January 25, 2016 - Hangin' in there!

Hey guys, its your favorite Mexican Missionary otra vec!!!!!!!

Hmmmm, what happened this week........  This week we actually didn't have much time to work in our own area.  Since my comp is district leader, we had to go around and help the other people in our district with some of their investigators since they were going to get baptized this week.  I had the opportunity to baptize one of them, so that was great!  

 

On Friday we called a bunch of members and found one who wanted to spend the day with us, so we did divisions and I went off with him in my area, while my comp stayed with the Zone Leaders. He was looking for more members to split off with, but couldn´t find any.  Anyway, this day we were meeting with the Menonites, so that was great.  We got two families over there who are actually pretty interested, which is more than we thought we would have!

 

Jorge and his family are doing awesome!  My comp and I are basically part of their family now, and they cook super awesome!  Every time we go they offer us food, or fresh baked cookies, stuff like that! They're progressing a lot, and enjoy learning from us!  The ward here is going to the temple this next week, and this family was asking us about the temple and stuff and so it was a wonderful discussion about the temple, authority, and the Doctrine of Christ.

 

We also received training from the Missionary Department back in Utah.  This training was for all the missionaries in the whole world!  It was super awesome, and I learned a lot.  Basically the main focus is teach repentance and baptize converts, and they taught us how to be better missionaries. I learned a lot, and and am applying what  I learned, and can really see the difference!  Sorry this letter is so short!!!!  Hope you guys like the picture of me almost falling off the bridge!!!

January 18, 2016 - Just another normal Mormon... :)

Giant Cactus!

Lunch in the streets of Cuahtemoc

P Day at Lookout point in Cuahtemoc

Alright guys, this week nothing too exciting happened, just a lot of good stuff for the people we are teaching!!!!!

So to start off, my foot is doing a whole lot better!  I can do a limp run, and walking is back to normal!  Still black, but its getting better!

This week was great!  Our investigators are doing great!  

So you guys remember a guy named Jorge who I met back in my last area? The one who speaks English and knows everything we're teaching to him is true?  Well, it just so happens that I was put into the area where his family lives, so I've been teaching them and everything is going great!  These guys love the church now, and are learning so much!  However, with the mother, it was an increeeeeeedibly hard beginning!  She has a super evil Pastor, who preaches all sorts of falsehoods against our church (against the Mormons).  Anyway, she had a whole lot of bad ideas about the Church, the top one being that we all have 10 wives.  She is the most stubborn lady I have ever met.  She wouldn't listen to anything I said!  I showed her pictures of my family, (No we don't have 10 wives), I would show her scriptures in the Book of Mormon that literally say you can't have more than one wife, and explained the law of chastity to her and everything!  Even after all that, she still would not listen to me!!!  I finally got two different members (wife and husband) to come visit her, and she started listening after the 2nd couple.  Then finally went to church this past Sunday and learned for herself that 1. We don't have more than one wife. 2. We Mormons are actually pretty normal!  They really enjoyed Church (Even though they missed the first hour (the best hour)).  They're going to keep´coming, and they're really enjoying everything they're learning!  I don't know why they wouldn't though since its all true and from God.....

Another family we're teaching is doing great! We've taught them for about 2 weeks now, and they love all the changes that are happening in their lives!  They've gotten rid of smoking, and drinking, and they love the hot chocolate that we gave them!

Now, onto the Menonitas!!!!!!   The more I learn about them, the more I cant stop thinking about them!  They are soooooooooo incredibly ready to hear the gospel!!!!! I visited them again this past Saturday with a member.  We were in divisions this day, and my comp and I both had a member with us!  This time I went to the Menonites, I wasn't rejected once!!!!  I just went from house to house, and was just chatting with them, trying to establish a little bit of trust (and let them know I wasn't part of Jehovah's Witness) and then starting asking about their religion, and talking about mine.  A lot of them are willing for me to come back and chat with them some more!  The last family I talked to before I had to head back to town, accepted Das Buch Mormon (The Book of Mormon) and is going to read it!  These guys seriously are the Lamanites in our modern days!!!!!

