December 25, 2017 - (Week 13)

**Dad Update**

Since it was Christmas, we got to speak to Elder Varney over Skype for an hour on Christmas morning - and it was great!  He is doing well, still in his "greenie" area for at least the next few weeks, and he is now in a "Tri" companionship (he has two companions) due to the fact that one of them had to have a quick Gall Bladder removal surgery in their city that they serve in.

That has had a bit of a damper on the missionary work, as they have had to stay in the hospital with their companion while he recovers, but they still have some great investigators and are working with a number of individuals to work towards baptism.

He was able to send us a bunch of pictures to update his blog with - so here are the ones he sent with explanations beneath each one. 

Elder Varney's companion getting ready for surgery

After the Surgery - doing their own "Nativity" play in the hospital room

The "Light the World" presentation done in the town square

Mexico's version of KFC "Pollos Kentuchi"

The local Ward Primary program

Ethan's new Chrismas tie

The best feature of his new Christmas tie - a hidden pocket for cash!

December 18, 2017 (Week 12)

Shoot well another semana has gone on by! 

This week was full of great blessings, first we got a baptismal date for a whole new family, they seem to be progressing great towards their baptismal date.  Also, we have been teaching with a less active family that has an 11 year old boy named Alex that wants to be baptized.

Interestingly enough, Alex is already reading the Book of Mormon every day and is ready for baptism, we just need to reactivate his parents.  But they are progressing well and we hope to have his baptism on the 23rd, this Saturday!  Also this week we had our zone conference/Christmas feast with the presidente del mision. 

Then the next day we had the Ward Christmas party, where there were "only" a few injuries with the primary pinata this year. The day after this we had the ilumina el mundo presentation in the city square with the whole zone.  It was a great opportunity for people to learn about the church and participate by writing a positive message on a pass along card and then releasing them all at once on baloons to someone who needs it in the world! 

Then, the unfortunate last event of this week was Elder Barragan needing to go to the hospital for a problem in his intestines, we pray that everything will be well with him.  Anyways, thanks for the thoughts and prayers, I love each of ya!

-Elder Varney

December 11, 2017 (Week 11)

It is so cold here!

You´d think in Mexico it´s always warm, but not right now!  It has been getting to -2 degrees Celsius every night in San Luis Potosi and it does not get that much warmer during the day, and two nights ago it snowed for about one minute!  Anyways this week has really been full of the rico bendiciones for us.  Our good old friend Efrain came to church this Sunday and we have almost got him off smoking, it´s looking really solid that he´ll be baptized soon! 

Also a brand new investigator came to church, he told us he would have brought his family but they were all sick with stomach flu, so it´s really amazing that he still put forth the effort to come to church!  This past Friday our district was able to go Christmas caroling to sick kids in the cancer clinic at the hospital, what a joyful and spiritual experience that was! 

Anyways, the spicy food will keep us warm as it gets cold down here, thanks for all the love and prayers, onto another week of work!

-Elder Varney

December 4, 2017 (Week 10)

Every week feels shorter down here, which is a blessing and a curse!  This week was full of blessings, almost too many to handle, but I guess that is a good thing.  We had intercambios with the zone leaders which was interesting.  When I was with Elder Platt (who is even whiter than me) people seemed to run away from us, and when I was with Elder Munoz, who is Latino, somebody thought we were lost businessmen. 

But oh well, it was a learning experience nonetheless, and it made me even more grateful for my area.  This week we had so many new investigators every day it was very hard to keep track of, but three of them have already said they want to be baptized!  Also one of our older investigators called us out of the blue and said he wants to be baptized on the 23rd.  Also we found an old investigator who seemed very excited to have the missionaries back over to teach, and she runs a haircut place, so it was a double blessing. 

This p-day we went and ate at I-Hop and out of the blue a lady who was visiting from Idaho paid for our meal.  We spent most of the rest of the day walking around the big mall which was surprisingly exactly like an American mall, the only difference was the cops walking around with assault rifles.  Buy they seem to like talking to big tall Americans, so that's a plus.

It was fun to walk around and look at all the stuff we can't afford in the mall, but it's good to be back in our good old area.  Hoping for more miracles, thanks for all the prayers!

-Elder Varney

Ethan with Pres and Sis Stapley @ Mexico MTC
(Pres Stapley grew up with Ethan's Grandma in Cedar City)

November 27, 2017 (Week 9)

Another incredibly quick but rich week!  This week we were able to make progress with all of our investigators, we got a less active family with an unbaptized ten year old to come back to church, got two other less actives to return to church, and we got Efrain down from smoking two pack a day to just six cigarettes a day!  Hooray! 

Anyways this week was full of other good news, we got the Ilumna el Mundo tarjetas (#LightTheWorld) to share for navidad here, it has been really great to see some of the new Christmas videos of the church and share in our lessons! 

Another tender mercy was that we totally forgot it was Thanksgiving, but the lord still blessed us since we got two dinner appointments that day and got fed frijoles charros.  Also, this week the other elders finally moved out to their own house and we were able to fix our hot water heater, so now we get to take real showers! (at least until the propane tank runs out of gas)

Also today for P-day our district went rollerblading in probably the most run down rollerblading rink there is.  It was all going well until one of the floorboards pulled up and made Elder Barragan fall flat on his face!  He was fine though, which is good since he already fractured his thumb playing basketball last week! 

