February 22, 2016 - Very special baptism and a wedding!

Venegas family baptism!

David with Zone leader on Zone leader's bday at Applebee's

Jorge and Yadira Venegas at Applebee's right after their wedding :)

Service project - they moved a pile of rocks from one side to the other so that a house could be built there.

Giant hole in the ground on the way to the Menonites

David and Octavio Marqez

Marquez family

Jorge Venegas at work

This week literally flew by!!!!!!    A lot of this week was just getting everything ready for baptisms again on Saturday, and most everything went great!

This week, we only went to the Menonites once.  Only had time for that.  On our way there though (we have to walk for an hour to get there) we found a GIANT HOLE in the ground!!!!   I'm not talking about a ten foot hole, but like a giant mine!!!! It was probably at least 75 feet deep, and about 100 feet wide!  All man made, with a lot of water at the bottom.  I wouldn't have been surprised if I had gone down there and swam another fifteen feet to the bottom of that pool!  It was awesome, and we still don't know why it was there, or what they used it for.

The German is coming along too! I'm learning it, slowly but surely!  It'll be a while until I can teach in German too, especially since I found out I'm learning higher German, and the Menonites speak lower German (I'm told there's only slight differences).

Everything else is going great!  The investigators are learning, most of them excited about what they're learning, and we`re not having too many problems!  One really cool experience is that I gave a Book of Mormon to an investigator, and found out two days later that she was already in 2 Nephi 14!  She and her family are really coming far!

We got the Mom and Dad married in the family Venegas!  Everything went smoothly and then I took them to Applebees after!!!  I was with the Zone Leader, and it was his birthday too, so it kinda worked out perfectly.  The menus here in Mexico are different! I had a burger that was put between 2 tortillas! It was soooo good!  Jorge and Yadira loved the restaurant too, they had never been there before, and love it now!

The whole family got baptized this week!  This family is incredibly special, and are basically my family too now!  They asked me to baptize all of them, and the Mom also wanted me to confirm her.   They told me later after the baptism, that it was the way that I taught and the way that I approached them that really got them interested in the gospel, and how they came to know it was true.  That definitely didn't help out with my humility, but this family is always going to have a special place in my heart!

This next week we have one baptism lined up for Wednesday!  A fifteen year old girl, named Alejandra! Shes super excited, and the rest of her family are coming along in the teaching!

Oh! Forgot to tell you guys that there is not a single vaccination of Tetanus here in Cuauhtehmoc!  It didn't bother me to much (I was told that it was going to be a really long needle, and a LOT of medication), until I asked the lady what tetanus did to you. I didn't understand her at first, but I understood what she was doing. She was saying that tetanus slowly constricts your nerves until you die.  What more scared me was how she showed me, and the sounds she was making.  It wasn`t pretty.  BUT good news is, is that I'm not dead!!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Haha so that's it for this week! No new injuries!  Feeling great and happy! Love working in the vineyard of our Lord!

Oh, I also need to give a special shout out to my cousin Clifford Pettingill! He finished his misison, and now is off to other things.... Can't say bigger and better, cause there's nothing better than being on a mission!!!!! :D

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

February 15, 2016 - It's only Tetanus... no big deal...

Baptism of Jesus Gil and his son

Valentines treats sent by Mom... what's left of them anyway!

Feliz dia de Amistad y Amor!!!!

This week has been another crazy week of Misionarying!!!  So, first off, as a zone we all played Ultimate Frisbee, which was great! I've missed being able to run around and get super tired and sore, (usually I just walk around and get tired and sore).  That was this last Monday, and that basically started off a week of getting everything ready for a ton of baptism on Saturday.  This whole week was basically going from one place to another, marrying people who needed to get married (they only need to get married if they are living together and aren't already married to their spouse) and fixing problems here and there that came up.

The baptisms were great. The family that was from my and my comps area was a dad and his son, who wanted to get baptized.  The dad is Jesus Gil, and he's had nervous system problems since he was about 26.  It was difficult to get him baptized. I ended up carrying him (really heavy) in and out of the baptismal font to get baptized. We had a teeny tiny chair in the font to get him baptized, and it took two of us to baptize him without drowning him.  The baptism of the son went great, and the rest of the zone was baptizing the rest of the day! I also baptized two of the people in one of the hermanas areas.  It was a perfect day. Everything went great!  Its days like those when you know that the next day is going to be a super difficult day. Which it turned out to be.

On Sunday when we went around in the morning to wake everyone up and make sure they were going to church, I really had to go to the bathroom.  The nice thing about my area, is that there are a lot of abandoned homes, and so when you really got to go, you can just go!  Well, so I went into an abandoned house, and on the way out, I didn't see the nail that was sticking straight up out of the ground, and it kinda went through my shoe and my foot.....  Not all the way through!  It wasn't too bad, but had to go get stuff done so I just kinda forgot about it and kept on working. 

