Week 72~ A couple of Pictures :)

Well mom, it is certainly an interesting week, its honestly so weird sometimes. I feel like I am working so hard sometimes, and yet I feel like the results never come as fast as I would like them to. This week was a good week because we saw that the church assistance really went up for the zone, so we are starting to see a little bit of success which makes me feel good. I wish I could see other missions and their focus because I feel like here sometimes is way different than i imagine how it is in other areas.

In regards to the pants, they're fine don't worry, they just need to be sewn, its mainly the shoes that are starting to wear out. I am so so so proud of you for not studying on Sundays mom, I really want you to know how happy that makes me. When I get back I will work too don't worry, we all really need to be self sufficient and I just feel incredibly guilty the way that I depended on you guys so much before my mission. When I get back I want to be able to pay for my food housing and college. My goal is to be self sufficient, I don't want you guys to have to pay anything. At least that is the goal.

Mom the reason why I haven't sent pictures is I lost my memory card so I borrowed one to send them. I will have good ones next week because I did volovanes with a companion in a bright pink apron, so I look very pretty! Hahaha, I am just honestly impressed with the people at church they are so wonderful. Its honestly great how much they are there for you guys. Please tell both Laura and Chad and And Garry and Diana how grateful I am to them and how much I look forward to seeing them soon. I really hope that we can enjoy some time together.

The reason mom why we call one another brother and sister is because we are one giant family. To me, we are all brothers and sisters of Christ. Now that being said we have a sacred responsibility given from God to take care of our parents and our children. Hey by the way, have you seen Deborah from Red Lobster lately? I haven't heard you mention her in ages.

Hey mom in regards to our living conditions these are by far the best living conditions I have ever had in my mission. I have a super chill clima. I live with a 40 year old single sister and her mother, and they give us food regularly. (I hope I don't get fat). We have a decent shower, and I have a super duper comfy mattress. The sisters give us a lot to eat, its honestly great, we have 5 or  sisters who all worked as cooks and I am honestly super impressed and happy. That being said I have a ton of work. The bishop is never there and no one takes any responsibility. The ward is basically run by the second counselor and there are so many open callings, but we have ex-missionaries that are being used by the stake. Its ridiculous but we are seeing some progress. we started off with 110 when I got here and this week we had 137. So there is popping up the assistance little by little. I want to see the ward get to 150, that's my goal.

 Kevin's Companion and sleeping quarters

You have come so long in 3 short years mom, I love you so much. I am loving life right now. Hahah, you will soon get to see Lauren and all of them when they finish up, its funny how soon they finish, you wouldn't even notice it.

WEEK 71~~

My week was really quite stressful mom. I feel like sometimes I am pushing against a brick wall just hoping that it will move but it never does. It sucked because we had more than 20 people in the zone with baptismal dates Saturday, but they keep falling and like people don't work, its just stressful because I don't know what to do with the elders sometimes. The thing is that I have noticed how the number of baptisms has kept going down since President Cordova has got here. I noticed that generally people had better results when they just got mad at the elders and yelled at them until they baptized. After Sunday went poorly I lost my patience with one elder who lets just say is less than obedient and less than diligent, and just let him have it. It neither made me feel better nor do I truly believe that the conditions will improve based on what I did. Furthermore I feel that it had the negative result of hurting my trust with the elder. I was feeling guilty about the zone so I decided to call him about my doubts. He responded to me that the secret was to do 3 less active lessons and 10 contacts everyday, if we do it, we will have success. This is the same thing we have always been told, but he said it with such certainty and I felt the spirit testify to me that what he said was true. He told me how happy he was with what I was doing, how the Stake President was so happy with how we were helping with the less actives and how he just wanted me to be patient and the results would come. I knew he was right, I knew I should never chew anyone out again. I really hurt inside for what I did. It was honestly so hard, but I know what to do now. I love the atonement of Jesus Christ. I love how I can become clean. Mom if it weren't for him, for what I did, I would be unworthy to enter into the presence of God. I would be forever cast off from his presence. How terrible it would be without him. I know that through the spirit we can feel better. I love and treasure him.

