We are here to help you teach your friends

This week was a good week, but it was also a pretty rough one as well. 

What did I learn this week? I learned that we just need to have patience with everything, and not get worked up or anything. The Lord always has people prepared to receive the Restored Gospel, and we just need to look for the people and we will find them.

To the members: The responsibility of the missionaries is to help the ward be autosuficiente in the mission work. We are here to help you teach your friends, neighbors and other people. We are all called of God (every single one of us missionaries)--the missionaries that you think are perfect, and the ones that aren't so much. Since we are called of God, He has provided us with many gifts and help aids in these two years.  And all you guys have to do is trust in us. We know what we are doing, and if we don't ,then God will help us with the stuff we don't know.

Also the ward is responsible for reactivating and helping the new members stay active in the church, not the missionaries. It really isn't to hard too do it. You guys just need to do your visits, and fulfill with the calling that you were blessed with. The Lord will bless every single one of us if we are diligent in these things in both things temporal and physical. 

With that being said, it does help to have missionaries that want to work and help you guys fulfill all things. The missionaries (usually) love the wards they are in, and are willing to do anything to make the members happy in the area. I have been experiencing this a lot lately. 

The area that I am in is a pretty hard area, where the members don't really want to do anything--just attend church Sundays and nothing else. It gets me going sometimes, and pushes a lot of my buttons, but at the end of the day I would still do anything to help the members. And many days we have stopped what we were doing and hurried over to their house to help them out with whatever they need, such as painting, shoveling, helping with English, helping them look for their lost kids or runaways. It doesn't matter if its a Wednesday or a Pday, because we are here to help the ward 24/7--not just when its convenient. 

The Lord loves us all and the missionaries are just His hands in the work. We are all going to receive blessings, and we all need to be ready to receive them, and also worthy to get them. 

That's all I got for this week. 

Love you all and have a great week. 

"Church is true--go be awesome."-Anne Bagley

Just working hard..

This week was another pretty good week. Just working hard to try to train my companion, open this area, and a bunch of other stuff. Its pretty funny though because I'm literally doing everything--like every little thing. On top of that. I'm also teaching my comp how to speak English cuz Hna. Palmer has put more emphasis in the language study. 

I am also trying to balance a very prideful sister missionary that's in my district. 

On top of all of that I'm just having a good time not letting anything get to me. 

I had a pretty great interview with President Palmer on Saturday, and I really, really enjoyed it. We were just talking about the work and all of that good stuff, and he asked me about before the mission, and all of that.  I started to tell about how I was not liked before the mission.  I said that some people had told me some stuff before the mission that wasn't very nice and he said, "Man Elder that kinda blows. You should give me their emails and I could write a pretty great email to them." haha  I told that wont be needed. I'm happy with the stuff I'm doing here. It doesn't really matter what other's think. And then he said something that got me pretty hyped. We were talking and he said, "I love the missionary that you've become, and the way you work. You put a lot of Hall into the work and its great. I know God is proud with everything that you've done so far." 

That put me to thinking about my mission, and the missionary that I am. I'm definitely not your typical missionary. And to be honest I don't want to be that cereal box missionary--that's not what I was called to be. I was called to this mission for my personality, and that's how I'm gonna work, and that's who I'm gonna be. I have found that when I try to act like somebody that I'm not then I don't have success.  But when I just kick it back to the old school Tanner (but obedient, of course) I have a lot more success.  But I just try to make everybody I contact, teach, or anything smile and laugh. The work that we do as missionaries is suppose to be fun, and enjoyable and that's what i'm doing. However, its not like we go around just trying to be comics--no not just talking and trying to make the person you're talking to feel like and know that they are important to somebody. Lots of missionaries just get stuck in the routine and look at people as numbers not as children of God. That's a dangerous habit to get into, and hard to get out of. That's why I've been just trying to focus more on the people and not the numbers. I truly believe that every contact should feel like someone cares, and that God is actually there for them. If every missionary does that, then I believe a lot more people would join the Church, and get all the blessings of the Gospel.

That's all I got for this week. 

"Church is true--go be awesome." Anne Bagley

We should try not to judge other people...

This week was another pretty good week. It was a pretty unproductive week, and I just am ready to start another one. Its kinda stinky opening up another area, but I'm enjoying it.  I just gotta find my rhythm in this area. 