Later that day I was talking with some of the Bishops, and apparently there was a huge effort 2 years ago to preach to these guys. All the members were working together on it, the Mission President was over there preaching to them, and even a member of the Quorum of the 70 was there preaching to them!!!  Apparently they didn't have any success. There was one person who was close to baptizing, but didn't do it. I guess all these guys were just sowing the seeds for me to reap! ;)  I also got a couple references for members who were closely involved with this work, so I'm working on finding their numbers and getting some references of the Menonites who were being worked with!

I've always loved a good challenge, and I'm not going to let anything stop me!  Not even the fact that some of them don't even speak Spanish!  I'm kinda learning German, but we'll see where this path goes!  Hopefully it doesn't lead to any more Bear Dogs......

I know that nothing is impossible when we have God on our side working with us!  God loves every single one of us, and wants us all to be able to return to him in Heaven!  Even big scary Germans!

Love you guys and hope all is well with you!

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

January 11, 2016 - A German Colony, a bear, and my comp almost got electrocuted

Selfie in the streets

Amber waves of grain

Field of dreams

An actual clean river in Mexico

Hey all!!!!!! So this week has been crazy awesome!!!!  

So it started off by taking a lot of pain medication to get through the days, but my foot is a whole lot better! Just a little black and blue, and I'm not taking any pain medication anymore.  Its just annoying me now.  

Other than that, we're doing super awesome!  Elder Hansen and I work together great!  We're working on unity in our lessons, and we're teaching good lessons, finding a lot of people, and bringing a lot of people to church!  We're kicking but as comps, and the only problem that we've found difficult to overcome here are the Menonitas!

 

Ok so the Menonitas are colonies of people from Germany who settled here a loooooong time ago in the past.  They mainly speak German, some Spanish, and some of them even speak English.  Their culture is incredibly based on God.  Basically, think of white Amish people here in Mexico (but big scary German people) and that's them.  They have a strong faith in what they believe, and they pressure all the other people in their community to believe in the same thing.  That's why, there's never been a Menonita baptized here in Chihuahua.  Because it's literally their way of life, and any change means they become outcast from their society. 

 

Me and my comp went and visited them this past Friday, and guys, I litteraly left Mexico.   We had to walk an hour to get to their colonies (yes it was in my area) and we had to walk through corn fields, potato fields and cross a river to get there.  (THE RIVER WAS ACTUALLY CLEAN!!!!) The first ever clean river I've seen in Mexico! (I can see a few baptisms in there.... maybe)  When we got there, there was nice green grass, beautiful white man houses (like back at home) and the first door we knocked on a little white boy with blond hair and blue eyes pressed his face up against the glass!  I wasn't in Mexico anymore!!!!!! It was so weird.  

 

We were rejected by 4 out of the 6 families we talked with (It was getting dark and we had to hitch hike back into town).  Their culture is interesting, they don't believe in baby baptisms like the Catholics, but they 'baptize' in the same way as the Catholics.  The most important things in life to them, is God first, then Work. and that's it.

 

 

Funny story now........  We saw this one guy about our age working in the back of a barn, so we called out to him and started walking to him. As we get closer, a little itty bitty chihuahua comes out yipping and yapping at us trying to scare us off.  We laugh at it and keep walking, then charging from out behind the neighbors barn comes the biggest dog I have ever seen in my life!!! It literally looked like a BEAR!!!!!  At this moment, it was every man for himself, me and my comp split up running in different directions. I happened to see the electric wire that was over the ground though, and I jumped over it, but my comp didn't see it.  He trips over this wire, and breaks it and this wire goes flying in the air and wraps itself around the Bear that was coming to eat us.  The dog starts yipping and yapping as if the world was ending, runs blindly into the wall of the barn, and runs behind the barn yapping the whole time! The wire being trailed behind him like a leash, and then finally the electric box it was attached to falls off the barn, and is dragged behind - following the dog.  

I thought I was going to die.  So did my comp.  It was absolutely crazy!!!  We then contacted the farmer kid, and left.

 

I like to think of these Menonitas like the Lamanites of old!  In Jacob (In the book of Mormon), it talks about how every attempt to bring them to the gospel was in vain.... However, when the Sons of Mosiah (later on in the BOM) leave to go preach to the laminites, they were able to bring thousands unto God!  Sooooooo, I think its time that the Menonites had a change in religion and culture ;)

 

Love you guys so much!!!!  You all are always in my prayers, and I hope all goes well with you!!!!

