Tuesday, November 24, 2009

November 23, 2009

Friends,

This week had it's ups and downs as we had the baptism and confirmation of what was a miracle investigator but we also didn't have the best day at church due to the fact that we had a ward activity where every member was to try to bring an investigator. It had been announced several times over the pulpit and we saw many who said they had already invited and committed their friend or neighbor to come. Well the activity, in all honesty didn't turn out so great and since we had focused on visiting less actives to invite them to the activity it also didn't help on Sunday but it's all part of being here and pushing. We did have an incredible conference with the Area President who taught us a remarkable new way to contact people in the streets so I know that that will help us dramatically as a mission. That's really all for this week. Sorry it's short but I hope you all have a good week and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving! Thankfully, this year I won't be eating 4 thanksgiving meals!!!

Elder Dan Israel Lopez

November 16, 2009

Friends,

I hope that you all had a great week! To Sarah Runyan……….I believe you are leaving this week? I truly wish you the best and it´ll be awesome to be able to speak to another friend in Spanish! Don´t worry, it´s really not that hard….ha ha, just study and pray…a lot. I don´t know anything about Argentina other than they eat a lot of meat and have a strange accent but I´m sure you´ll love every minute of the experience. May God bless you in all that you do to help our brothers and sisters down there come to the light of the Gospel!

Alright well, some news…..I am no longer translating the talk given by Elder Holland because Salt Lake City decided to do it but not tell us so that we could spend more than four hours on it. Oh well, I am still very glad that I have my hands on it before the rest of the mission. I guess the plan is to “unravel” it in December, just in time for the multi-zone conferences and trip to the temple! I am quite excited to be able to return to the temple. We often have to go to the temple square, but not inside. It´s something that only happens once a year and it´s almost that time of year….again!

Tomorrow I hit 14 months and I feel as if I´m getting older and older by the minute! I remember being “green” and now I´m definitely getting up there in “age.” Fortunately there is still time to be here in the work of the Lord. It was a lot better this week because we had a lot more people at church and quite a few we didn't expect so we have more work to do this week…but that´s definitely a good thing. I hope you all have an incredible week thanks again for your letters and your prayers.

Elder Dan Israel Lopez

November 9, 2009

Friends,

Another quick letter this week. Don't have much time due to the fact that I had to go to the mission offices. President asked me a few weeks ago to help translate an incredible talk on the topic of Teaching by the Spirit since the SLC Headquarters had already told him they would not be translating it. I teamed up with Elder Lechuga (Lettuce :D) and we worked for almost 4 hours on just 3 pages of a 12 page talk! We have quite a bit of work ahead of us and I`ll be going back again next Monday but I know that it is of great importance because it will be something that will dramatically improve the results of having the Spirit in every companionship. I hope you have a great week and I appreciate your letters and support, as always. Until next week!

Elder Dan Israel Lopez

November 2, 2009

Friends,
I apologize but today I have hardly any time to write. It was a good week, we found quite a few more good people. Unfortunately hardly any went to church but we had a little miracle. At church a woman walked in with church attire that we didn't pay much attention to, but another member talked to her and learned she was not actually a member and she had come to visit because of recent problems in her life and her brother had told her that when he went to church, a while back, he felt a lot of peace. We were pretty thankful to the Lord for blessing us with her visit especially since almost all of our new investigators didn't come to church, but I know that we must be tried and be patient through all of it and that the Lord blesses us when we endure. That`s my short email…..I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Dan Israel Lopez

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

From Dan's Mom

Dear Friends and Family,

I want to share this pictures that were sent to me by sister Ana Silvia Diaz who is a member of the church and live in Ixtapaluca, Estado de Mexico where Elder Lopez was serving a couple of months ago and from whom I got to get to know Ana Silvia. It has been a blessing to be able to communicate with members of the wards where Elder Lopez has been serving. Ana Silvia works for a big newspaper company in Mexico City and she receives all this pictures and information directly from the reporters. She knows of my passion to share every bit of my culture with all my friends and family and because of that I'm sharing this AMAZING!!! pictures with you where you can get a glimpse of the preparations and the way we celebrate the" Day of the Death" in Mexico. The first one shows Mexico City in a very rare picture where you can actually see the volcanos because due to the pollution you don't have this opportunity very often. The rest are different pictures taken around the country that capture the celebration of the "Day of the Death".

October 12, 2009

Friends,
Greetings from Aztec City, Mexico! I'm sure, by now, that the cold weather is starting to settle and that the snow will soon start to come. It's true, I don't particularly like driving in Snow, but how I love to watch it fall how everything looks amazingly calm and, of course, white. I definitely miss the snow. Here, hot weather is dominating the forecast, but hopefully it will last just this week because the cold is coming soon here too. Of course, it doesn't compare with the cold of Utah, but they say that it's cloudy every day, which makes for a gloomy winter. I can't think of a better way to spend a gloomy winter, than by proclaiming a Gospel which fills people with light and this week we found many people that committed to go to church. The unfortunate news is that only one of those actually made it. There are always ups and downs but I'm old enough in the mission now, to know that I simply need to keep moving along and I know that the Lord will bless me and my companion with success as we do so. We are excited for this next week because our land lord, after a miracle appearance at church last week has accepted her baptismal interview and admitted to us that she felt no need to pray to know if our message was true, because she already knew three years ago when we moved in and her brother was converted. I ask that you pray for her so that nothing can impede her progress. I wish you all the best this week. Until next week……..