That being said, I am grateful for the chance to feel stressed and learn here as a missionary. What a gift it is to be able to learn how to lead in the Lords way. What a gift it is to be able to face challenges and difficulties in so many different ways. Trying to get the spirit, trying to get revelation, trying to get results, trying to build up our ward, it is honestly so difficult.

I did have an honestly interesting experience. There is a woman who had a sealed family. The father began by cheating on her, and continues to this day. The 3 daughters have slowly but surely fallen away from the church. They have slowly but surely given up their blessings and have fallen away. 1 never got a testimony, 1 was a seminary teacher for years, but just never seemed to find her husband and decided to live with a man who was not divorced, and 1 believes she is happier without the church. There is another family with a daughter that is thoroughly hurt by the fact that no one cares about her in the church, and feels that there is no one there that loves her. She therefore no longer goes, and has taken her children and husband with her, one of whom is almost at mission age. I don't know, but I feel these families. First off, how important is for a parent to put a good example. IF a parent falls, the children must try and swim with a mill stone around their neck. Second, how important are home and visiting teachers, as well as all of the leadership, they dont know how much they help. I don't know what will happen, but I am going to give everything to help them, I want to rescue these families.

I am impressed by general conference, especially Elder Eyring, I need to listen more to the spirit, and am focusing on that. I love you very much mother, I am sorry to hear about your difficulties, but as LEhi said to his son jacob, the Lord will consecrates thy afflictions for thy gain. I love you.

KEVIN

Week 70~~

Hi mother, I am really glad to hear that you are doing well at home, it sounds awesome with what you are doing with the bar prep. Will you get the bar results before I get home? Hey can you find out when do I have to decide on my classes for byu? I want to know your opinion on something. The econ department at byu is notoriously hard. If I want to become a professor I will have to take these classes at some point, but if I go through Econ, I might put at risk my scholarship. Although idk if I want to be a professor or no. If I decide to do other things, I could take classes to learn Portuguese and learn how to do personal training and get a degree in that in 1 year, and then finish out accounting (I have to send in my application in may and i need to take like 2 more classes). That being said, I don't know what you think, personal training is a small dream of mine, and something I would really like to do because I find it super interesting but I don't know what do you think?

Mom they say that there are different levels of faith in our lives. It gradually grows over time but we can see certain specific things that people do that show the size of their faith. For example with tithing, some people never pay tithing, some people buy it when things are going good, others unless their is an emergency situation, and others no matter what happens. It is incredible mother, because choosing not to study, eat out, work, and other activities on the Sabbath Day we show the degree of our faith. Mother I really admire your faith and more importantly, I admire how your faith has grown. I remember when the idea of going without iced tea was about as unthinkable as jumping off a Cliff! It makes me so happy to see how much you have grown and changed. I would honestly do anything to have someone like you here in my Ward, because I know how much it would help here in the work. That being said, I would use some of your Sunday time to rest, some of it to be with Dad, but also I would talk to some of the relief society presidency about who is less active and needs some help or a good friend. Or you could talk to the missionaries and ask if there is anyone that they would like you to accompany with. Mom, I am sure that missionary work brings blessings. These blessings are many, from increased testimony to increased love, but for me two of the greatest are the approval of Heavenly Father and the new relationships with the people you serve. I may be the one on the mission but you have grown so much mom. As the Lord said to Peter, when though art converted, strengthen thy brethren. The Sabbath day is a relief, a delight, and I will make you a promise, that each step you take in the Gospel, you will receive more and more help in your law school. I know how hard it will be, but I know how capable and incredible you are. If you are going to ask permission, then ask through President Jordan, there is a much higher probability.