My companion seems pretty cool as well, and ready to work, which really, really is a relief.  He's a little weird, but there's nothing wrong with a little bit of weirdness, right?

Man this was really an uneventful week--so what to write about. 

Well, we got visited by somebody from the '70' this week for our zone conference, which was pretty fun.  Its kinda fun in this mission because we have such a high standard to reach that if we even fall short for a month (maybe two months) a General Authority comes in to have a talk with us and see what's happening. That's what happened this week.  We had a bad last two months, so he came in to talk to us, and figured out that the members were just  not working with us, and were just putting excuses and stuff like that. So he invited all the members to come to this Conference, and gave them a little lecture.  It was actually really, really funny. 

They were saying how they didn't ever have any time cuz they are always working (and just a bunch of stuff). So this generally authority said, 'Raise your hand if you have a smart phone'. Everybody. 'Now, who has social media?' Everybody. So he says, 'How many people do you have on social media?' We counted like 6000 people. And then he said,  'Who has their phone on them all the time?' And of course everybody. And then he goes, 'Well, let's do a activity with the missionaries. We are gonna go through your list of friends and we will find one of them and then we will send a message or scripture to them'. So five minutes later we finished and he asked how the members felt. And they said 'really good'. He then said, 'Very good. So I don't want to hear that you never have time to share your testimony or Church with people because you can every single day thanks to this.'

Then Sunday I heard a lot of stuff that kinda rubbed me the wrong way, so in the second hour they were talking about how we could help the ward get more people to church. I raised my hand and said, 'Well I think we should probably start with the gossip. Gossip kills wards and people's ability to feel God in their lives. And I'm not going to feel comfortable inviting people to church if when they show up all they are going to get is judged. We should know a lot better. We should know that we ourselves aren't perfect, and because we aren't perfect we shouldn't be judging anybody else. We all go to church cuz we are all sick and looking for help.  Nobody in the Church is so perfect that they should judge.' 

So one thing that I learned is that we should try not to judge other people. Nor should we try to justify their actions. It doesn't matter who has committed more sins in life, our who's committed the bigger sin, because its the one that judges that has the biggest sin of them all. That's one thing that I've learned as I have walked the streets of Mexico. Everybody has their own story, and we don't know it until we ask and get to know the people. 

So sorry for the short email.  This is just all I got for this week

"Church is true--go be awesome"-Anne Bagley

This week has been a pretty good week. (Nov 13th email)

This week has been a pretty good week. 

Got really, really, really annoyed with my companion to the point were I almost punched him in the face--but i didn't, so don't worry. He just kept correcting me on every single little thing. The most annoying was when I said, 'Oh, that car has a problem with one of their belts'.   And he said, 'There IS only one belt--and its not a belt'. And I said, 'No, there's more--and yes, its called a belt'.  He then went on about how he was right cuz his uncle worked as a mechanic for a little. So I just said, 'Yeah, let's just stop talking to each other cuz you're literally gonna try to correct me on every little thing, and its annoying me'. So I just stopped talking cuz I didn't wanna hear it from him. And then out of nowhere during the night he started saying that things like Bush did 9/11 and all that stuff. So I stopped in the street, grabbed him by the arm (like a nice, firm grip), and said, 'You need to shut your mouth. You're lucky I'm having a lot of patience cuz if it was any other kid I would of turned around and knocked your two front teeth out. So shut up and keep walking, and I don't wanna hear another word out of your mouth'. 

However I'm lucky and once again I was transferred today (as I was previously told I was going to be). I am training--so what is up little homies. 

Other than my companion, this week was a pretty dang good week. I knew that I was getting transferred and I knew that President was just putting me in this area to open it up and to just try and fill the teaching pool as quick as possible. So this week we went from only having  two investigators to having  more than 20, and a few complete families.  I just hope my ex-comp doesn't drop the ball on this one. And 6 investigators in church.

