Baptism, baptism, the wonderful fruit

Hello once again my wonderful siblings and relatives!

Sorry I haven´t written for a little while. We seem to be really busy and rushed every Preparation Day, but I figure that I should probably write today.

Since I last wrote, I think we´ve baptised 3 more people, and we have 4 more planned for this month. Baptism is really the wonderful fruit of repentance. I am so grateful to be a part of this work in preparing the earth for the second coming of the Savior. Thankfully there were little or no problems with this last baptism yesterday. She offered the closing prayer of her own baptismal service, and the spirit was really strong during the service.

Today we helped a sister in the ward with her house. The brick walls were slightly deteriorating at the bottom, so we mixed up some cement and applied it to the wall. I learned something new that I didn´t know how to do before. It´s pretty different because in the US we mainly use dry wall and lumber and nails and screws, etc. But it´s all concrete and cement and cement bricks and mortar, and sometimes they have laminate roofing, which really heats up the houses in the sun. We spent most of the morning there helping out, and they gave us breakfast.

Last week we went and played basketball with the family of an investigator. I got really really sunburned, but it was fun. Yesterday there was a really strong thunderstorm with hail and lightning and wind, but only for about 1 hour during our weekly planning so we didn´t get wet at all.

That´s about all for this week. I am planning on a talk this next sunday in sacrament meeting, about repentance. I am going to use the example of Peter, who denied Christ 3 times, but later reaffirmed 3 times that he loved Christ more than the nets, boats, and fishing. Christ called him to leave his profession of fishing forever, but he didn´t understand that. When Christ was crucified, all the apostles looked to Peter as the Chief apostle, wondering what to do now that Christ was gone. Peter didn´t know, so he went fishing, back to the world, back to his comforts. Then Christ visited the sea shore and prepared them Breakfast of fish and bread. How thoughtful. When peter saw him on the sea shore, he threw himself into the sea and swam to Christ. Christ asked him, and he reaffirmed his love for Christ 3 times. What a great repentence story.

Gotta run, love you all.

Take care.

Elder Bunker

Semana Santa

Hello everyone,

Not much time today, but here it goes.

This week was Semana Santa (the week before Christ´s crucifixion). On Friday there was a representation of the crucifixion that passed through our area, but I didn´t get to see it. Strangely, but with significance, it stormed with thunder, lightning, and rain on Friday night. Saturday is called Saturday of Glory, and everyone gets wet, such that the city shut off the water and gave out fines of $300 and 36 hours in jail for wasting water (water balloons, throwing buckets of water, etc). Luckily it scared enough people that nobody got us wet. They also burned a giant sculpture of Judas Iscariot in the streets. It gets pretty wild here during the festive days. Sunday wasn´t much of a celebration, which was surprising. In the US Easter Sunday is a pretty huge thing. All in all, many people were gone on vacation, but many were more willing to talk about Christ.

Lots of people have asked us why we don´t use the cross in our church, but I have learned a lot from the Book of Mormon; that the cross is a symbol of the crucifixion and sacrifice of Christ, but Christ himself set the appropriate symbols for those: the bread and the water of the sacrament. I have been thinking a lot about the resurrection lately. How wonderful it was. That Christ died, but more importantly that he lives, with a body. He didn´t take up his body and ascend to the Father just to leave his body somewhere orbiting somewhere out in space. He took up his body because he is going to NEED it. Just like we will need our bodies after the resurrection to inhabit a kingdom of glory. How greatful I am to know that. And to share that. I am trying hard to repent and to become a better person, a better son of God, a better missionary, a better representative of Jesus Christ.

I love you all and wish you a happy Easter.

He lives.

Elder Bunker

Rain

This week was great as well. We baptized two more investigators this weekend. Remember how last week there was no water to fill the font? Well this weekend, on Saturday, there was an overabundance of water, via Rain and Thunder and Lightning. The bad weather prevented most of the people from coming, so there was almost no support from the ward. But she is a strong investigator and has a strong testimony already. Last week I had lent my white pants to the husband of the woman who was baptized, so he could baptize her. He didn´t come until halfway through the baptismal service, right before the baptism. But luckily our investigator had multiple sets of white clothing just in case. I wore the overalls that she was going to wear, and she wore another set of clothing. Everything went well afterall.

They say that the sun is very very strong right now...between 10-12 on the UV scale...and they say that 14 is solar radiation. I´ve started to cake on the sunblock...It really helps. Sometimes I can just feel the sun burning my skin. But it´s nice out right now. Overcast and about 75-80 degrees. It has rained the past 3 days in the night, so it gets really cold in the mornings, but that´s how I like it, when my head is cold and I have nice, warm covers.

