A MOTHER'S FOOTNOTE :)

In the words of the great apostle John, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 1:4).

I think this might be my favorite picture from his mission. My son has worn through the soles of his shoes in service to the Lord. It doesn't get better than this as a parent, does it? Maybe it does, but I truly can't contain my joy in this moment.

May 30, 2016 - Service project and the path to baptism

This week flew by!!!!!!!   We got some more baptisms this week, also the Hermanas baptized this week as well!

This week we did a service project as well. We had to bring down a huge cement wall, about 20 feet in width, and 13 feet high!  It was a ton of fun, I basically just got to use a 15 pound sledgehammer, and a lever to bring this thing down!!! What we would do is put a couple of weak spots in it, start rocking it back and forth, and then pull certain sections down.  I made sure to always jump out of the way so no need to worry!  After all this time of only reading and writing, my hands have gone super soft!  Its no fun!  By the end of the project had a ton of calluses that had burst on my hands.......

The Hermanas in my district are finally all healthy again, and none of them are sick! So that makes everyone a whole lot happier.  They also have a lot of people lined up for this next month!  We're going into June now! The last month before we get a new president......
  

Hope all is well back at home!  Hope you guys are steadily coming unto Christ.  I promise you, you cant find any other path that will bring you greater happiness than the path that He has laid down for us.  There is only one path that can bring us back home to the Heavens.  Only one door that can allow you into this path. That door, is the door of baptism by Immersion, for the Remission of sins.

There is only one proper way to be baptized.  If you do not choose to be baptized by immersion, by someone who has the Proper Authority of God, you can not into our Celestial Home.  There is only one Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism.  I am always here to answer your questions, if you have anything that you have had difficulty trying to understand, or have no idea what something about God is, ask me.  I would love to help you find your answers.

Love,

Elder Pettingill

May 23, 2016 - Questions for you...

Hey guys!!!

Another week has passed and gone, and this month is almost over......  Only got one more week to finish our goals for this month, so we all got to step it up a notch!

This past week was pretty good, we had two baptisms this past week in my district, one from my area!!!  Shes a lady from the Reservation, the Aunt of one of the kids who recently baptized! Hoping her sisters are coming pretty soon!

So its still pretty hot out here.  Like super hot!  However there's a nice breeze always blowing, and it helps cool things down a lot when we're walking everywhere, except for when we're sitting in a smelly, super hot bus.  

Learning a lot out here about goal setting and having a vision for where your going!  We're working a lot with the ward in re-activation, and the ward is starting to get more excited for Missionary work!

  

Ok, so I want to ask you guys some questions, and yes, I do expect you to answer them! :D  For the members out there.... What are you doing to help build Gods Kingdom?  How many converts are you going to bring to God this next month?  Which Non-Active members are you visiting with consistantly?

Now for those who still need to Baptize......  Why havent you baptized yet?!?!?!  What is of greatest worth here in this world?  What are you doing to to prepare for the future? Why aren't you talking with the missionaries over there in the states?!?

I love you all back at home.  Want you all to know that there is nothing that brings me greater joy than to see my friends come unto Christ, here in Mexico, and back there in the States.  

Love you all,

Elder Pettingill (o mi nombre en español......  Elder Acariciando Escamas)

May 16, 2016 - Testimony

Baptism of 'his kids'

Ok, I'm going to be very direct in this email.  As we learn in Ephesians 4:5, there is only One Lord, One Faith, and One Baptism.

There is only one God, who holds the truth of all things.  He only has one truth, and it is His.  It does not change, it has always been the same, and always will be same.  He will tell this same truth to every single prophet and person that has or will live on Earth.  

 

Because he is the same God for every single person here on Earth, there is only One Faith.  There should only be ONE faith.  Because God tells this same truth, to every prophet that has preached of him throughout the ages, there is only One religion throughout all the Earth, that has the knowledge on how we can return to our home in Heaven.  The fact that there are thousands of different religions in the world is Gods fault, its the fault of Man.  Just because man has changed what God has said, doesnt mean that God conforms to the image that man has portrayed of him, He continues being the same.  

Hebrews 13:8- God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  He has always taught of the same path that leads to Heaven. There is no other path, there will never be another path that leads to Heaven then the one that He has given to every one of his children throughout all of time.  There is only one true religion throughout all the earth.  Only one path leads directly to our Father in Heaven, and he has shown that path through His Son, Jesus Christ, and through all of the prophets.  They all taught the exact same thing, which is that to enter into Heaven, you have to be baptized by His proper Authority.  If you are not baptized by someone that has His Authority, you have never been baptized.  It is as simple as that.  