I did learn one thing--and it is that as missionaries we have the power to receive the most direct inspiration. Some people can get offended by that, cuz sometimes we need to be really direct with the people. The funnest thing was that yesterday we passed by a less active members house to talk to him about why he isn't going to church. So he starts to pretty much tell us well its just because this, this, and this--just excuses. So I told him that, 'Hey, you were the one who decided to be baptized. It was not the missionaries decision, and you know that it was a sacred promise with God. And God's waiting for you to do what you know you need to do. So I said some other direct stuff and then shared a prepared personal story with him. He got ticked and said missionaries are stupid like that, and they always are promising stuff that are really direct, and they need to be more careful with that cuz what if it doesn't happen. That's when I said, 'Yeah its scary when that happens, and when we promise really direct things.  But to be honest, we have the power and authority to.  So no, its not to scary--its actually really spiritual and special. And the people that doubt this power just don't have the faith that we were sent and called of God'. 

So he start calling me a liar and a bunch of terrible things. My comp was enjoying it cuz the guy was like worshipping my comp, but in the end i just said, 'Hermano, we love you and we want the best for you.  And yeah, I had to be a little direct, but you wouldn't have listened if I wasn't. But I say these things cuz its what God wants.  I do what God wants, not what I want.  And God wants to see you in the church renewing your covenants that YOU made'. 

That was just a testimony builder for me and my calling to be honest. I know that we missionaries are called of God and He is in every lesson, every contact, and every thought out here. That means when we say something, promise, warn, or anything else it is directly coming from God, not from dos chavos in a white shirt and tie.

I know this Church is true and its without doubt that I say that. 

"Church is true.  Go be awesome."-Anne Bagley

Huatusco

This week was another pretty good week here in Veracruz. However, I got transferred once again to another area- this makes it the third area in just this transfer, and my third companion as well. They actually sent me to an area that is literally in the middle of nowhere. Its un pueblito called Huatusco, and the closest "city" is a solid 1:30-2 hours away from us. We actually don't have to go to any district meetings because we are so far away. I freaking love that. However, President told me that I will only be here for like 1 more week, and then I'll be going back to my old area. Right now I'm actually opening an area for two weeks, and then I'll be returning and opening another area next week--this should be pretty fun. 

Elder Salazar and I kinda knew that we were going to be transferred due to our interview with President. He told me "va a ver Elder Hall"--which pretty much is slang for telling Elder Hall that he's about to be changed, or there's going to be a big change in my mission. 

He  told me and Elder Salazar that he can trust us with anything, and we are his two most trusted missionaries, and he has complete confidence in us. We need to know that he's gonna put us in hard situations to help strengthen the mission. So that next day we got word that we were going to be transferred, which sucked. 

But now i'm literally living in the middle of the mountains and its pretty awesome.  I'm tanning pretty dang well here so that's cool. This area is pretty weird and all backwards with everything. 

We are going to be working hard this week and I've got a pretty good plan to help this area in this last week that I'm here. Usually its the poor people that are the most receptive to the missionaries but not here--they hate us. As we say here, "son católicos con huesos colorados." However, the "rich" part of the community (I hear) actually accept us pretty well. The thing is they are all Italians, and they are a really, really tight nit group. So I have a pretty great plan of just going up to them and enter into their circle of friends. It shouldn't be too hard due to the fact that I look a lot like them (a little whiter, dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and tall). They also like accepting us into their houses to talk and they treat us just like family when we have their confidence. So I'm gonna try to take a different approach to this one. I'm gonna just try to gain their confidence, and just try to enter into the status of a true 'Italian'. I'm just hoping to get at least like one or two of them to church this week because, where one or two Italians go--they all go. And then we will slowly start working our way down to the other levels of the community. Since the Italians own literally all of the stores and restaurants here that should help us out a little bit. It seems that they get something they don't just keep it to themselves--they love to share what they have with literally every single person in the whole world. So yeah--we are gonna go that route this week and see how it turns out.  

Another pretty funny thing is that we have gained the confidence of the branch really quick. Just yesterday we had like every single person in the branch ask us for a blessing, and wanted us in their houses, and in the houses of all of their friends. And on top of all of that they put me and my companion in charge of the Primary Program next week. I'm pretty excited for that one. 

However, something I have realized is that time flies by when you are on your mission. It has now been a little over a year. Its been a year of a lot of things. A year of:

1.Bathing with a bucket of hot.

2.Flushing a toilet with that same bucket.

3.Speaking Spanish.

4.Doing stuff for others 24/7.

5.Washing my clothes in a bucket of water and soap.

6.Putting up on a clothes line.