Transfers are tomorrow, but both my companion and I are staying here in Meyehualco. I really do like it here, and there is a lot of potential. Speaking of moving around, they say that the mission is going to split in June or July and that they are going to take some missionaries from the Mexico City South and Mexico City East missions to create the Mexico City Southeast mission. We´ll see if I´ll get moved. If so, I´ll have had the opportunity to serve in 3 different missions and have 3 different mission presidents. Pretty whacky.

Well that´s about all for this week. Will write next week. (this week is Semana Santa, or the week leading up to Easter. On Saturday, everyone throws liquids at everyone else on the streets, so we´re expecting to get pretty wet that day...details to follow :)

Love you all.

Elder Bunker

Pyramids & Earthquakes (but thankfully not together)

Dear Beloved Everyone,

Oh, what a great week. We had another baptism, but Satan sure does work hard to prevent those from happening. This time it was that there was hardly any water in the Chapel. The cistern where the city deposits water (drop by drop i might add) had been emptied the day before for maintainance and repairs. In the morning, there was no water still in the cistern. We investigated, and it turns out that the valve had been shut as well, so the city couldn´t deposit water. We opened the valve and started filling the font on Sunday morning at about 9am. The baptism was scheduled for 12:30pm, but the font was only filled up about 1 foot deep. We rescheduled for 5pm and luckily there was barely enough water to perform the ordinance. We have two more baptisms scheduled for this weekend (one Saturday and one Sunday). It´s sure a great joy seeing our investigators progress and come unto Christ.

In other news, there was an earthquake here on Thursday morning of magnitude 6.7. Then on Monday, another one of 7. I didn´t feel either of them, however. Both were at about 8am. On Thursday we were on the bus traveling to a missionary meeting at that time. I don´t know what happened on Monday, but we didn´t feel it either. It makes me wonder, however, if the tectonic plates are just slipping and preparing for a big earthquake. Hopefully not, but it´s possible I think. A massive one occured in 1985 here and devasted the city. But they have put more preventative measures in place.

Speaking of the missionary meeting, it was to audition for the missionary choir that will be singing for the visit of Elder Oaks in the middle of May. Turns out that both my companion and I made it into the choir of 20 (it was open to the whole mission, about 130, but only about 55 or 60 showed up to audition). It´s truly a great opportunity. We will be singing I know that my redeemer lives.

We decided to change our Preparation day from yesterday to today so that we can go to the pyramids in Teotihuacan. It was really a great trip- we got permission to leave the mission and change the day and everything. It was a long ride (about 3 hours in buses, vans, and the metro one way). We spent about 2 hours there. Maybe I´ll send a few pictures later.

Transfers are in one week from today. I think I will get transferred (i´ve been here 3 months), but my companion isn´t too sure because sometimes they leave us in our first area for 6 months. We´ll see. I love it here, but I also wouldn´t mind going to a new area.

That´s about it for today/this week. I love and miss you all. Remember your covenants.
Elder Bunker

Conference, baptism, conference, conference, confere

Hello everyone,

This week has been a pleasant surprise. One of our investigators told us this week that he was ready to be baptized (there were a few pending problems). So we (my companion) baptized him on Saturday between the first and second sessions of General Conference. It was a great service, even though not many people attended (we didn´t have a Sunday in between to announce it). His wife is already a member, but they are not married (not living together either). Their daughter is 7. He´s a great man. Their pictures are attached. We have 4 more on date for baptism this month. We´ll see.

We were just informed by email that Elder Oaks is going to be visiting our mission in May, and that we are going to provide a missionary choir. I think I´ll go audition. That would be a really neat experience. And I miss singing.

General Conference was so great as a missionary. We watched all sessions in the stake center. They put it on in English in the high council office, so we english-speaking elders (6) got to watch conference in style. It was really amazing. I wrote down 8 questions that I needed answers to (some for me, some specific with how to help my investigators). All 8 were answered thoroughly throughout the conference. It´s amazing how that works. Also it seemed to me that there was a large theme of the second coming. One apostle mentioned that difficult days are ahead (and they also talked a lot about the welfare program, being the 75th anniversary). And they talked about how the gospel must go forth upon all the face of the earth, together with the call for more missionaries last conference and this conference. It makes me wonder...

Well if it is really soon, I´m glad. It´s about time.

I love you all, miss you. Keep the faith.

Elder Bunker

Teaching the blind & deaf

Dear family and Friends,

All has been well here in Mexico. All kinds of fruits are starting to appear, along with the strong sun. I love it here.

This week we had an opportunity to teach and talk with a man who does not see, hear, or walk. He has two tumors pressing on his brain stem, which caused these affects. We communicated with him by tracing the letters of the words onto his palm. His left palm acted as the paper and his right index finger, guided by our hand, traced the letters into his palm. It was very neat. He could still speak, so after a few moments of silence when we would write, he would process the words and then answer with his voice. One instance, he asked us to give him a priesthood blessing (he was already a member). We gave him a blessing. Although he couldn´t hear the words, he felt the spirit. After the blessing, tears were streaming down his face. I know that the Spirit talks to the mind and the heart. We learn and receive testimonies spirit-to-spirit. It was a sweet experience.

