Week 7 - in the field

Hola!

   I'm sure you are all wondering where I am and what is going on... I am serving in the Liberty 2nd ward in Liberty Missouri. We live in apartments about 2-3 miles form the Jail, but it is out of our area; however, we have our weekly missionary correlation there and we are allowed to take investigators there to watch "Meet the Mormons" whenever we want so that's really nice! My companion is Elder Valdez, he was born in Honduras, moved to Mexico, then moved to Salt Lake when he was about 12, so he knows perfect English and perfect Spanish (he's a Spanish speaking Elder). He has been out for 20 months now and is training me, and is the District leader, his first time doing both so he feels a little overwhelmed. Anyways, So Wednesday I flew from Mexico to Atlanta, then to Kansas City... being the only missionary in the CCM going to Independence I didn't expect there to be many missionaries here but there were 3 other Elders and 6 sisters I think, I don't know, I never see them anyways. but funny story, they forgot me at the airport. They usually wait for you outside of security but they weren't there (I found this out later) and I got my luggage an sister vest walked up to me said "there you are, we have been looking for you" turns out, everyone had already made it in (they were all coming from Provo) and had been picked up and they thought I just hadn't made it or had gone home or something, then they found out my flight was different from what they thought and had to race back to get me haha, but it was fine... Wednesday was a day full of tours of the Jail and visitors center, then we went to the mission home, and slept for the night after being lectured on a bunch of things... it felt like the first day at the MTC a lot of info to take in, but I knew it wasn't going to be as bad as they made it seem... Thursday we met our companions and went to the house, I unpacked a little and we started visiting people. We visited with a less active sister and I talked about the atonement at the end, my companion was shocked that I actually spoke because he said the old comp didn't like to and new missionaries usually stay quite! We ate dinner at Firehouse subs, a member took us there, then we had our correlation meeting at the Jail. Friday was a day full of studies... because im new, we have to do something called the "12 week program" for an hour every day, so that combined with personal, companion, language study, then lunch puts us outside at 1 every day. We went around and visited people Friday, and I learned that missionary work doesn't work without the members help! I also learned that its not all about the baptisms, but its a lot about the reactivation as well. and through efforts to reactivate we can find other people to teach. Also on Friday we had our first dinner at a members house, the Bivins,they were super nice. Saturday my companion wasn't feeling well so we stayed in until the evening, our dinner appointment fell through but we were able to run to Walmart earlier that day because my comp needed an eye exam so I grabbed a little food.... it was so nice being able to cook. Then Sunday, we did our studies, went to church and once again Valdez wasn't feeling well so we went home and he slept, He actually is pretty sick with a running nose and throwing up... church was at 1 so at 4 we came home. I gave him a blessing to get better so I hope that helps him out... but nothing else really happened this week... the craziest thing about being out here is how much people look at us, I just want to be like IM A NORMAL PERSON JUST LIKE YOU!!! they just look at us with disgust or see the tag and refuse to make eye contact... its really frustrating but its nothing too bad haha love you all, have a great week and I will keep you in my prayers