 

There is only one church here on Earth that has His proper Authority to baptize in his name.  My invitation to you is to make sure that you find that Church, so that you can be enter into His path that He has set for us.  Only on this path can you find true happiness. Only on this path can you find ever-lasting Happiness.  It is possible to find this path out of the thousands of inviting false paths in our world. ´Ask and ye shall receive, knock and it shall be opened unto you´´If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men Liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.´

 

If you have not found this path of which I speak, search for it.  Ask God for help in finding it, and you will eventually find it.  If you have strayed from this path, diligently strive to come back unto God.  I wish for everyone one of you to have the same fullness of joy that I have here in the Gospel.  Diligently strive to fulfil Gods Will, and you will see that your life will have so much more meaning than it had before. I know for a fact that these things that I have said are true. I have seen it bless many lives here in Mexico, and I continue to see it bless even more.  I love you all, and wish you the best, and I share these things in the sacred name of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

May 9, 2016 - Tauramarens

I feel like I'm melting out here in Mexico..... and the worst part is that its only going to get hotter!  Thankfully this will be the last summer that I will have to endure out here in Mexico!!!

This week went really great!  Mis niños se bautizaron!!!!  My kids baptized!!!  Not all of them, only the ones who really wanted to, there were 6 of them (sorry forgot my camera today) and they are all really cool!  All these kids are from an Indian reservation here in Cuauhtemoc, and the circumstances that they live in is really humbling.  Its  just super simple apartments with a futbal field and a place to wash your clothes outside.  These kids are basically growing up in the ghetto of the ghettos, but they're enjoying church more and more every time they go!  Yes we still pile them all into a truck or mini van every time we go to church, its really crazy (and really smelly... Did I forget to mention that tauramarens bathe like 1 a month?)  We are still working on the parents in this small reservation, but its coming along great and everyone seems to love us!!!!!!  We had a huge water fight like 2 weeks ago with all the kids, me and my comp got SOAKED, but it was absolutely worth it.  The kids are opening doors for us to the parents, and its really awesome!

Before I go on, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to my Wonderful Mother!!!!!!!  She's the best mom any son could ask for, and thank you so much for everything you have done for me mom!!! 

It was great talking with the family over skype yesterday, my sisters are growing up so much!  Mom and Dad still look as young as ever, y mi chiko perrito is still as crazy as ever!!!!  I'm happy with all that's going on here in the mission, and I'm going to keep pressing forward diligently and being the missionary God wants me to be!!!!!!!

Siempre Fuerte, 

Elder Pettingill

May 2, 2016 - Super Hot!

Hanging with Elder Larsen again :)

This past week went super awesome!   The only problems that we're having is that the misionaras in our district are having trouble getting investigators to church!  We're working with them on that, and this next week should be a whole lot better!

In other news, Its SUPER HOT!  And I'm dying out here, but its all good!!!!!!!  Me and my comp are working great with each other, we're a really good team. and we should have a TON of baptisms this week, I hope. We'll see!

Love you all, 

Elder Pettingill

April 25, 2016 - The Light of Christ and Videos

All right guys this week has been another blast out here in the vineyard of the Lord!

This past week, was a lot of lessons, a lot of learning and a lot of walking.  Its been pretty hot out here, however we luckily had a couple of days of rain!  That was super nice, but also surprising! We were just walking out in the middle of nowhere when the rain came down and started to soak us!  By the time we got back to house, we were pretty wet, but it was nice to have a change in weather. 

Everything is pretty much going the same out here.  We´re teaching by the Spirit, and finding new people all the time.  My comp and I are really getting along, and always thinking of new ways to help our district grow and become better!  We´re actually gaining 2 new Hermanas in our district now, and another one is getting changed today!  We´re hoping that with these changes, we're going to start seeing a whole lot more fruits in our branch, cause we've got a whole lot of potential, we just got to start working for it!

So this past week we had a training meeting where we talked about the Light of Christ.  There's a difference between the Light of Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  These 2 influences both lead and guide us to do the right thing, and los dos have different roles. What I want to focus more on is the Light of Christ right now......  The best definition of this is found in DyC 88:11-13 which reads  

11 And the light which shineth, which giveth you light, is through him who enlighteneth your eyes, which is the same light that quickeneth your understandings;

12 Which light proceedeth forth from the presence of God to fill the immensity of space—

 13 The light which is in all things, which giveth life to all things, which is the law by which all things are governed, even the power of God who sitteth upon his throne, who is in the bosom of eternity, who is in the midst of all things.

The Light of Christ is basically the influence of Christ that guides every man women and child to do what is right.  A manifestation of this light is that of our conscience of what is right and wrong.  Our light can grow and change, however it can also diminish, and darken.  I could tell you why its important, I could tell you why we always need to be increasing the light we have in our lives, however you have the scriptures, and I don't want to take away the opportunity for you to find the answer for yourself, to grow and to gain more light in your lives.  I will give you suggestions though, study Dyc 93, DyC 88 Romans 13:12 and Mathew 6:22.

Also go and watch these videos that I put a link to on the bottom, start with the first and finish with the last in the series.

I love you all, and I wish you all the best, and until next week...