That all being said I would like to comment about how my week is going. I had a really interesting week in a lot of ways. Right now we have found a single mother and her two daughters, and they are honestly incredible. I left this 9 year old little girl alma 12 to read, and when I asked what she thought she responded wow, I loved how it talked about how we can avoid the spiritual death that separates us from God. It is honestly so incredible because I cannot get that response out of 90% of the people here, but a 9 year old Little girl was more capable. Its so incredible here. Her mom loved conference and is honestly progressing quite well, although she still took her daughters to Catholicism this weekend. I honestly believe that this family will get baptized and it makes me really happy. Something that makes me really frustrated is the widespread amount of lying that has been going on recently. I hate when people tell me they re going to do something and then don't do it. Its just like acceptable to some people and I don't understand it. I always have so many people here who say they will do things but then they never complete. That being said I have also found some people with an incredible amount of faith and love. The sister that we live with is so kind to us, and treats us so well, she is single and in her 40´s and I feel bad for her, because she is that type who has always been waiting to get married but never has. In addition, this week we had 17 less actives in church,which made me really happy. There is a man who everyone calls Pita ho has brought his whole family back. Its honestly incredible because he was he Ward secretary and all we had to do was visit him 1 or 2 times and he was active again!

Anyways, I love you and Dad very very much. You are wonderful and I am so thankful for all that you do for me. I realized just how true the love is that you have had for me, and honestly I cannot describe how very grateful I am for that. Please tell Grandma just how much I love her, I would love to hear from her if she can. I miss her terribly and want to hear what is going on with her and Doug right now.  Take care for one more week!

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Week 69~~

Hi mother its wonderful to hear from you! I love hearing your stories. Wow, those sisters are really different from how the elders are. I will be honest, if anyone in my zone helped out as much as those sisters did I would not be a happy camper. Its weird because they are always talking with us about the importance of making progress, of ensuring that our wards grow and that kind of thing. Its honestly so different in US missions, they are all about getting service done! Hahaha, that is actually super funny that the misión president did that. I honestly had that moment to when I realized how grateful I needed to be for what they were giving me, because I did a super tough fast one day and honestly it changed my perspective completely.

Wow mom, I forget sometimes just how far you have come in the church, to me, it is wonderful to hear that you are able to go in and do initiatories and endowment sessions, I honestly cannot believe that! When I get back, here is the order of how I want things to go. Sushi, reléase, run, gym, massage, nap. (Those are the material things I miss most) Its so cool to hear that Dad helped clean the church, that is an activity that is almost impossible over here. I honestly love Dad, its incredible to me all of the service that he gives, I don't know how he does that.  Hey if Wayne Baldwin is the employment specialist, who are the counselors.

As far as the weather goes, things are actually significantly cooler, its been in the low 90s in these days :P People have actually been able to take the bags of chips out of the freezer (during the summer the bags would melt on to the chips). I have actually become so accustomed to being wet from my own sweat it feels weird to be dry. Just FYI none of these clothes will be usable when I get done, the shirts are gradually turning yellow, the pants are changing colors, the shoes are dying, but everything will hold out until the end.

As far as my week, it went significantly better. We had 19 investigators progressing, which for 7 companionship's is not great but it is at the very least acceptable. I felt good because I did a fast this week so that people would come to church, and we passed by for everyone, and o the 12 people who said they would go did not. That made me think well what can I do and I was super disappointed. Literally as the sacrament trays went around like everyone got to church, and we had 7 investigators. IT made me feel a lot better! Hey mom, I have always wanted some advice from you on this. What have you done to stay with dad for all of these years. I remember when I was Little several heavy fights, specifically, I remember hiding upstairs and you like hit him with your purse and he broke the purse. But as I got older there weren't those kinds of conflicts. Here I face a society in which people beat each other regularly. Marriage has become more of a tax convenience than a social institution, and children are often left parent-less, beaten regularly, and face huge obstacles. All of that being said, how did you two do all of that, what made you two different than everyone here.

As far as things are going here, tomorrow we have conference with president so I am excited. I love you, and treasure your letters.

Love you, Kevin

Week 68 ~~~ A letter to his DAD

Kevin's letter this week was very personal to me and not a lot to share, however he wrote his dad a great letter and it shows how much he has grown; so I thought I would share that. I will put a little of what he shared in my letter at the bottom.  Thank you for reading every week and sharing in Kevin's journey!!