    Con amor,

      Elder Hinrichsen

Week 6

This week flew by. Its crazy to believe that its been six weeks since I left. But anyways, last Wednesday we did service by unboxing water bottles, the putting them into bigger boxes, these were water bottles for the elders who go to south america, they have filters in them so they can drink the water. Thursday was our last TRC, we taught the same man as last time Ridolfo about receiving revelation from Church attendance, It was really cool because Elder Gibb shared a scripture about how if we dont keep the sabbath holy we will die, and i didnt really see the connection but Ridolfo talked about how if we dont keep it holy spiritually we die... it was an incredible tie in..  Friday, was a normal day which was nice to have, and then there was Saturday... I have waited six weeks to open those reeces and boy were they worth it, It was incredible!!! I cant wait to get back to the states! Our morning teacher was sick so we had Cayetano (our afternoon teacher) teach us in the morning, then we had Hermano Martinez, who is currently the ward mission leader for Garret Winters, teach us in the afternoon! (small world huh) We played a game where we had to run around the CCM telling people certain things in Spanish, it was fun. On Thursday, Cayetano had a meeting with the boss of the teachers, and the boss told him that our district is the best at speaking spanish in the ENTIRE CCM that was AWESOME TO HEAR!!! It really goes to show you how much the Lord blesses us if we work hard, and that really made me humble, yes while i assume that should have gone to my head, i was so humbled to be told that, because i really recognized the hand of the Lord in my life and with the language. Sunday was great, I spoke last in sacrament about the Priesthood, and how it blesses our lives, this sounds arrogant but i used this saying that i felt was divinely inspired because it was WAY to deep for me, i said, "dont envy those who have the Priesthood, the Priesthood isnt to be used for self gain or benefit, but when we hold the Priesthood, we, spiritually, go beneath the world, to raise it up" i thought that was cool. I also called up the Branch Presidents son and told him something someone told me when i was a deacon (he is a deacon), i told him "you have more authority to act in God`s name than the Pope" that was super powerful to me... (all this was in spanish of course) haha. Later that day we heard a devotional from Elder Bednar, one that we`ve heard in mission prep where he talked about the character of Christ being looking out when the natural man wants to look in, it was AMAZING... i think its called the Character of Christ, and EVERYONE should read it! later we watched some videos, the one about the temple robes and garments, the one about John Tanner, and one called "to this end was i born" they were good, but after the videos there was a goodbye slide show for all the people leaving, and there were A LOT around 96 I think which was 10 districts... and thats a lot for here. It was great, then, like always, everyone sang "Para siempre Dios este con vos" or "God Be with you till we meet again" (the translation is For ever God is with you) and everyone except those leaving left and we had a testimony meeting, i stood up to bear my testimony with a bunch of other guys but i went first because none of them wanted to haha. I talked about a quote i read from Neal A Maxwell that says, "Jesus rejoices in our genuine goodness and achievement but any assessment of where we stand in relation to Him tells us that we don`t stand, WE KNEEL!" I bore my testimony that we all but go to Christ in order to find success and those who need the message. Monday was rough, we had to say goodbye to our teachers, and its one thing saying goodbye to family, because I will see you in two years, but to say goodbye to people who have become your best friends, and say goodbye with a good chance you`ll never see each other again, thats hard. But I realized that i am here for a greater purpose, and that this time isnt mine, it is my time to the Lord, therefore, it is his time... and I need to do what He wants me to do... and that is go to Missouri! I love you all, have a good week, I pray for you all!

    Seth

P.S. we got some great advice from our Bishop that I LOVED, he said, "If you can`t get along with your companion, you can`t get along with God" this applies to everyone`s life in so many ways

Week 5

This week has been good and FAST!!! It was Elder Cheneys birthday last Friday so we had like 3 parties for him (one on Tuesday, one on Friday, one on Saturday) we had some cake that his parents sent him, a cake that our teacher brought him, and root beer floats with weird Mexican vanilla ice cream, i definitely prefer the american stuff!!! haha the root beer was from the store here that has some soda and snacks, shirts and scripture cases stuff like that, and of course scriptures in spanish, spanish hymn books, and they have other toiletries, stuff that can be helpful. Thursday we did TRC again, this time we taught a guy names Rodolfo, we taught about how we can receive revelation from the scriptures (we are assigned a topic every week, if not i would teach about the atonement every time because i think it is the MOST IMPORTANT thing in our church BAR NONE) but the lesson went really well. Friday was Cheneys birthday and we had a little celebration for him which was nice, we all chipped in and bought him a leather scripture case with his name, mission, and favorite scripture on it, and he loves it!! Saturday was yet another party and everyones spirit animal was chosen, animals from a platypus to a zebra, and a wolf were chosen, apparently i am a guerrilla, and dont think its because im like a real guerrilla, im like the ones in tarzan... thats what it was based off of, was the mother and father guerrillas in tarzan, apparently i am strong minded and my attitude is very present, i dont see it, i wanted to be a tiger until my afternoon teacher said, Guerrillas son los jefes, which means that guerillas are the boss, and ever since then i like it, guerrillas are the leaders of the pack and thats not too bad to be!! Sunday was good, we had spiritual things all over and the devotional was a talk by Elder Scott and im pretty sure he WANTS you to wall asleep during his talks because he talks so quietely and slowly that its really hard not too haha, that being said I did NOT fall asleep!! The movie was MEET THE MORMONS, and it was so cool to watch it, i felt so free!!! hahaha i loved the fact that the movie shows that the church is for EVERYONE haha yesterday we taught once, and it was super plain, a normal day here haha. Some cools things that happened to me this week: our teachers have told me and Elder Gibb that we do a very good job of teaching by the spirit and that there isnt much we need to improve on rather than just making sure we dont go over on time for our lessons (but we are only given 20 minutes so its really hard not to go over haha) and on Saturday, we had the chance to teach 3 lessons and lead a discussion in class so we were feeling overwhelmed, we prayed and receive a LOT of help, our lesson went SUPER WELL and we read Moroni 7 as a class. the night before Elder Gibb and I read it alone, and i think it was the most spiritual experience i have had at the CCM... it, escentially says that missionaries are Angels... ANGELS in verses 29-31, that was sooo cool!! it really makes me appreciate this a lot more Well i hope this letter has helped explain things a lot, i appreciate all the love that everyone sends to me and i pray for you all the time have a great week.

