yes, i still play the piano for sacrament meeting. I´ve done this in all 3 wards that I´ve been in.

They´ve all enjoyed it too because no one else really knows how to play the piano. they always

sing a capella, and it sounds pretty bad. Luckily all of my investigators will be able to have me

playing the piano during the sacrament meeting.

About your thought, it is the plan of salvation. If you remember, Aaron also taught the king the

plan of salvation as the first thing he taught him. The same thing with Ammon and the king.

The plan of salvation is the lesson that best answers the questions of the soul. I think our zone

conference will be about teaching the plan of salvation as the first lesson and teaching it well

so that the people will accept a return appointment.

Well last night they gave us information about transfers. I´m getting transferred to the Contreras

ward and my companion and I will be the Zone Leaders. It´s a whole lot more responsibility and

time. I was sure surprised and shocked, but I accept it. There are about 150 missionaries, 25

district leaders, and 10 zone leaders in the mission. It´s pretty cool because I´ll get more personal

time with President Chavez. He is incredible. Very spiritual. I love to just sit there and listen to

him talk. I´ll get to see and participate in the inner workings of the mission. It will be interesting.

We´ll see how it goes.

Well that´s about it here. I love you much and hope that everything is going well there.

Another thing I learned from the atonement in my studies. Barrabus was in jail for homicide.

How interesting that the romans liberated from death he that killed (barrabus) and killed He

that liberated from death (Christ). Just food for thought. sometimes we do things backwards

too. Like with the commandments. Sometimes we complain that it´s hard....we kill the

commandment that was created to make us free, and we adopt the contrary lifestyle

that enslaves us (for example, word of wisdom).

Love you,

Elder Bunker

push along push along push along..

Hello all,

Sorry it has been a while since writing. Time goes by so fast now.

The other day we were walking from one appointment to another and this guy was outside of his VW bug trying to push it. We stopped and offered our help, and he accepted. We started pushing and asked him how far. When he told us, I thought, wow...that´s pretty far. Oh well, we have a little bit of time. So we just pushed and pushed and pushed. We ended up pushing the car about a mile and a half. We finished exhausted, but feeling good. The funniest part was when we passed about 3 different churches, all with people nicely dressed and standing on the sidewalk. I imagine it was quite a sight: an American and Mexican missionary all dressed up in tie and slacks and backpacks and everything pushing a VW bug. They all just stood their watching us as we passed. I felt pretty good putting the gospel in action.

Yesterday we got to see our Recent convert of about 20 days receive her first calling as the secretary in the primary presidency. Her daughter, another of our recent converts, is 12 and last week she received her first calling too as 2nd counselor in the beehives presidency. It is such a joy to see that kind of progress in our former investigators--now members. This is the greatest work that exists.

I love being here. But time sure does go too fast. Before I know it, I´ll be getting off the plane thinking about what I´ve done in the mission...that makes me want to get even more in gear and work work work. As President Eyring mentioned in his talk during the last general conference, the Lord will give us strength to keep working even past the point of exhaustion. Work until you´re tired. And then work some more. Work is the only thing that advances us, progresses us, etc. We can talk about vision, plans, goals, dreams, etc, but until we ACT and WORK, nothing ever happens.

I love you all and hope that you can gain strength from Christ´s example in the Garden of Gethsemane: At the point of exhaustion and in agony, may we pray ever more fervently, that our Father may send his angels to uplift and strengthen us.

Have a great week!
Elder Bunker

another earthquake

Hello all,

All is well here after the small earthquake (tremor). It was 5.4 (or 5.6..not sure) and the epicenter was close to Acapulco, a beach resort here in Mexico. It felt like being on an airplane when you hit turbulance. up and down, up and down, only we were sitting in chairs around a table on solid ground. It felt really cool. Luckily nothing was damaged or shaken too much, just a few christmas tree ornaments fell and broke in teh house we were at (having a family home evening). They said that this one was a big one compared to all the others. And it lasted longer too. It happened Saturday night about 7:45 pm and we are still on alert for aftershock, but I don´t think anything will happen. It was a great experience though, crazier than anything else I´ve ever passed.

Well thats about all the exciting news. Still working hard and enjoying it.

Love you all

Elder Bunker

another earthquake

Hello all,

All is well here after the small earthquake (tremor). It was 5.4 (or 5.6..not sure) and the epicenter was close to Acapulco, a beach resort here in Mexico. It felt like being on an airplane when you hit turbulance. up and down, up and down, only we were sitting in chairs around a table on solid ground. It felt really cool. Luckily nothing was damaged or shaken too much, just a few christmas tree ornaments fell and broke in teh house we were at (having a family home evening). They said that this one was a big one compared to all the others. And it lasted longer too. It happened Saturday night about 7:45 pm and we are still on alert for aftershock, but I don´t think anything will happen. It was a great experience though, crazier than anything else I´ve ever passed.

Well thats about all the exciting news. Still working hard and enjoying it.