7.Mexican Food

8.Racist comments and looks just because of my skin color.

9.Hate from every side.

The thing is I wouldn't have changed any of this for the world, or for any other experience. I've gained a lot over this past year, such as:

1. A testimony

2. A lot more patience.

3. Such a profound love that I didn't know existed.

4. I feel like God has faith in me just like I have in him.

5. Funny jokes and memories.

6. Great new friends from all over the world.

7. New families (that are Mexican)

8. A better character (don't get me wrong I have my same personality).

9. A different view on life.

10. Just more joy and light in my life.

Its a weird thing, but this year has probably been the happiest year that I have ever had, and its also been the poorest I've been all of my life. It makes me see that money really isn't a big factor in what makes somebody happy--its the things they are doing in their life. And its also about the people that you are around. I'm excited for these 11 months that I have left, and can't wait to see what they hold for me. There's going to be a ton of ups and downs, but that's life. We grow from those moments and can learn and grow from all of our experiences in life. 

That's what I got for this week. 

Love you all. 

"Church is true go be awesome."-Anne Bagley

Anyways, a super cool thing happened while I was over by the offices.

This week was a pretty great and excellent week, and it was probably my best week on the mission to be honest. It was so incredibly fun, and just really, really different. So we started off the week having to go back to the mission offices to go to a Leader's Council (or however you say it in English), and then we just worked in the area of the Assistants for the rest of the week. We then slept at the offices that night, and the next day we all had to go and take out another visa for our second year on the mission. Man it was so, so, so fun. We all got together-- everybody that came here with me--and we just had a great night in the offices with the Assistants and the Secretaries of the mission. It was a nice little half mission present that got.

Anyways, a super cool thing happened while I was over by the offices. So I was talking to the Bishop of one of my past areas (because he works in the offices), and I was just asking about all the people that I had baptized in his ward. He told me that a few of them had gone inactive. So I was just super, super down, and it was really sad to hear that the family that I helped had gone inactive (they are like my Mexican family). 

So that night I just prayed really hard and intensely and just trying to figure out how I could help. Praying that God would just do something to help them return to the Church. So anyways, I felt like I should write a letter to them. So I did and I put it on the Bishop's desk for when he goes home. And then I was with President and he had to take us to the hospital. We were suppose to return to our area, so he starts to drive us to the bus station.  But then just says, "No, you guys aren't going home.  You'll just wait until tomorrow to go and I'll take you." So I asked him, 'Well, what do we do for the rest of the night, cuz we kinda wanna work.'  

And he tells us, "You guys decide.  Here's 150 pesos for food and buses.  Just get to the offices at a reasonable hour."   So me and my companion look at each other and without thinking just go "sotavento"--so we jump out of President's car and start sprinting to where the buses are to go to our old area. 

When we finally got there we got off the bus and just started sprinting from one house to another house. It was so incredibly amazing--I used to have that feeling before football games--like an amazing adrenaline rush. 

So we go and visit the Famly of Lucero, and only the mom Lucero and Jackie are home, but it was so funny. Jackie starts yelling, "Mom, Mom Mom, its Hermano Hall; its Hermano Hall." 

And her mom just goes and says, 'No its not.  Its just Elder Rodriguez and the his white companion'. 

But Jackie just kept going and going, so when she looks out the window she gets a huge smile and just starts booking it down the stairs with jackie and Genesis. Everybody was crying just with tears of joy, and then we just testified and said, 'Go to the church. You know you need to.'

They told us that they'd been praying for a sign--and 'Boom' here it was. 

Then we go sprinting all the way down to Andres´ house. However he wasn't home, but we did get to see his family and wife which was a great time. 

Then we went to go say 'Hi' to the Family Leon, and we told them to just put their faith in God and go to church.  They committed to go to church and ALL THAT GOOD STUFF. 

Then we went sprinting all the way the Ana Claudias' house to go say 'Hi'.  Man Ana is freaking awesome! She hasn't missed a single day of church or seminary since she's been baptized, and she's only got 14 years. And she's the only one in her family--it was awesome to see her, and she got after me for not saying goodbye when I left. I told her, 'Hey, you weren't home when I tried to say goodbye, so that's not my fault li'l lady'. 

So then we talked with her sister and told her to get her act together and she committed to be baptized! haha It was great. 