There have been challenges as well this week, but all overshadowed by the blessings and good experiences. I think that is why it takes some work to adjust to the mission life. There will always be something to complain about, something to make you want to go home, something to make you angry. But as a missionary, you learn to accept those things as part of life, and then you begin to see the good things more often. Even small things. Seeing investigators progress in their lives and understandings is one of those things. Despite all of those other hard and difficult thigs, you really can´t complain because there is so much good to see.

We are teaching one man who, at one point in our visits told us that he just had a dispute with his wife (they´re not married nor live together, but he still calls her his wife). He said that if he could change, she would see his change and accept him again. During this visit, he told us that he was wrong, that she told him things, and that there was no hope in regathering his family, that there was no hope in living without his wife and daughter. We taught him. We helped him. At the end of the visit, he realized that he needs to change for him & God, not for her. He has progressed infinitely since then. Each time we have visited him since then, he has been brimming with happiness, his wife was present in the home, and even she commented to us one time that he has changed dramatically. His family relationship has improved a hundredfold, and he told us that he wants to be baptized this Sunday. It has been a complete change, and even I almost wept. This is why I´m on my mission: to see families progress, to bring them together through the principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the only thing that brings longlasting, true happiness.

I love my mission. I´ve learned so much. I wouldn´t trade it for anything. Not the internet, TV, movies, sleeping in, friends, time around my family (i´m giving up a brief amount of time with my family so others can spend eternity with theirs), or anything else. The gospel of Jesus Christ has that affect on people, on me.

I love you all. I miss you, but I´ll see you shortly (relatively). Choose the right, look for opportunities to serve, and love others. Do good.

Love Elder Bunker

RAIN

Hello all,

Sorry I couldn´t write last week. We split our emailing time into 30 minutes and 30 minutes, but we never had time to come back and use the 2nd 30 minutes. The work has been about the same.

I´ll be staying here in Meyehualco for another 6 weeks, which is fine with me. I really like it here and am pretty familiar with the area now.

We almost had another baptism Sunday. We filled the font and everything. But for some reason Satan seems to work hardest the day and night before a baptism. He had a few problems and will have to postpone his baptism. It will probably be in a few weeks.

Well it rained here for the first time since I've been here. There were thunder & lightning and everything that goes with it. It was amazing to be out of the sun for a little while. I am really enjoying it here. The weather is cooperating very well--as long as we have lots of water to drink. The rainy season doesn't start until the end of May, so until then, it's going to keep getting hotter. But that's OK. I'm sure it was hot when Jesus walked more than 110 KM through mountains & desert terrain to get baptized by John the Baptist. I'm sure he was thirsty on the cross too (the vinegar didn't help any), so I can't really complain.

I finally got to make my chocolate chip cookies, except there isn't anywhere nearby where we can get chocolate chips. So we used strawberry flavored chocolate (not really any chocolate, but the same consistancy as chocolate chips). It came out tasting OK but nothing spectacular.

Well with transfers, we got a new district leader. Our old district leader was here for 6 months, so he's glad to be moving on to something different. My companion and I are staying here in Meyehualco, no changes. Transfers are still exciting, because that's when they hand out all the packages and letters that arrived at the mission office. It takes about 1 month for letters to get to us from the US, and about 2 months for packages.

We get to speak in the ward for the first time this Sunday. It should be good, we have lots of support from the members (they sign up to feed us almost every day of the month).

We had a missionary activity in our stake on Saturday. 18 missionaries from the MTC in Mexico City came to our area (130 to our stake) and they contacted lots of people in the street. They were pretty late arriving, and with the time to explain what was going to happen, we only got to contact for about 45 minutes, which is pretty sad. But anyway, they got some experience, and we got a few referrals. We're trying to help the stake and wards understand that missionary work is not an activity, but rather a lifestyle. It's tough, but once we understand that, we understand our role in missionary work as members better.

I'm so grateful for this opportunity of a lifetime to serve a mission. I have met so many people who want help changing their lives. The responsibilities and burdens of other people's problems and necesities is so fulfilling. I'm beginning to realize what it means to love the people that you serve. Understanding their difficulties, talking them through their problems, helping them understand that the Atonement applies personally to them, etc is so fulfilling. There's something about putting all of your personal affairs in second place that helps you to find your true purpose as an individual. It's so rewarding seeing people progress, repent, and turn themselves in to the Lord with full purpose of heart. Sure, it's taxing, but it's so rewarding.

I love you all and hope you understand your purpose in life. It's truly remarkable.

Elder Bunker