him and his teachings in General Conference that I´m out here today and hopefully it will be because of him that I´ll be the best missionary I can be.

Also, he´s a funny, emotional, and overall real person. His presence is, well, astonishing. Some of the effect was lost with having to have the translator speak after every sentence or two, and some of the intricacies of the message were lost to my Mexican friends, but he kept his rhythm and the power flowing.

And on that note, we will for sure be having a baptism this Saturday for Juan Carlos. Yesterday, when we saw all of the missionaries in the mission, we talked with some of the old Juarez 2 residents and they were pretty shocked to hear that Juan Carlos was going to be baptized. The wife, Rosalinda, and the kids are already members but he never wanted to listen. But one day, when me and Elder Diaz were teaching Rosalinda (she was less active) he came in, sat down, and started to learn. And from then BOOM! Speedy progress and true conversion. We taught the Word of Wisdom and that day he quit drinking alcohol. Just like that. From about 3 beers a day to nothing. And he hasn´t fallen in the last 3 weeks. He truly is ready.

It´s hot, I´m flush out of money and had to pull out 500 pesos from my personal dinero, and I´m always tired, but I feel like this Saturday it´ll be another testament of the divinity of this work. So yeah. I´m going to try and live more like Christ everyday and put my shoulder to the wheel.

Thanks for all the prayers and I love you all! Even the kids. Who never write me. Ever. Hint, hint.

Love ya´ll!

-Brayden (Elder Decker)

Another Hola from Monterrey!

 Howdy howdy everyone!

Well it was really fantastic to talk to ya´ll (except Masey) yesterday! I feel like even though we talked mostly about food the whole point of calling home is to be able to hear your family´s voices and let them hear yours. It gave me an extra boost of energy (something which I´m lacking right now) and also confused me with all the English. Learning Spanish has really given me an appreciation of the English language, weird as it is.

So I´ve discovered something weird while of been out here in Mexico: Mexicans are universally tone-deaf. I don´t know if it´s part of the curse of the Lamanites or something, but these people can´t really sing. They sing loudly and passionately, just not... on key. I haven´t had the opportunity to play the piano yet here for a congregation or anything, but whenever I´m at the chapel I try and play the piano while I´m waiting. I´ve already lost some of my pizazz which kinda worries me. Hopefully one of these areas doesn´t have a piano player so I can contribute somewhat. But I am conducting the congregation of missionaries this Wednesday when the jefe of the Carribbean Area Elder Anderson comes to speak to us. Very exciting.

So we had a funny little run-in with Elder´s from another zone that borders our area. We were visiting a less active in our ward that we were asking to come to a teaching appointment when suddenly Elder Stark and Elder Hood (from my district at the MTC) walk up to the open door. Turns out that we were in their area and they were a bit angry. We´ve had some issues with members from their ward boundaries going to our ward since our Chapel is closer to their homes so we had to go to the Stake President to fix it up. And we lost a progressing investigator to the other missionaries :( But the work's the same wherever and with whomever it is done.

So we have eight baptismal dates right now and we´re pretty sure about... Juan Carlos, Gimena, Fatima, and sorta with Celia. The problem with the last is that she´s moving at the end of the month and we can´t find her! It´s kind of an issue. Juan Carlos is the wife of a less active and is progressing more than all of the rest, Gimena is the sister of members and is really excited to be baptized, and Fatima is the daughter of a less active family from Veracruz that we stumbled upon while looking for a reference. They´re not in the ward directory so it was a bit of a surprise.

 We´ve also been chewed out for not having enough street contacts. Elder Diaz and I don´t particularly like doing them since the contacts either end with ´´No, I´m a Catholic¨ or ¨No, you guys aren´t Christians¨ or, my favorite, false addresses. But we´ve been commanded by the Lideres de la Zona, so we will go and do.

 So the weather here is a bit whacky. It´s been either unbearably hot; rainy, hot, and humid; or rainy, cold, and humid. It´s messing with my brain a bit.

 Thanks for the prayers and well wishes! Tell the kiddos to write me or give me their email addresses so I can write them. I have a lot of time in this here cyber cafe. I´m praying for you guys every night and can´t wait to come home from a successful mission.

 Love you all!

-Brayden (Elder Decker)

A bit more...