 

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

January 4, 2016 - An almost broken foot and Acupuncture

David got acupuncture!

David in the medical center

David in the hospital

Hey guys!!!! Happy New Years!!!!

I almost broke my ankle!!!!!!!!  I was messing around with my companion, and I wasn't really paying attention to the fact that there was a curb, and welllllllll I went to the hospital the next day to make sure it wasn`t broken.  My ankle literally looked like a baseball!  We actually thought that somehow the bone had come dislocated and was off to the side..... Ya, I was freaking out.  I was thinking to myself, "I just barely got back! Now I'm going to have to go home for another 6 weeks!!!!!!" Luckily that wasn't the case.  The x-rays didn't show any fractures, or anything weird with my ankle, so the doc said that it was just a super bad sprain.  I couldn't walk on it or anything it was so bad!  So he gave me some cream to help with the inflammation, and some pain pills and then wrapped it in some bandages.  He asked if I wanted a cast for it and I was like NO!

Anyway, I was on crutches these past two days so I could get around, and today it still hurts, still pretty swollen and blue, but I can walk again!!!!  Back to the missionary work!!!!

So I'm in a new area called Cuauhtemoc now!  Its a super rural area, (kinda how I thought Mexico would be like when I first opened my mission call) and its super cold and super windy!  There's also a lot of natives here, its super awesome.  They are literally living proof that this gospel is true!!!!   So their God is called, Unuruami, an ancient white god that came and visited their Grandfathers here in the Americas (Definitely has nooooooooooooooooo conection to Christ coming to the Americas (Hint on Sarcasm))  and their faith in him is super strong.  They know this god Is Jesus the Christ, when I show them a picture of Christ being baptized, or of when he came to visit the Americas!  The Gospel is true my friends!!!

The only bad thing about this area is the relationship between the missionaries and the members.  In the past the missionaries here in Cuauhtemoc have been super disobedient and didn't really care about much, and they kinda ruined the relationship with the members.  There's a lot to fix here, but I`m definitely ready for the challenge!!!  I`ve already talked with the District President, and some of the branch presidents here and we`re all meeting this Wednesday to see what we can do about making Cuauhtmoc a whole lot better all around!  

My new comp is Elder Hansen! He's a district leader for the missionaries here, and he's a super hard worker!  We're definitley going to be kicking butt here together!  We get a long pretty well too!

Oh also to explain that one pic I'm sending, there's this really cool member here who loves the missionaries here and he offered me acupuncture for free (its his business) to help with my ankle!  It was super weird being stuck with a whole bunch of needles.......  I had like 20 needles in me at once!!!!!  It was super cool.  Have a great year guys, and be safe!!!!!

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

December 28, 2015 - It snowed in Chihuahua & a transfer

Christmas presents! :)

Pinata for party at the apartment

Hanging out with the zone

Big fun in Chihuahua :)

Made my first cake!

Ive got changes again!!!!!  Im getting changed to a place called Cuahtemoc!!!!!  Ive heard that they've got a ton of snow there, and that its a lot like Colorado!!!!!  I don't know who my comp will be yet, but its going to be fun!!!!!

I'm definitely going to miss this area though, and everyone who I got to work with and grow close with!  There are a lot of members,  a lot of investigators who were amazing, and I'm looking forward to visiting here after my mission (In the future of course).  I can at least say that I'm leaving this place a whole lot better than how I had found it!  

So on Monday, we had a big zone activity, we all played soccer!  It was great! The only sad (funny) thing is that my comp broke his hand!  So we didn't go to the hospital till Wednesday though, and he had to get a cast!  Then even worse yet, my comp got really sick the next day, and so we had to go to the hospital the next day again!  After we got back he slept all day and so I made a cake, napped, and deep cleaned our house for the party we were going to have!  We had a total of 8 elders in the house that night and it was crazy!  I had a bought the cheapest pinata I could find (30 pesos) and it was practically indestructible! We ended up having a small fight night after that,  (Of course I totally destroyed!!!)  

Christmas day was great, we got skype our families, and my family is doing awesome as always!  Last year they barely had internet so we couldn't really talk, but this time it was all perfect!  

This week has been pretty wonderful in focusing on Christ.  I've been reading in Jesus the Christ about his birth and him growing up and everything and I'm really starting to understand him a whole lot better, and feel a whole lot closer him!