Elder Pettingill

http://www.mormonchannel.org/watch/series/mormon-messages/patterns-of-light-the-light-of-christ-1

April 18, 2016 - It's getting hot!

This week has been going great!  We´ve been working on a a lot of new ways to find new investigators, and to get our current ones even more excited for baptism, and we've found a lot!  We´ve recently been helping a lot of new kids start getting ready for baptism, we´ve been teaching them, playing soccer, and just being good friends.  Its actually pretty funny, this last Sunday we just pulled up to their apartment complex, honked our horn 3 times, and all the kids and a couple adults all came running out and started piling into our truck!  I´ll take some photos this week, but it's all going pretty awesome!

We've been having a lot of activities that we've been helping out with, and My comp and I are basically in charge of running all the mission activities that we have every 2 weeks on Wednesday.  This last Wednesday we had a small turnout, but it was a BIG hit!  We basically just had a bunch of small silly little competitions as a branch, and everybody was hooting and hollering and having a great time.  I had to cook 80 hotdogs though.  That wasn't fun.   We used it for a hotdog eating contest. 

 

We're still going around, interviewing the investigators of the hermanas, and they are all getting closer to bautismo!  One of them is getting baptized this week, and then another of ours is baptizing as well.  

 

My comp and are I getting along great, we've finally got everything figured out as new district leaders, and the only thing that's going on is that its getting really HOT here!!!!!!!!  WOW!!!!  No me gusta el calor!  The only good thing about all this is that now that its not so cold in the mornings, I'm working out a whole lot better, and I've lost a ton of weight!  I'm actually skinny now.....  I had to go buy new pants and new shirts!  

 

This is going to be a nice long hot summer, but at least I only have to go through it once ;)  Next week I'll have a year in the mission.......

 

Elder Pettingill

April 11, 2016 - Too busy to write home???

Hey! Sorry no time to write! Baptizms this week, muchos!!!!!   Had to be in the hermanas area for a ton of interviews, but everything's looking great!

Oh and I learned how to make tamales!!!!! 

April 4, 2016 - David giving his mother a heart attack...

Yes, he does own shoe polish...

Beautiful views in Cuauhtémoc

Ustedes quierren una carta en español?  Seria muy fácil para mi a poner lo en español, y decir les como le fue mi semana, y todo de los locos aventuras que hemos tenido acá en México!

But, I don't think any of you would like that, so Ill just stick to english for you!!!

 

Hola mi Familia Y Amigos!!!!

 

Hows it going with everyone at home??  You guys all watch General Conference???  Wow!  That session was a POWERFUL session!!!!  My favorite sessions were in Saturday!  Those two sessions during the day, and especially the Priesthood Session at night!!  I´ve learned a ton about following the Spirit, exercising the Priesthood, and so much more!  If you didn´t get the chance to watch Conference, go and watch it at lds.org, and your mind will be blown!

 

How grateful are we that we have a modern day prophet here on earth, who guides us through the paths of mortality back to our Father in Heaven?

 

So this week has been a crazy week of preparing for this upcoming week!  Me and my comp are effectively super missionaries, going from one area to the next to help the Hermanas get people ready for baptism, and to make sure everything is going smoothly!  We hardly have time to be in our own area, but the amazing thing is that we´re still finding a lot of new people to teach!  There are so many escogidos here in Cuauhtemoc, and honestly, I would love to serve my whole mission here in this small city! 

 

I haven´t had any troubles with dogs for a LONG time now, which is a little sketchy... I'm kinda waiting to see what the next kind of trouble will be.... Guess what??? I'm friends with the Narcos here!!!  We´ve been meeting a lot of Narcos here recently, (No not cholos, or gangsters, Narcos) and they´re actually pretty cool! 

 

Funny story, we met a Narco at his house one night, and he came out to talk to us and everything.  (They have a rule where they always have to wear a handkerchief over their nose and mouth) and he was telling us how he'd like to learn from us, but he was going back to his fields the next day for another 7 month tour over there.  That kinda bummed us all out, and then I had the bright idea to ask why he had to always wear that handkerchief around his mouth all the time.  He said you want to know?  Hang on a sec and I'll be right back (obviously this is the English translation of what he said).  He went inside his house and me and my comp looked at each other and said to the other, ¨he's coming back with a gun isn't he?¨ We were really freaked out, but couldn't run cause we were far from the door, so I was getting ready to use my scriptures as an ¨Iron Rod¨ (Haha get the joke?) and try to get out of there alive.  Thankfully he just comes out with a phone and begins to show us a bunch of pictures on his ¨ranch¨ out in the Sierra.  He had some pretty sick pics of him and his AK47, and a beautiful garden of Marijuana.  It would make many Coloradans very jealous.  We oooed and awwwed, said goodbye, then High tailed it out of there!!!

 

Hope you guys have a great week!

Elder Pettingill