Love you all

Elder Bunker

Gethsemane

Hello All!

I was thinking this week about the mission and life in general. They say that we must pass through our own Gethsemane in the mission. But I think that the mission IS Gethsemane and life IS Gethsemane. Remember when Christ was in Gethsemane? He was accompanied by 3 of his 12 apostles, Peter, James, and John. So they 4 were there. I think the difference is HOW we pass our time in Gethsemane. How did Peter, James, and John pass the time in Gethsemane? Sleeping. And Christ? In Luke 22:42-44 it tells us that an Angel appeared to him to strengthen him, and, being in agony, prayed MORE INTENSELY. Do we pass through the mission or life sleeping? Do we do our church duties while sleeping spiritually? Or do we really recognize the significance, importance, and reality of them? Elder HOlland said, citing a prophet, in General Conference of April 2011 that the Gospel exists to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. If we really understand this moment in life, then we have the gospel to help. Life is hard, a gethsemane. Do we pray more intensely when in agony? or do we not even have agony because we are asleep and not paying attention?

Just a few thoughts. Strengthen your testimony, stay close to the Lord.

Love you all

Elder Bunker

cell phones!

Hello everyone,

Well the big announcement here is that the church is giving cell phones to every companionship here in Mexico. Right now, only the leaders are permitted to have cellphones (district leaders, zone leaders, Assistants, and Secretaries), but now, every companionship will be permitted. That will certainly help the work to flow a lot smoother. More safety for the missionaries too.

Things have gone OK this week. We had stake conference last Sunday, so we couldn´t ask all of the members to come with us for teaching appointments. That is what we usually do. On Saturday night, while planning, we look at all of our appointments for the next week and plan who would be a good fellowshipper for that investigator. Then we write out a list. Sunday after sacrament meeting, we jump with all of those people and ask for their help. That has helped us to have more lessons with members present than not. But because of conference, we couldn´t do that, so our fellowshipping was down this week. Oh well, we´ll try harder next week.

I had the chance to go with a couple to be married. The missionaries have contact with a judge who gives us a discount for the marriages, so when our investigators have to be married (in order to live the law of chastity and be a candidate for baptism) and we go with them, it´s about half the price that one normally pays. It was a great experience. The following day I was able to interview them for baptism, and it looks like their whole family will be baptized (4).

Happy Halloween! and happy Day of the Dead (Día de los muertos). Day of the Dead here is in about 3 days (not sure exactly of the date). The people place an alter with lots of food, fruit, bread, flowers, and candles for their deceased ancestors, with the idea that God allows their spirits to return to earth with their loved ones this one day each year. They place the deceased´s favorite food on the altar with their picture. It is a false tradition, but it´s an interesting point of the culture anyway.

Well that´s about it. It is already November and still hot hot hot in the day (not too hot, but enough heat to make us look for shade). But it is really cold in the mornings and at night. I suppose that´s to expect being in the desert and all.

Thanks for all the support, prayers, and help.

Love you all,

Elder Bunker

Conversion

Hello all, Sorry for the delay...in my new area, there is a lot more work to do (it´s not so easy to wash cloths, for example). I don´t have so much time on Mondays anymore because of that. This week has been a good one. We have had a lot more success in finding people to teach and having the participation of the members in our teaching appointments. Last Monday we hiked a big hill in our area. Afterward, we ran down the side. It has a bunch of sand-gravel, so it felt like being superman and taking such large leaps down the mountain. We spent about 45 minutes hiking up the mountain and about 2 minutes going back down. It is really cool because at the top, you can see city all the way around the hill for miles and miles. All the houses fade into the smog-sky. It´s pretty crazy how big the city is (and how large our area is). There are so many people here in Mexico City. So many souls to save. I was thinking about being converted. We as missionaries are asked to read the Book of Mormon and repeatedly follow Moroni´s promise throughout our mission. It is super important, even as members, to do this regularly. To ask if the church is true regularly...not that the answer will change, but the importance of having a fresh answer and experience to relate is huge. I don´t want to tell people ´oh yes, I was born in the church, but I wasn´t converted until age 15, which was 5 years ago´. I would much rather tell them ´oh yes, i was born in the church, but I was converted 5 years ago. And 4 years ago. And again 3 years ago. And yesterday, in fact. Yesterday I received my answer that the Book of Mormon is true. Let me tell you the details of my experience that I had last night...´. That way when something happens in the church, or with the members, or someone makes a mistake, or messes up, it doesn´t put in jeopardy my testimony or salvation. My salvation is not dependant on how well member X follows the teachings of the church. My salvation and testimony depend on what God told me through the Holy Spirit last night. I´d much rather depend on God than on human behavior. I invite all to repeatedly test God on his promise in Moroni 10:3-5 in the Book of Mormon. Because God cannot lie. Thanks for all of your support and prayers and letters. They really do help and sustain me (but I´m not too dependant on the letters :) Love, Elder Bunker