It's been getting pretty cold here, and even has snowed these past couple days!!!!  Apparently it hasn't done that in 5 years, so I feel pretty blessed to be here during this time!!!!  

I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas!!!!!  Tell me about how your Christmas went!  Any good spiritual experiences happen to you recently? Do you have any questions that you would like me to answer for you? 

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

December 21, 2015 Christmas party!

David with a bunch of mission buddies

David with current trainee and past trainer

David with President and Sister Chavez

Feliz Navidad mi familia y Amigos!!!!!!!

To answer some of your questions last that I got from this last week, no I am not shrinking, and my hair isn`t going blond......   Haha that was a picture from my zone, and my zone has a lot of giants in it!!!!   Then in the other one the lighting was just being funny I guess!

So this week has been a crazy week!!!!!  First off this past Wednesday was our Christmas party as a mission!  It was awesome! I got a pic with the person who trained me, and with the person I'm training!  Then the other pic is of my Mission President and his wife!  They are awesome people who really help us out in everything we do!  We ate a lot of Turkey, cake, stuffing, mashed potatos, and it was all great!

So working with the members so much has actually really worked out really well with our investigators!  Everyone is a whole lot more excited in going to church, and the investigators feel more at home now!  Everyone has a baptismal date, now they just got to keep on learning and coming to church!  I also have two new investigators who really want to get baptized, they just need to get married first.  So I´m learning how to marry people now!!!!  It`s actually kinda easy here, just a lot of paper work and money.....

Super excited for Christmas this week!!!  I want you guys to think about what your going to give Christ for Christmas this year. Hope all is going well with you guys back at home!!!! Feliz Navidad!!!! Espero que su semana va a ser muy especial!!!!

December 14, 2015 - new Temple in Mexico dedicated (Tijuana)!

David is a blonde??

David with his zone at training in Chihuahua

So this week not really much interesting happened!  We're all here just preaching and teaching and doing what the Lord would have us do, so its all pretty awesome!  Tonetiuh and Francia are coming along great!  And we have a lot of other investigators progressing rapidly!!!!!

We did have a temple dedicated here in Mexico though (Tijuana)!  We got to watch the Cultural Event, and also the three dedicatory sessions! It was awesome!  We have one more temple here on Earth to complete all the ordinances of salvation that are necessary, and it to have eternal families!!!  You guys back in the states are lucky to have a temple so close to you!!  Take every opportunity to go to the temple that you have!!!!

 

It was also really cool watching Pres Uchtdorf and another Elder Oaks of the quorum of the twelve apostles trying to speak spanish!  They had translators with them, so they gave most of their talks in english, but they memorized certain parts in spanish for the people here.  Honestly it was interesting seeing them have difficulty with spanish, but the fact that they memorized all that spanish for the people here really showed how much they love the people of the Church.  It was another testimony to me that they truly are apostles of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  It was also kinda funny, they can be pretty humorous when they want to be!

  

I'll try to take more pictures this next week!

 

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

December 7, 2015 - Priesthood blessings

Hola mi amigos y familia!!!

We´ve found a lot of people who have been prepared by the Lord this week, and everything is going great! We´ve got a lot to do now, we´re the only missionaries in this ward now, and our area is huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge!!!!  Think of like all of Castle Rock, including Sedalia reaching to about the foot of the mountains, and thats how big my area is now.  We can only get around on foot too, so its soooooo much fun.  We take buses though when we need to, and the members are starting to get more excited about missionary work, and are working with us more! (Which means we get rides everywhere when we have appointments.)  Also its stopped raining, and just getting colder now!

This past week has been awesome!  We found a guy on the side of the road selling wood,and hes digging into the church!  His name is Jorge, and hes getting his family in another city to invesstigate the church as well, hes the happiest guy Ive met!  His first language is english as well, so my comp and I love going to visit him.

 

We also have another awesome investigator named Sandra who we just started teaching this past Saturday! Shes about 21 years old, and is studying Criminology!!!! Exactly what I want to study when I get back!  Shes also really getting into the church, doesn´t really know anything about God or Jesus Christ or anything, and shes loving everything we´re teaching her!  She went to church, and loved it! Im really proud of the members too, they really befriended her while she was there and she even went to the Christmas Program last night that the church gave!