Anyways thanks for all the prayers and support, they really do work!

-Elder Varney

November 20, 2017 (Week 8)

Another week has passed!  This week was full of highs and lows.  The highs were we were able to get baptismal dates for two of our investigators, Efrain and a less active family with a nine year old boy.  The lows were that neither of them showed up to church, which throws a wrench in all the plans.  Anyways, the work continues down here, plenty of opportunities to serve and many people willing to listen!

-Elder Varney

(Dad's note) - Ethan always seems to be in a big hurry and pressed for time in his e-mails back to us, so I will supplant this small update with some other details:

His training companion is Elder Flores, and he is from Santa Ana California.  He was a convert when he was nineteen but fell inactive for three years before he converted the rest of his family and went on a mission where he is his trainer now. 

The ward is good, they do a little service each week with the members but for the most part they are all focused on helping with the missionary work, including the really focused ward mission leader.

Ethan with one of his instructors from the Mexico MTC

November 13, 2017 - Week 7

What an exhilarating week it has been here in San Luis Potosi!

This week we had lots of success contacting people, the people down here are usually willing to listen but it is harder to get them to always keep their commitments, but we sure are trying.  The lifestyle down here sure is different than the one in estados unidos (the USA for your gringos out there), for example - showering with a bucket, but it is all just fine. (In fact showering with a bucket is kind of fun!) 

One of the miracles we had this week was getting one of our investigators to attend church.  We were counting on two families to come, but they both cancelled on us Sunday morning, but right before sacrament meeting started Efrain showed up.  Efrain has a heavy addiction to smoking and anti depressants, if you saw him you wouldn't think that would be the kind to person to go to a church. 

But our prayers were answered and Efrain did come, my companion says he has been inviting him to church for the past five weeks and nothing until now.  And on top of that he told us he has been reading the scriptures and has had some of his questions and prayers answered.  What a miracle indeed!  Anyways we will continue to work hard down here in San Luis and wait for more of the miracles the lord has provided to come!

Love,

Elder Varney

Elder Varney's first District Meeting

Elder Varney's Room

He found his exact year and model of truck in his area!

November 6, 2017 (Week 6) - First week in the Mission Field!

Hey everyone, I'm back at it again!  Me and my companion took our P-day today since yesterday we sat in a chapel all day and then had to take a three and a half hour bus ride to San Luis Potosi (Dad spell checked it) and didn't get here until ten at night. 

A member picked us up from the bus station to take us and another companionship to our casas.  It was quite a spectacle to see four people and a ton of luggage crammed into a small hatchback...Fun note about that hermana and her family, they were baptized a few months ago and her husband owns a burger joint so the missionaries in this area can get hamburgers for dinner every night! 

Elder Flores is my new companion and he is awesome, we think alike and I have mucho to learn from him.  We have an awesome area, a new bishop, and members that work hard to help bring in new converts.  The members here are so kind and loving, and the food is so great!  We're off to teach my first investigator, thanks for all they prayers from everyone!

Love,

Elder Varney

Ethan's First Area - far right of the image - City is outlined in Red

Elder Varney and his new Trainer - Elder Flores

Elder Varney's new "Greenie" missionary group

All of the new arrival Missionaries for the Aguascalientes Mission

November 1, 2017 (Week 5)

Wow, it is really insane that it is already the last week of the CCM!  

I have learned so much here, but it really only feels like a few weeks. Oh well, the mission field is ripe and ready to harvest, a few of the teachers here have served in Aguascalientes and the people there sound like they are the best in all of mexico! 

Our Spanish is still progressing every day, this last week I had a conversation without even realizing I was speaking Spanish!  Miracles truly are real!  Anyways I am really going to miss my great district, some truly great people in here!  It feels a little like we are jumping from the frying pan into the fire here, but in a good way!  

See ya from Aguascalientes!

Elder Varney

This is how it feels to have every fifteen minutes of your life scheduled for you...

The big beautiful fields here contrasted by the big ugly smog.

The old mural from the school here, an example of "Ideal LDS teenagers"  (not the title I just made that up)

October 25, 2017 (Week 4)

How quickly the weeks pass in the CCM! 

It does not feel like it has been a week, but the time flies when you are caught up in the gospel!  This week was another interesting one, during one of our progressing investigator lessons in Spanish I used the wrong word for story when explaining the book of Mormon; so instead of saying the history of the people of the America's I said the "fairy tale" of the people of the Americas, ahhh! 

However, it didn't end there, as during the same lesson instead of saying the prophets were killed, my companion accidentally said the prophets killed themselves!  The look on our investigators face was priceless.  Despite that little folly, Español has been coming along well, the more I use it the more I come to love the language. 

The routine of the CCM is starting to wear on me a bit now, but our district tries to buoy up our spirits by coming up with new jokes in Spanish.  We are starting to get anxious to get to the mission field now, as one of our teachers has a referral for her cousins who live in Aguascalientes, which is very exciting! 