Well after we got most of the people sent off to church, we went to the people who had to go get the Holy Ghost confirmed onto them, and they weren't even ready...  Then their land lord showed up, and blocked us from leaving their apartment with his truck.  I had already been having kinda a bad day, and well to put it lightly, I don't think this man ever expected to see an angry gringo speak Spanish before.  I wasn't too mad, I was just speaking really fast (we were really late) and was annoyed at all the little things that Satan was throwing in our path.

After we finally were on our way to the church, I didn't think anything else could go wrong at this point!  I was so wrong, there was soo much traffic, and then the car broke down in the middle of the street. My comp and I pushed the car about a block, then we all hopped into a taxi, and finally got there! The day was just beginning. 

Everything at this point had calmed down a bit, so I went to call my Mission President for permission to go get a tetanus shot, but he didn't answer so I just left a message. By then word had gotten to the other missionaries that a nail went through my foot, and the hermanas started going on about how I was going to die the next day if I didn't get that shot (not dramatic at all). So we went to all the hospitals looking for a tetanus shot, most of them weren't open, the others didn't have it.  I was told to come back on Monday, and that I had three days until anything bad happened. 

Then I went today!  And, apparently the tetanus shot isn't something that's been distributed here in Cuauhtemoc in a while!!  I seriously doubt it though so I'm going to try a couple other hospitals today to see.  

Ive got three days left to live!!! WOOO!  Haha na, jk guys, don't worry!  They said that if I couldn't find it, I should be fine with washing it with soap and water.

So I know this was a rather long story.....  But the moral is that there are good days, and there are bad days.  There's opposition to all things, how could we learn to enjoy the good, if we never knew what the bad was? 

Love you guys!!!

Siempre Fuerte,

Elder Pettingill

February 8, 2016 - An awesome family and 4 evil dogs

David, Elder Hansen, and the Veniges family

Beware of Dog!

Mi familia y amigos!  Buenas tardes! Espero que todos están bien con ustedes!!!!

 

This week has been another crazy awesome week here in Chihuahua Mexico! A lot is the same as always, but there's always exciting stuff going on down here!

 

So this week we had a LOT of meetings and I got sick.....  So we didn't get to work as much as we wanted too, but, we still got a lot of people progressing so its all good!  Today we also changed our house to a new one because we were getting a lot of mold in the last one... Our old house always had a TON of humidity in it, and was always freezing cold!  No me gusto!

 

So the family Veniges are really progressing a lot!  Always excited to learn more, and always excited to see us!  We're basically part of their family, which is awesome!  We just need to find more families like them now!  We'll see what happens this week!

 

Visited the Menonites again this week.... Not going well, but keep the prayers coming!  Always an adventure going over there though....  This time I was surrounded by 4 evil dogs!  I was pounding on the door to get the old Menonite lady to open it and let us in.  It was a close call.  I'm officially convinced that I have a curse, and my curse is that all dogs wish to eat me.  Though its all good!  I've become an expert in using my bag as a shield, and a club!  Ive had to sew it back together twice now though, so we'll see how much longer it lasts....

 

Also I'm learning a whole lot more about repentance, and baptism, and right now am trying to change up my teaching routine.  We'll see how that goes, but I can tell you that its pretty difficult to get out of a rut when your in it!

 

Keep being awesome my friends!!!!

Elder Pettingill

February 1, 2016 - A truck full of investigators!

Die hard Broncos fan!

A new bike??

Hey guys another week in the mission has passed!!!!!   This past week has been an incredible week of good lessons, of learning and of finding people!

So this past week during my study session in the morning, I came to the conclusion that there are way to many things that I want to study, and not enough time....  So I'm dedicating myself to finishing Jesus the Christ before I start any other book, and also doing my typical studying in the morning to improve my teaching habits!

Other than that, I had no time to go and visit the Menonites this week.  We`re meeting a whole lot of people who are ready and elected to listen to the gospel!  We`re going from lesson to lesson, teaching in the bus, teaching in the streets, and helping people come unto Christ in every moment and in every place!  Its great!

Honestly there's nothing better than a mission!  In contrast to the important things you can do in life, nothing is more important than serving and helping other Children of our Father come unto Christ.  Having a job, winning the lottery, or coming up with the best chili at the local fair has no importance.  The only thing that matters is if we are prepared for the eternities after this life, because this time has been given to us to prepare and show to our Father that we are ready to do all that he has commanded.

In other news, me and my comp have a lot more work than we can handle alone!  We're working really hard with the members here, and we brought a whole crowd of investigators to church in the back of one truck this week!   My comp has the pics, and I'll get it from him for you guys, but it was pretty awesome!  Though we were 30 minutes late to church and kinda of made an entrance with all of these people.........

  

Keep strong!  I hope you all are doing great and working to become a Disciple of Christ in every moment!  

Also hope you all enjoy the SUPER BOWL this next week!  I won't..... But I'll eat a plate of wings that night in memoria!!!!  Also hope you guys like my new bike!

Siempre Fuerte,
Elder Pettingill

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!!!!