 

We also found another really cool family.  We went to go visit a contact we had named Norma, and we got there and she said that we couldn´t come in right now cause she had a lot on her hands with stuff, and we were about to leave when she asked if we offered prayers to people.  Of course we do, so she let us in and she started telling us about how she´s been sick for about a month and nothing medicine wise or anything is helping her.  She also asked us to pray for her husband and brother who have some stuff going on.  We explained to her that prayer is a form of communication between us and God, and how when we pray, we're literally talking with our Father in Heaven and that we can ask for blessings, find out answers to questions, give thanks for what we had, and basically say whatever you want to say in the prayer.  We then explained the Priesthood to her, about how the Priesthood is the Authority and Power of God given to man here on earth to bring to pass his eternal works.  Explained how basically its the Keys to the Heavens.  (Its so different explaining this in English).  We told her that we would like to give  her a priesthood blessing of healing, and that this blessing would be brought to pass according to her faith.  We first prayed with her for her brother and husband, then we gave her the blessing, and taught the Evangelio de Jesucristo after that.  We´ve met with her several times now, and she was perfectly fine the next day we came to see her, and now shes bringing all her family to talk with us and we have a lot of hope for all of them now!  

 

Gods Power really is here on earth! We´ve been given the keys to the heavens again, The Holy Priesthood of God!  Only through his authority can baptisms be valid in his eyes, only through his Authority can the true church of God be led!  We are so blessed to live in these days of Prophets, Apostles, who have all the keys of the Priesthood and that we can use this priesthood to bring about the eternal purpose of God here on Earth!!!!

 

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

November 30, 2015 - Flooding and teaching in the streets!

This week was another week of hard work!  We've found a lot of the people that we've been looking for in our registros, and a lot of them are ready for baptism!!!   Hopefully we'll start seeing some baptisms soon, we just got to keep on working on it and keep our investigators on a spiritual high!

This week it was raining practically the entire week!  The streets were basically rivers, and it was a pain trying to figure out how to get across without swimming!  Well, more like getting our feet wet, but it still was interesting finding interesting ways on getting across.  

 

I was attacked by a dog this week!  Haha I just heard a growl then felt a dog trying to bite me, however it only got my pant leg! I had my umbrella in my hand so hit it hard in the head and scared it off!  I've got a hole in those pants now.........  But Im all good, no injuries!  No worries!  I thought it was funny that a dog would think that I would be easy to take me out! 

 

This past week was Thanksgiving?  Wow, that really blew past me!  We haven't had gas in our house for the past week, so we couldn't really cook anything....  Totally forgot we had Thanksgiving this past week!  Hope you guys all had a great one!!!  Now we've got La Navidad coming up!!! Christmas, wooooooooooo!  I love this time of year, especially being here on a Mission.  We have an investigator named Tonetiuh, and he's really come a long way.  He's been looking for The True Church of God for a long time, and had gone to many other churches before, looking for where God was.  He gave up his search a while ago, because he believed that all churches had been created by man, so he didn't want to have any part of it.  Then we came along. He's been digging into the church, really trying to find if its true.  He's felt something different about us (The Spirit of God obviously!!!) and he's continuing investigating.  

 

He said what originally had gotten him interested is the fact that he always saw me and my companion in the streets, talking to everyone we could.  It was obvious that we came from far away, and he and his wife wanted to know what caused such devotion, and why we did what we did.  

 

This is going to be my second Christmas away from home in Mexico, and I'll have one more after that.  I couldn't be happier.  Yes, I miss my family, and yes it's a lot of time away from family.  However sharing my testimony with others, about Jesus Christ, our Savior and Redeemer.  Its difficult to explain in this language the joy that this gives me. I don't believe that there are words enough in Spanish that could explain The joy that comes from preaching, teaching, and seeing others come unto Christ.  Only because of him, can we live throughout the eternity in happiness with our families, all we got to do is a few simple steps. 

 

In the words of the ancient prophet Moroni, 'Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him.'  Search for him, because i'ts only through him that we can have eternal families, and what I'm doing here is helping others do gain the knowledge, and happiness that only comes through the Gospel of Christ.

 

Why do you think the Savior was born?  If your not 100% sure why, come here to this site christmas.mormon.org 

 

Love you guys!  This year I want you to remember why we celebrate Christmas!