Then we go sprinting to Armando and Rita's house. And wow was that amazing! Rita opens the door and just starts crying (more like sobbing) because she's seeing the two guys that helped change her life, and she said some great things. And then we bore our testimony and tell her that she needs to go back to church, and its not because we are missionaries.  Its because we love her and her family and want them to be happy and have the chance to live forever together, and we know we can only do that if we are renovando our convenios during the sacrament. 

Then we go to Pedro and Amilia's house and that was just great to see because he was just super happy to see us and also he needed help getting through to his wife and getting her back to church. So we just told her that she knew what she needed to do to feel God in her life again, and then bore our testimony and she too promised to get back to church. 

Then to finish it off I just got the feeling that we need to go back to Lucero's house.  So we go back and the other two daughters aren't home yet, but her husband was on the phone so I talked to him. When I was just leaving the two girls got home and it was an awesome reunion. 

It was something that I will never forget.  I think it might go down as the best mission night that I will have on the mission. There was just something so special about every single one of those moments. We honestly just could see the hand of God really working all through that night, and we felt like He was guiding us along the way as well. 

I won't ever forget the smile or look on the people's faces when they saw us standing on their doorstep--I honestly felt like felt it was seeing two angels standing right on your step type of stuff (with all humility I say that). Lots of missionaries will never get this opportunity to do this, but it was something that was well-needed. And I just loved it. I got to see the impact that I had on their lives while still on the mission, which was an eye opener. Its an experience that money could never buy, and feeling that I didn't know I could ever feel. Their faces were priceless--in a good way. 

So that helped me gain a pretty strong testimony of the fact that everything happens for a reason, and we hardly understand it all. But God has a plan and we need to be humble enough to follow it and accept it. He might cut us down to try to help and put people in our paths that need our help. And we might not ever have seen them if we weren't cut down. So yeah--that was a great week that i just had. 

Also funny story--made my star football team out of the sister missionaries in the mission, and then we found a wheelchair and started using it in the offices. So President walks in and tells us to get up, and he goes and sits in it, and I go, "Do a wheeley President".  And without thinking, he just pops a wheely and holds it for like five minutes and breaks the wheelchair. Man that was so incredibly funny--and I just found that maybe he is like perfect. 

That's all I got--have a great week and love you all. 

"Church is true go be awesome"-Anne Bagley

I started the week out with a pretty nasty cold

10/23/2017 Post

This week was a pretty good week as always. However, it was a pretty hard week here. All this week my comp. and I were pretty darn sick. It was really funny but it really, really sucked. 

I started the week out with a pretty nasty cold and my companion had a pretty nasty stomach ache. The week went on and we both gave each other what we had, so by the end of the week we were both battling a terrible cold and then on top of all of that we had a really, really bad stomach problems.  So anyways, we just kept going out and working because we couldn't just stay inside cuz we needed to work and we can't spare a single day in this work. Haha 

So anyways, we went to the doctor's office Thursday cuz it was terrible and my companion just goes, "Dude let's just buy some laxante (thats spanish)."  So anyways, I go, 'Oh yeah--great idea. That'll just get everything out of us dude." So we take three of them and that night we were in and out of the bathroom. The next day we aren't getting any better and we can't stop and its just terrible. But we still go out and we work and its just terrible and we can barely walk around without almost ..... ourselves.   We just went bouncing from one house to another using the bathroom. 

So that night we call Hermana Palmer and we ask her for some advice of things we should do to get better. She asks us what we have done and we tell her, 'Well nothing--we are just trying to work hard and forget about it.' haha 

She gets mad at us and tells us that's kinda dumb. Then she asks if we have taken anything to help and we tell her, "Well the doctor told us that we should take laxantes to help us poop and clean out the system." She then responds with, 'How old was the doctor--like 12? That's the dumbest thing I've heard in Mexico. You guys have really bad diarrhea--you should not have taken that. C'mon guys--you should've known better.' jaja   It was just really, really funny, and it was just a 'crappy' week--but really funny at the same. 