Elder Hinrichsen

Week 4

So this week went by fast, they all seem to know. But on Wednesday our Zone and most other people going to the states have service, the first two weeks we cleaned the cafeteria and made a bunch of beds in the dorms... which is fun but we all really wanted to "host" the new missionaries, and you don`t volunteer for that, you are chosen... so Elder Gibb and I wanted to talk to someone about doing it, the same day we talked to someone about doing it, one of the leaders of the CCM came into our class and asked us to do it, tender mercies folks... its really nice because usually for service you have to change into gym clothes but we don`t, we just walk to the where the new missionaries come in dressed up and greet them, and help them take their stuff to their casa`s. Our service time is from 2-3:15 and most of the missionaries come around 5 so last week we had 3 hermanas and 1 elder come during our period, so while they were being orientated (i just made that word up) the 4 elder in our branch moved 60 boxes of bibles up some stairs... thats right folks, stone age carried them up, because some other missionaries had gotten stuck in the elevator another time, it was funny we just kept joking, "i think i like the Book of Moron better" because of how heavy they were, while we were doing this, the 4 hermanas in our district learning how to help the newbies (thats our term for them) email home on their first day telling mom when P-day is... thats REAL tough... Then after we were done taking boxes upstairs, we had to bring bags, each one with: two preach my gospels, a book about the CCM, three language books, and one book the size of a textbook, and we had to bring about 40 of those downstairs, so, as boys, we made a competition out of it, and naturally, I won, i carried 9 in my right hand, the game was to see who could carry the most in one hand... fun stuff, after we did this the new missionaries were ready to be taken to their casa`s and we had to do that too haha, but we really loved this whole thing, dripping in sweat, and out of breath it was so fun doing the service!! This week we are doing it againtomorrow at 2 but there are supposed to be a decent amount of new elders so were really excited to actually have something to do and not just carry boxes around! Then Thursday we did what is called TRC, this is where you teach members of the church from around the area that come and volunteer to be taught, we taught a man who really loved correcting us on our pronunciation, about how we can receive answers to our prayers, through the holy ghost but also searching the scriptures, we had a scripture and he made us read it and then corrected us, he told me i speak VERY GOOD spanish, which was really cool!! After we teach them they write a little review, he wrote that he saw a love in our faces that knew we would carry into the mission field! that was also awesome!! I think thats what ive really learned here, all of our lessons with our "investigators" go really well (our investigators are really are teachers, and we just started teaching each other) and the spirit is SOOO strong in our lessons we are so guided and aided by God, but its truly because we have a love of the person we are teaching, for example, the other day we were running out of time and our investigator felt that God didnt love him because his life was hard, and I had read earlier in Ecclesiastes 3:10 about trials are for our growth, so i opened my bible and it opened right to the page of the scripture, i havent been able to to it since hahaha. But I feel we are guided by the spirit for one reason, we are humble, we know we cant really speak a lot of spanish! but we have a genuine compassion for the person were teaching and as ive heard somone say, No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care... THAT IS SOMETHING EVERY SINGLE PERSON NEEDS TO KNOW BEFORE THEY GO ON A MISSION the spirit will only guide you if you have the right motives, that you TRULY want to help people come unto Christ... Saturday we started our fast after lunch and fasted until lunch on Sunday, and honestly, i felt that it wasnt really difficult at all, yet again, Tender Mercies, testimony meeting was super spiritual, i bore my testimony about my favorite scriptures Isaiah 53:3-5 which is also in Mosiah 14:3-5 and talked about how we are to tell people of the Saviors love and sacrifice for them, our priesthood class was about divine potential, something our Branch president loves to talk about, and he puts it into a really cool perspective, he said "if a cat has children they are... kittens, if a rabbit has children they are... rabbits, and if God has children they are... Gods" it just makes sense! its great our class with the MTC president was about specific prayer, and how we need to be very specific when we talk with the Lord with what we ask for he told some cool stories of his own experience with specific prayer... it was super funny because he was running out of time and he said "i only have 1 minute but i have another story to tell you... so we will take 6 more minutes, i can do that, i am the MTC president, no?" everyone just erupted into laughter it was hilarious! The devotional was about how we need to have faith, and was by the CCM director, Hermano Cates, one of the greatest things he taught about was how when he went on his mission he struggled not focusing on home, then talked about how when we have faith, we forget about our life and trust that the Lord has a better life in store for us all, it was great. Then the movie we watched was the Restoration movie, about Joseph Smith... i love that movie.Monday we didn't do much special, we taught each other for the first time which was fun and our investigators are Elder Cheney and Hermana Larsen, who have taken the roles of friends from home Cheneys person is HARD he believes that science is how everything was created and i told him that i love science and i know that everything proves that there is a God he asked how and i showed him the scripture in Alma 30:44 that say all things denote their is a God. It was really cool. The spirit works in mysterious ways!! Its great being out here, i love every minute of it.  Love you all, Have a good week, 