 

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

November 23, 2015

David at an investigator's home

David and new companion Elder Larsen

Alright guys! So this week has been great!

We hit the streets hard this week, looking for new people to teach, teaching the people we have, and being the best missionaries we could be! 

Elder Larsen is pretty cool, pretty chill, and his Spanish is pretty good for the little time he has in his mission! He has about 3 months in total.  We've been working on a lot, specifically teaching more unified.  His last trainer hardly ever gave him time to teach, and he's really grown a lot in the past few days now that he's with a trainer who wants him to talk more!  (I'm not saying I don't like teaching, I absolutely love it!  Its more that I want him to be able to grow as much as he can in these last few weeks of his training).

For those of you who don't know what training is, basically once we get to the mission field, we grow through 12 weeks of training (I completed mine back in the first time I was here in Mexico).  These 12 weeks are focused on making the trainee a better teacher, and helping him to learn what an investigator needs to be fully converted unto the Lord.  These trainees are put with another missionary so that they can train this missionary, and still complete all the work that they need to get done out in the field.

The only thing I don't like about training is that we can't leave the house until 12 in the morning.....  Just because by then we'll have completed the training for the day, and go about with the rest of our plans for the day!  (Before when I wasn't training him, Jimenez and I finished our studies by 10:30 , then had the rest of the day to preach the gospel)!

Its starting to get Colder down here!!!!!!! and I lost my light sweaters somewhere in the house.... I literally looked everywhere for them!  I still got my lama jacket though, so its all good!  I also bought another jacket today just so I can have something light to wear.

So we've found a lot of people this week and everything is going great! Though really the only big story I have to share today is kind of a sad one.....  We had this investigator who was coming to church and family home evenings and meeting with us every day.  She had 3 kids, and wanted to be a better example to all them and help them believe in God.  However, every time we tried to teach her she would always be looking around, as if she couldn't wait for us to leave, and always answer the questions as fast as she could, unless it was a question that required her to actually think about an answer, then she would just say I don't know.  We literally tried everything with her, examples, games, stories, I even climbed a telephone pole as if I was about to touch the electric wire to demonstrate faith!!!!  

In the end, she just didn't want to put forth the effort to find God.  She was so close! All she had to do was pray, and she would have received an undeniable revelation that God really was her Father in Heaven, and that He really is there!  

I've seen so many undeniable miracles while I've been here, I know that we have a Father in Heaven who lives, loves, and know each and every one of us.  I know that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins, and that we can rid ourselves of all our sins and guilt through him.  Also I know that the Holy Ghost testifies of both of them, and that through the Holy Ghost each and every one of us can know the truth of the words the Prophets in the times of Old, and the Prophets in our days.  All we have to do is search and ask.  'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.'  

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

November 17, 2015 - I turned 20!

David and his birthday cake :)

Sorry about not writing yesterday!!!!  We had cambios yesterday and we had no time to literally do anything!!!!  Also yesterday was kinda like Independence day for them, so most of the shops were closed....... and your going to have to wait till next week for pictures!    This computer isnt being nice to me.

Guess what??? I'm training now!!!!  My new companion, his name is Elder Larsen, hes from Draper Utah and he has about 3 months and I'm finishing off his training! I'm gonna miss Elder Jimenez, but he's still in my zone, so we'll still get to work together now and then!  Elder Larsen is a great guy, and we're going to kill it here in Girasoles now!!!!  The members are starting to get a whole lot more excited over missionary work now, and are starting to come out with us more often.  We were rejected by a lot of people last week, but we are seeing a lot of miracles! 

Last week I turned 20! I bought a cake and a couple sweet ties to celebrate, I'll send pics next week! 

All in all, we have a lot of new investigators, a lot of them are really cool, and all of them are really pushing hard! 

Its starting to get colder here in Chihuahua!!!  We've had a lot of rain, and everybody is starting to think of Christmas now!!!  The missionaries in my ward have all joined the Christmas Choir, and we're going to be singing in the stake conference down here!  