Charlene

Hi Dad;

You know I was sitting alone last night and suddenly a flood of memories came into my mind from my childhood, and I just wanted to share them with you (you can read my email to mom for everything else)

1. Bubble Bobble together as a family, getting to the last level and never beating it.

2. The light-saber battles where we would break them outback.

3. That star-wars ship game where we would always play together, and which we also did not beat the last level on.

4. Going to San Francisco and buying a giant stuffed fish and eating at Bubba Gumps in a convertible

5. Going to home town buffet every Thursday.

6. When you used to tell me Mom was moody and I went and wrote that down in a paper for school and got you in big trouble.

7. Pretending to be afraid of the rides there at Disneyland so they'd be more fun.

8. Cans and bottles...so many

9. Various vacations to Hawaii and scuba diving.

10. All of the movie nights, and game nights, and just boys nights to everywhere.

I had a pretty darn good childhood and am super grateful. I see so many parents here who are super abusive to their kids and who don't treat them right at all, and never realized how lucky i was. I love you!

Hi mom, I am really happy to hear from you, and you are definitely right about that with pride. That is one of the most famous talks that President Benson ever gave, and honestly it is so true. It is such a difficult thing to overcome but it is something that as alma says in Alma 5, if we are not stripped of pride we are not prepared to meet God. 

As far as conditions here goes I am up to my neck in stress right now. My zone has 7 companionship's and right now there are only 11 investigators with a specific baptismal date. That is not good, and honestly we got hit hard on Sunday. The night before we had 30 people with baptismal dates, but like no one that committed to go went to church. Its so tough mom. You have to understand, I have a reputation for 2 thing in the missions. 1. I ask a lot of questions always. 2. I love reactivating people. The goal right now for the zone is that everyone can get the 15 priesthood holders paying tithing needed to get a functional ward. I put the elders to work on that, but as soon as they did, its like their horses with blinders and forgot their investigators. Its incredibly frustrating because on my own, I have always had my conscience which wants to help reactivate people and zone leader pressure which made me baptize. But its weird because I dunno sometimes people just cannot focus on more than one thing, and I don't know what to do to help them.

In addition, I don't know if I told you but I got something called chicungooya. Now its basically like a dengue that gets spread in the air. That stuff sucks! I felt like someone hit me with a truck and my knees were hurting so bad....I still got my companion up to run. Don't worry its all gone now and i actually didn't get it that bad, but right now like everyone here has it, and for the old folk and kids its pretty bad because they're confined to their beds basically. I miss you lots, and I love you. Please take care, do well with your law school and I know everything will be a okay.

LOVE ELDER STANDRIDGE

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Week 67 ~~ Lots of teaching/learning experiences as a Zone Leader

Hi mother, I really enjoy getting to see how much fun that you guys get to have their back at home. Sometimes it make me a Little jealous, but in all honestly, I cant remember home anymore. Its really weird, but I have forgotten life outside of the mission. It has just become what I think about when I wake up and what I think about when I go to bed. There is a promise in one of our manuals, that if we serve with all of our hearts God would change us. I did not really believe that at first, but slowly but surely, I have come to know how true that is. I don't know if I have changed mom, I really hope so, it would be quite a waste if I didn't.. (this computer is super slow so I type faster than it writes and it doesn't write everything).

Anyways, my first companion is really interesting he is from los Mochis Sinaloa,wants to go into the military,and loves Halo (he is making me think about the fact that halo 5 is coming out which I miss). It is really interesting because this week we did two different divisions. It was really funny mom because I really believe that one of the key ways for missionaries to work is to go find people who are inactive and reactivate them. So many of the missionaries here simply do not get it, we have to help people. I told the whole Zone I wanted 5 people who promised to pay tithing by the end of the week. On Sunday afternoon I started calling the district leaders and many of the companionship's had no one. So I started calling companionship's personally and they all started working much much harder and had 2 families that afternoon. It was weird because just by talking to them they understood. In this effort, one of the key ways that we used to find new members was that we would go with less actives and members and ask for the directions of new less actives, as we searched them, slowly but surely found families with people that weren't members.