   Elder Hinrichsen

A "weird" statue that the missionaries have nicknamed "Lego Arms"

Devotional at the CCM

The view from Elder Hinrichsen's Casa

An example of language study

Week 3

Days here are really similar, our schedule is:

wake up and get ready

study for 45 minutes (we usually do the homework we have to do for the day during this time)

breakfast

gym time for 50 minutes then get ready for the day

then we have our morning teacher for 3 hours, Hermano Tenoco, he served in Vegas and we talked about elders like Crapo, Torgerson, and a few others i cant remember really. It was crazy that in Mexico my teacher served with elders that ate at our house all the time... during the 3 hours in the morning we do language study for an hour, we teach our teacher as if he was an investigator (his investigator name is Miguel St Claire and it was a real investigator on his mission) and he is hard to teach because he doesn't really know anything so we have to explain simple things like faith and the spirit of God, baptism, but we teach for 20 minutes every other day because we teach our morning and afternoon teacher so we switch which one we teach every day (one set of hermanas and one set of elders teach in the morning then the others in the night then we switch every day) so we do language for an hour, teach for an hour, then we do coaching where the teacher helps us to be better teachers,

after the 3 hours with our morning teacher we eat lunch then have 2 hours without a teacher were we have personal study time and then language study, this is usually when we work on preparing our lessons for the next day, 

after that two hours without a teacher we get our afternoon teacher, Hermano Cayetano (pronounced Kai-uh-taw-no) and he speaks mainly spanish but he understands english... hes hilarious haha we teach him slang and he says it with a thick hispanic accent and its just really funny during those hours we usually do the same things as in the morning with language study where we study a spanish principle and practice using it, we teach (his investigators name is Jaime and hes fairly easy but has trouble keeping committments so we have to teach him the importance of keeping them all the time. 

After we are with our afternoon teacher we eat dinner, have another hour of study time then do TALL... TALL is either awesome of the most frustrating thing in your life, its for one hour on a computer and you go through a book and do all these language exercises to help you learn principles of spanish, some days its really easy and relieving, and other days i want to go insane it gives you a list of answers but you have to type the correct one in, but the correct answer will have a word added that it never told you to add... its just really frustrating at times. haha after TALL we plan for 30 minutes then say a district prayer and go home at 9:30 where we have an hour to write in our journals and get ready for bed, which 4 boys to one bathroom makes it fairly difficult...

Interesting things that happened this week: we met the new CCM President, President Tenoreo, every sunday hes really laid back, at least it seems which is nice on Sunday we listen to a devotional, this week it was by Elder Bednar called "Becoming a Preach My Gospel Missionary" it was incredible. then we watch a movie at night, this week the movie was, "how rare a possession" about the Book of Mormon... it was really good. not much else happens here... dont know if i said but my roommates are Elder Smith and Elder Sanchez, both going to Mexico city east... and everyone in my room except me is from Utah haha Elder Gibb is from American Fork, Elder Sanchez is from Orem, and Elder Smith is from Syracuse. This week district A in our zone (14) left so there are only 2 districts in our zone again haha AND we are the oldest ones... Anyways i hope everyone is doing well, i pray for you all the time, and hope for your success and growth... have a good week, Love Elder Hinrichsen

Elder Hinrichsen's District

Cage Ball Court