The more time I spend here the more I love the people of Mexico, even if they do party very loudly until two in the morning outside our apartment windows.   Today we have the opportunity to go to the temple again, I'm sure it will be another experience to remember!

Elder Varney

October 18, 2017 - (Week 3)

Well, almost another week has gone on by in the CCM...There is a saying here that the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days, and I feel like that is more and more true for me every day!  It is so amazing to feel the gift of tongues work in my life, it is such an amazing thing to be able to have a conversation with someone who speaks a whole different language.  My teachers here are so amazing, they teach with the spirit and make us laugh so hard, all in another language!  We currently have two investigators that we teach in the CCM, they are real people played by our teachers.  It is almost as hard to simplify the lessons as it is to teach them in Spanish.  But, every time we successfully invite someone to read, come to church, or be baptized, it is a testament to me of how the Lord assists us each personally.

This week the most profound impression came to me while we went to the temple.  It is a truly unique opportunity to learn all the amazing things in the temple that we are familiar with while in another country speaking in a totally foreign tongue.  It was a testament to me of the fullness and current revelation of the gospel that we enjoy today.

This week we will be teaching with the Latinos a real investigator from the outside world!  I'm excited to try me best to teach in the lesson, and then listen as my Latino companions reteach the principle that I just butchered in Spanish.  Oh well!  This place is truly a blessed place set aside by the Lord, with great leaders that have been called to teach and guide us. 

I could not ask for a kinder, more generous people to teach the gospel to!  Thank you for all your blessings and prayers for me and all the missionaries here, I can personally guarantee each and every one of them individually receive your spiritual support.

Elder Varney

Ethan in his new "Tri" Companionship

The "Crazy" streets driving to the Mexico City Temple

The Mexico City Temple

October 13, 2017 - Mexico MTC (Week 2)

Wow, what a crazy time in Mexico!  Learning Spanish is very challenging, but also very rewarding. 

You tend to learn very fast when you have to give a lesson in a foreign language every day!  Anyways, I feel like Spanish has been coming to me well, I know enough to be able to carry on a conversation with the Latinos in the CCM (Mexico MTC) pretty well, they are all so hilarious!

Also on my first week I met Tanner Erickson in the CCM, it was his fifth week here.  It was very good so see another Murray kid here in Mexico.  Anyways, the Latinos that live around the CCM love to crank up their music and party it up at night, especially on the weekends. 

The food down here is very good, perhaps too good, because the doctor here said it is typical for missionaries to gain 10 to 15 pounds.  Speaking of the doctor, it seems like that is where my whole district has been for the last week.  On the general conference weekend I got a bad sore throat, but for me the cold passed after two days.  However, our district leader got the same sickness and lost his voice for three days!  And this past week my companion has been in and out of the enfermaria (mission hospital) with an infection in his bronchi.  Even though our bodies may slow us down, nothing can slow down our districts' spirits!

The CCM down here used to be a LDS school for people in Mexico and it's name started with a B.  Now it is the CCM and the mission president says the B stands for Baptism!  It is lots of fun down here, even though we don't really get a taste of what the real Mexico is like yet.  All of our teachers are so knowledgeable and awesome.  Today we went into the city to get our long-term visas, and it was a wild ride!  There are endless houses for miles and miles, and when we get out of the bus everyone stares at the gringos in suits who don't know what they are doing.

Well, the CCM is a pretty good place, even with the super tight schedule.  Next week we will be teaching real people from outside the CCM in español for the first time, I pray it will be well! 

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and prayers,

Love, Elder Varney

The first thing that you see when you enter the Mexico City MTC
Matthew 28:19 - Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost

Ethan pointing to his building on the Mexico City MTC Campus

The "super clean" MTC room of Ethan's with his two companions

The remnants of the "B" on the hill for the old school

What a crazy time!  It was a whirl to get here so quickly and meet everyone so quickly! 

My companion is Elder Lingenbrink from Seattle Washington, and everyone in our room is going to Aguascalientes!  It was pretty intimidating to go into a lesson completely in Spanish on the second day, but I can slowly feel the gift of tongues growing on me.  The food down here in the Mexico MTC is very good, perhaps too good because of how much I am eating it! 

Anyways, we have lots of challenges down here with the language, but I am thankful for all your prayers, and for the revelation from general conference!  I am running out of time now, but I will have more stories soon.

Ethan's MTC District

Ethan and his Companion, Elder Lingenbrink

On the ground in Mexico City MTC

Ethan made it from SLC to the Mexico City MTC last Tuesday! 

Here it is straight from his e-mail:

..It´s great down here, this place (the MTC) has an awesome spirit with it.  Mexico city seems like a pretty crazy place but the people seem great here.  My P-Day in the MTC is on Wednesday, but I will not be able to email you guys tomorrow since its the first day orientation for our new group.

 Anyways my companion is also going to Aguascalientes, and there are four other missionaries in this group going to Aguascalientes.  I´ll get you guys more stories next week, I can really tell that this place is going to be great!

--Elder Ethan Varney