  Before I send this, I just want to testify of the power of the scriptures.  We had an investigator who's been searching for an answer from God for a while now, praying and fasting, but he never would tell us his question.  Finally he told us, which was Why does god allow me to go through all of these temptations and trials in my life when he has the power to take it all away?  My first thought was of Doctrine and Covenants 122 verse 7.  I've never seen a scripture have more effect over any other person than this verse had over him.  I literally could see understanding spreading through his countenance. He sat down, and did his best to stop his tears from coming out in public (we were in a park).  The Bible, and the Book of Mormon, and all of the words of the prophets, are literally the words of God.  He has sent us his scriptures, so that his words can echo throughout all of time to all the people of the earth.  We are his children, and he has prepared a way for us to return to him, we only have to follow the path he has laid out for us.

 I love all you guys, and hope everything is going great wherever you are!!!!!

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

November 9, 2015 - in Chihuahua

Climbed a mountain in Chihuahua! :)

David on P Day in Chihuahua

Hey guys! Sorry that last weeks letter had no details in it, we had to go to a meeting in 30 mins, and so we barely had enough time to write home.

Ok, so its been a blast being back here in Mexico!!!!   Where should I begin....  I got here and it took a couple hours getting back into things, Spanish wise and all, but by the time I had my interview with the president the next day I was perfectly fine again!!! (My Spanish by now is great, since I'm basically speaking it all the time, only have random words like tire, or mouse, stuff like that, that i need to work on.)

 It is so great being back here in the Mission Field!!!!   So I was assigned to be a companion to a Elder Jiminez, hes from Pueblo Mexico, short, and a pretty chill dude!!!  We have really gotten along, and have been hitting the streets hard to find investigators, and preach the gospel!  We live in a kinda largish smallish house with the other 2 elders in our district, one of them is from Hawaii and the other is from here in Mexico.  We all get along pretty well!  

The people here are nice for the most part.  Most of time when we get rejected they reject us nicely, however we have been yelled at several times.  Which is great for the most part, but the even better part is when actually get to teach!  

We have one person who we've been teaching for a couple days, who already wants to be baptized.  We went over the questions that she was going to be asked in an interview with our leader just so she would know what to expect, and her testimony was beautiful. She was talking about how she wants to be a good example for her family, and that being baptized would set a good one for them. She also talked a little about her past, and how she has a lot that she regrets, but because of Jesus Christ all that regret can now go away.  The Spirit was really strong in the room, and well... It was beautiful. 

Also last Monday we had an activity where we climbed Cerro Grande!  Big Hill in english.  It was fun! We didn't know where the trail was, so we kinda walked up the side of the mountain to get there, which really reminded me of Canyoneering!!!  Haha, it was great, and the view from up on top was beautiful!  Hope everything back home is going great! Love you Guys!!!

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

November 2, 2015 - Return to the Field!

Hey guys!

This has been a pretty crazy and awesome week!  So I got here and stayed the night at the secretary's house and it wasn't until the next day that I met with Elder Jimenez!! He's from Pueblo Mexico and only speaks Spanish, which is fantastic!!!!  We really have gotten along together so far, and its great! 

Ok, so far Ive been working so hard this week that I'm afraid I'll wear out my new shoes in a a couple more weeks if I keep this up.  when I got to my area, i found out that we barely had any investigators and hardly anybody ready to baptize....  Want to know why? Because the elders before me were lazy and didn't work and were disobedient to all of the rules!!!  It took about a day for me to get my bearings, but after that first day I kicked things into motion in my are.

I'm in a small colony called Girasoles!!!  Anyway we started contacting every single person that we saw, and we've gotten over 40 new people this week now.  We've walked just about everywhere looking for people, and after a meeting that we had in our zone, i found out that our goal as a mission is 849 people this month, and our goal as a zone is 134!!!!  WOW!  I had no idea how my area was going to give even 3 this month, until I went through our registro de area and found 13 people old investigators) who are ready to be baptized.  So with them, we have a chance of bringing even more people to the faith this month!  Now don't worry, I'm not focusing on the numbers.  I know that I've been working with the Spirit, and I have faith that if i continue to give the mission my all, the Lord will be with me every step of the way testifying of the words that my compañero and I speak, and that only through him will I be able to bring others to the faith.  Love you all!  Animoooooooooooooooo!  This is the true church of God!!!!!!!!!

Oh! and I climbed a mountain today with my zone!! Love you all!!!

Siempre Fuerte,,,,,,,,,,,,

David Pettingill

(pictures will come once i figure out how to use this camera!)