So anyways, what else happened this week to us? We just talked a lot about life and just a bunch of stuff like that. We were talking about how we are kinda a little scared to return home. Its like the mission is really really hard, and the people hate us for the reason of we have different colored skin. We love that its hard and we wouldn't ever want to change the mission because we just feel like it should be this way. We talked about how when we get back the life is real and we gotta start living life. And we got thinking like yeah we can't wait for all of that, but we won't ever have the opportunity to serve the mission ever again. And we won't ever have the chance to serve the people like we are right now in Mexico. We also feel the Spirit like no other, and we just kinda love it and we don't wanna stop having these experiences in the mission. We also know we are gonna miss the little things of the mission. Like contacting, we are gonna miss getting a door slammed in the face or really racial things said to us. Like I'm gonna miss that. But the thing I'm gonna miss the most is just doing the Lord's work. Like knowing that I'm doing exactly what the Lord wants me to be doing. Also just the fact that I know I'm doing what Jesus would do if He was here right now, and I love it. I feel like I'm doing my part to help Him, and I'm in some way paying Him back for all the things that He did and is doing for me. 

That's all I got this week. I hope all is good and everyone is doing well. 

Love you all. 

Church is true go be awesome-Anne Bagley

Best Transfer Ever

This week was a pretty dope week to be honest. 

We started off with transfers early in the morning Monday, which was really unexpected, and also an emergency emergency transfer. The President put me in the area as far away from the offices as possible and said 'You guys are on an island--just work hard and enjoy yourselves.' 

He put me in the area Reforma, and because we are really short on missionaries here, so he gave us a second area as well--Jalapilla. So yeah my area is just 'lit' guys. My area is the area that all the missionaries want to serve in and if they don't then they all want to go there on Pday just to walk around. Just to put it in perspective like how awesome my area is--I'll describe a little bit of it. 

In the middle of my area is a zoo that we walk through because its the fastest way across town and when we walk we just contact the people (and also the animals). (the animals are a little more receptive.) Every other day we walk up a giant hill to a place that is just awesome-it looks over all of our area and a bunch of the stake we are in. Its just an awesome area. 

We then have a giant dino park that we also contact in and its all free here. And then we are in the city the invented Cri Cri, he's like the Spanish Jiminy Cricket. Its just absolutely awesome and beautiful here in my area. 
However, I'm absolutely dying hear in this area. I spent a year in the port where it averaged like 35-45 degrees celsius every single day. I rarely saw any rain, and I was sweating every single day there. SO I come here and its no hotter than like 22--and a lot less--and where it rains like every single day and really hard. So I am so incredibly cold all the time and wet all the time.

So anyways, I come to this area and my comp tells me, 'Hey, we literally have nobody to teach right now in these two areas because my other comp was always sick and never wanted to leave the house and wanted to go home'.   So we are pretty much just opening up these two areas. 

So I said, 'That's great let's go to work then'. 

So we didn't have a great week in the numbers factor of it, but I felt like it was a pretty good week, and we really set a base and a foundation for the work to come. Its feels great to just be with an awesome companion. And its really cool to see how well we teach together because we work off each other really well, and we just got a bunch of chemistry. Its amazing the Spirit that comes when we start to testify, to the point where the person we are teaching cant neglect the things we are saying because they to can feel it just as strong. We are also teaching in the way that its just really simple and everybody can understand the things we teach. And when people start to try to fight with us or anything we literally are never twisted or taken advantage of and we just disprove the things they say in a great manner and then teach the real doctrine. And I love that when we are teaching things that are part of their church that are actually wrong, they just don't get mad cuz we are teaching with the Spirit and explaining why its wrong, and we are teaching with all of the love that we possibly can. Its great to be honest.

The really fun thing about this whole thing is that my comp and I are actually from the same generation, and we are going to complete our first year on the mission together here in this rocking area hahaha. The only thing that President told us when he told him is, "Have some fun guys, but just keep the rules and don't be to stupid." haha 

And then if we stick together for another transfer then we will be celebrating Christmas together here in the mountains haha. Its just great with this kid to be honest. 

Its been the best week on my mission by far, and I know without a doubt in my heart that this will be one of the most successful times in all of my mission. Why? Because we have the Spirit with us and we aren't thinking that one is better than the other or that the other sucks in these aspects. We are always thinking about how we can get better and also about how we know each others weaknesses and my strengths helps his weaknesses and the other way around.

That's all i got for this week. 

Church is true go be awesome-Anne Bagley