I discovered a bunch of talks on the iPod the other day, to I listened to two by Elder Bruce R McConkie during some down time. He talked about how we as members of the church are entitled to receive personal revelation and become prophets for ourselves and for those whom we have jurisdiction over. He specifically talked about the ability to dream dreams, see visions, speak with angels, and view the face of God. He said all we have to do is study the word, be obedient, and ask in faith and we could receive all of these things. He quoted Joseph Smith and said that 5 minutes gazing into heaven will teach you more than you could ever find out by reading about it. He also said that if we receive these things, we'll be able to declare things that we know with our spirits, not just our intellect. There was also a whole lot about the superiority of the spiritual over the intellectual.

 I'm going to put that to the test. See how it works out. I think it's called "Seeking Personal Revelation" or something and was given at BYU during the days of David O Mckay. Thought it was interesting. Wanted to share it.

Love ya'll!

-Elder Decker (Brayden)

Hola from Monterrey

Hey family!

So it's been a bit crazy this week (per the usual) but I'll start with the happy.

So this Sunday I'll be able to receive a phone call from ya'll in the Chapel at 6:20 Monterrey time. That's 4:20 Vegas time. It's limited to 40 minutes and here's the number: 011-52-81-88613903. Can't wait to talk to all ya'll!

Four converts were baptized yesterday! Sadly, none of them were mine and Elder Diaz's. But in the end it's all the same and doesn't really matter who baptizes who. Ah well. We've been told that this is the highest baptizing ward in the mission due to the strength of the members and everything, but I think it's the other area that has so much of the success. We currently only have one person attending sacrament, her name is Celia and I've never seen anybody so excited by the Church. That is other than her ten year old daughter Perlita who never comes... And we may not be able to baptize them seeing as they're moving at the end of the month. All in the Lord's time I guess. The family has committed to come to church (all 5). But they need to come to Church twice in order to be baptized. But I did have the opportunity to teach the first part of Lesson 2 (finally) so up to where we came from and why we're here. They're all really receptive and seem to believe everything, but it's hard to get them to keep their commitments... Ah well.

So we're preparing for the visit of Elder Anderson (not the Apostle) from the First Quorum of the Seventy and the boss-man of the Carribbean Islands. He's going to come talk in our zone conference which will be pretty cool.

I still have to fight feelings of dread whenever we go up to doors. Once we start talking (or allow the Spirit to start talking through us) it's much easier. I do need to work on expressing more disappointment with the investigator's who fall through on their commitments. PMG tells me to be devastated and tell them how important it is. Elder Diaz usually says "está bien" like most of his responses. To everything. Also, it's hard to ask inspired questions sometimes. It all falls to having faith that the words that are spilling from your mouth are inspired by the Spirit. Which is hard when it's another language. There's also the bit about how much you should share with investigators. Both Elder Diaz and I have said "Padres Celestiales" in our lessons. I blame one of our videos.

The Spanish is progressing quickly. It's hard to convince the members that I do in actuality understand them now. They still think that I can't speak so they usually direct their questions to Elder Diaz.

Speaking of whom, we're getting along much better now. Apparently there's a custom here that "suyos son mios y mios son suyos" I explained that en los Estados, "Mios son mios y suyos son suyos" and it went smoothly. Oh, English, "What's yours is mine and what's mine is yours". Yeah. We're making jokes and having a much better time proselyting than we did before. I think a lot of it was just me getting used to the mission. And being tired all the time. I fall asleep every week in Church. Also whenever I sit down. It's kinda bad. Oh well.

As to the problems with the Elders not having much to do during the day, I don't really know how to fix that. We aren't allowed to door contact either, only street contacts and referrals. What's really essential is that we get a bunch of referrals from the members and work with less actives. We also eat at 2 in the afternoon with a family, not at night. We don't really teach until around 4 o'clock. Unless there's somebody who has lost their job or works at night. We've gone many days where all of our meetings fall through because of work. Hmm... I don't know with Vegas. The Elders sometimes set up booths in street-markets and such.

Congrats to Colby for getting his license! And Eli for being baptized! I'm missing quite a bit. Sad that Great Grandpa passed away, but now Grandma and Grandpa have the opportunity to join me and Masey here in the Mission field! Exciting times!

Love ya'll and can't wait to talk to you this Sunday!