One morning I woke up and felt the strong impression that we needed to do divisions with a companionship that had no one in their tank. As I went running I felt another impression to go and start the division at 8 am and to not tell them they were going to have the division. As we did so, it was great because we found that one of the elders was still showering when he should have been studying (busted!). It was a really good chance to help that Elder understand why what he was doing was wrong. As I started the division that day, the Elder who had been studying he shared with me his frustration and anger with the fact that they could find no one. We started out the day, no one was home, and I say take me to the closest active member. He does so, and I start asking the member for names of less actives. We go searching for them, and not a single one was home. We then go to lunch and the sister who was going to give us lunch that day wasn't home, and we then go with the one investigator they had and she was out of town. For a day that should have been productive and a teaching experience I felt like a failure. Bu just as the day was about to end we found one of those less actives from earlier, and inside was a 30 year old man that accepted a baptismal date and was Golden. Whats more is I get a call from this elder the next day telling me he did the same thing and found another one.

One of the things I have really come to learn is that I never find anyone I never know what to say, I just try my best to find people, talk with people and trust that the lord will help me, and he always does.  It honestly makes me feel great because I go to help this Elder grow and learn something new. I feel mom like this is how missionary work should be,I get to help people and I have learned so much. I get the freedom to make my own decisions and its honestly great .

I am really happy because since I have been gone, I have seen how you've grown and changed too. You've learned so very much.I find it funny how much you love this pair of sisters mom, have you been giving them references, or why do they keep stopping by? Your not a recent convert anymore, it is a Little odd!

I laughed so much when you said dad got there at 1030, that is so very much him.

I love you very much, hope to hear from you soon..

Week 66 - Zone Leader Pictures!!

Hi Mom, how are you doing, I just wanted to share with you that I really loved you a lot. It is amazing to me how far you have come. You have worked so hard for 4 very long years, and you've really grown a lot. I hope that you do well in your job search, something that they always say to us as missionaries is that we need to do without stopping to do. We need to teach without stopping to search, we need to help less actives without stopping to baptize and we need to help other missionaries without stopping working in our own areas. I think that this is a lesson that moms so very frequently demonstrate, especially moms like you that worked when I was a kid. Its incredible to me that you have done without stopping to do in your work and your studies and everything that you are doing. I know how hard it is, and I am proud for you.

Thanks for talking to me. You are probably going to be mad at me but I left my memory stick to my camera, I have a backup of a vast majority of what I had, and have sent you most of my photos. That being said I no longer have that copy and cannot send you anymore until I buy a new one which I wont have time to do today, so mil disculpes!!!!!

Anyways, my first week as a zone leader was stressful, wow. I cannot believe how bad this place has been since I got here. Like there were people with 0 investigators with a baptismal date. I want to leave this place with at least 5 investigators per group. I am working hard to be able to help them, but really my area isn't good. We baptized this week, but we have no one else that is really progressing very well. Its very stressful for me, and I wish to do better.

I am so glad to hear how the sisters helped you out, that is honestly super incredible that they give service like that, I have yet to ever do anything like that to help anyone here. As to what Laura said, that would be great, I would love to do that, but we cannot because it is against the rules to do zone activities in mexico, it kind of stinks, no activities no sports, no get togethers, nothing. But as I have found that I have spent more and more time here, the mission seems to take up more of my thoughts and feelings and it is honestly great for me to grow like that.

I love you mom, good luck, you will be in my prayers.
Mom these are all of the zone leaders and sister training leaders in the mission. just thought you'd like the photo.

Elder KEvin Standridge

Thanks Dad, I love you a ton, this will be perfect, I will definitely do this soon here. I miss you a ton, enjoy your beach time. I hope you take care, you are in my thoughts daily, This week I am 8 months out, the time is going too fast, I am not ready to come home. While here I am in a training ground for life. I am learning how to take care of myself, but I am scared because soon I am going to have to face so many challenges, and I dont know anything about how to deal with so many of the challenges I will face, I am excited to see home, but I know how hard it will soon be. Take care, I love you very much, and hope to see you soon.