Sunday, December 30, 2018
December 24, 2018 (Week 64)
We did not get an update from Elder Varney this week in e-mail, as we got to talk to him over Skype on Christmas day! He is doing great and is excited for the progress of his investigators as well as his Zone where he is now serving. Here are a few pictures of us talking with him as well as updates from his area where he is serving.
Sunday, December 23, 2018
December 17, 2018 (Week 63)
Another wild week of intercambios and nuevos! This week we knocked out two of our intercambios all in one week. We had a good time with the elders, and were able to see two that are from the newer generations and how they view the mission coming in with relatively fresher eyes.
Another super sweet/funny occurrence happened with one of our street contacts, named Porfilio, who actually turns out to be super strong in the spirt. When we began the lesson he started off explaining why all the other religions are false and basically taught the great apostasy word for word. He then accepted the Book of Mormon as word of god and accepted a baptismal date! The only downside is that he'll be in CDMX for three weeks, but he promised us that when he gets back he'll be ready with a testimony!
Among other interesting things is that I've gotten my companion hooked on Mountain dew, even though he hasn't actually tasted it yet. He's just heard so many "good stories" about it that we went looking in three different stores to find it but nobody seems to ever have it. Oh well, maybe someday!
Anyways, thanks for all your love, support, and Christmas spirit!
Love you all!
-Elder Varney
Another super sweet/funny occurrence happened with one of our street contacts, named Porfilio, who actually turns out to be super strong in the spirt. When we began the lesson he started off explaining why all the other religions are false and basically taught the great apostasy word for word. He then accepted the Book of Mormon as word of god and accepted a baptismal date! The only downside is that he'll be in CDMX for three weeks, but he promised us that when he gets back he'll be ready with a testimony!
Among other interesting things is that I've gotten my companion hooked on Mountain dew, even though he hasn't actually tasted it yet. He's just heard so many "good stories" about it that we went looking in three different stores to find it but nobody seems to ever have it. Oh well, maybe someday!
Anyways, thanks for all your love, support, and Christmas spirit!
Love you all!
-Elder Varney
Sunday, December 16, 2018
December 10, 2018 (Week 62)
No matter how hard you may try, the days seem to go by faster and faster! This week was full of intercambios, as we had exchanges with the other missionaries from our ward and then were off to Aguascalientes for the exchanges with the assistants. I learned a lot and above all had a jolly good time!
When we got back we unfortunately had to get a lot more work done, helping organizing goals and plans for the whole stake for the Christmas season, but luckily we got it all worked out in the end. Unfortunately, we didn´t have as much time as we wanted to teach our principal investigator, Aydeé. But fortunately, she was super prepared and when we taught her the word of wisdom last week she informed us that she had already read about it on her own and had stopped drinking coffee two weeks ago!
All this cultivated to this past Saturday the day before her planned baptism, when she almost broke down in tears telling us how her family had rejected her decision and nobody was going to be able to come to her baptism. However, she told us the Lord wanted her to get baptized this day specifically, so she went ahead with the decision anyway. And shortly and hour later she called and told us her mom and her boyfriend had changed their minds and were going to be able to come!
In the end it was the most packed baptismal service I´ve ever been in, overall it was a week packed full of blessings indeed! Anyways, thanks for all your love and prayers, they do indeed get work done!
Love you all!
-Elder Varney
When we got back we unfortunately had to get a lot more work done, helping organizing goals and plans for the whole stake for the Christmas season, but luckily we got it all worked out in the end. Unfortunately, we didn´t have as much time as we wanted to teach our principal investigator, Aydeé. But fortunately, she was super prepared and when we taught her the word of wisdom last week she informed us that she had already read about it on her own and had stopped drinking coffee two weeks ago!
All this cultivated to this past Saturday the day before her planned baptism, when she almost broke down in tears telling us how her family had rejected her decision and nobody was going to be able to come to her baptism. However, she told us the Lord wanted her to get baptized this day specifically, so she went ahead with the decision anyway. And shortly and hour later she called and told us her mom and her boyfriend had changed their minds and were going to be able to come!
In the end it was the most packed baptismal service I´ve ever been in, overall it was a week packed full of blessings indeed! Anyways, thanks for all your love and prayers, they do indeed get work done!
Love you all!
-Elder Varney
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| Baptism of Aydeé, performed by her boyfriend |
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| Baptism of Aydeé, performed by her boyfriend |
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| Almost all the elders from our mission generation! (Elder Burton and Loyola are assigned to the offices) |
Sunday, December 9, 2018
December 3, 2018 (Week 61)
They say if you´re tired it´s a good sign...
Then we must be doing pretty good because we have been exhausted every day! This last Wednesday it stared raining and didn't stop until Thursday afternoon, but that didn't stop us from searching out our list of part member and less actives!
A few times we were tempted to turn back home to dry off, but we learned that every time we felt like that we were close to finding another great new person to teach! We ended the day completely soaked, but it was worth it! After this, we headed to Aguascalientes for another leadership conference, with was a little rough after being in a bus for six hours of the day; and right away on Friday we headed off to a pueblito called Matehuala to do some baptismal interviews.
It was amazing to see that even in a place so remote, there are so many strong and faithful saints of the Lord! And last of all we were able to find a previously unknown recent convert from another ward who had moved into our area, and we were able to bring him to the Christmas devotional of the first presidency. What a powerful devotional!
We are truly led by a prophet of God; that same morning my companion and I were pondering about how Heavenly Father provides the deepest desires of our heart, and that was exactly what president Nelson talked about! Good stuff, we´re excited for another week of adventures!!
Love you all,
Elder Varney
Then we must be doing pretty good because we have been exhausted every day! This last Wednesday it stared raining and didn't stop until Thursday afternoon, but that didn't stop us from searching out our list of part member and less actives!
A few times we were tempted to turn back home to dry off, but we learned that every time we felt like that we were close to finding another great new person to teach! We ended the day completely soaked, but it was worth it! After this, we headed to Aguascalientes for another leadership conference, with was a little rough after being in a bus for six hours of the day; and right away on Friday we headed off to a pueblito called Matehuala to do some baptismal interviews.
It was amazing to see that even in a place so remote, there are so many strong and faithful saints of the Lord! And last of all we were able to find a previously unknown recent convert from another ward who had moved into our area, and we were able to bring him to the Christmas devotional of the first presidency. What a powerful devotional!
We are truly led by a prophet of God; that same morning my companion and I were pondering about how Heavenly Father provides the deepest desires of our heart, and that was exactly what president Nelson talked about! Good stuff, we´re excited for another week of adventures!!
Love you all,
Elder Varney
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| In front of a big Cathedral in Matehuala |
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| Elder Varney and the Missionaries in his Area |
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| Elder Varney, Elder Dominguez and the Missionaries in Matehuala |
Friday, November 30, 2018
November 26, 2018 (Week 60)
Oh man, another whirlwind week!
First off after arriving in my new area me and elder Dominguez had to leave immediately for a conference in Aguascalientes, so we had to lose another two days of proselyting which was fun... not! But it was all well in the end, as the Lord had already planned things out for us. First off a sister in the ward had prepared us a thanksgiving dinner filled with American thanksgiving food!! Thats a first for me in the mission!
Then the next day we were out finding some old investigators down one street later in the day when some sketchy figures came down the street, so we decided to abandon the search in that area for the rest of the day. We felt pretty crappy until Elder Dominguez had the thought to knock on the door of a less active sister, even though it didn´t look like she was home.
Turned out she wasn´t home, but her husband was; and he had plans to be baptized three years ago with the missionaries but had to leave for work but now says he´d like to join the church as soon as possible! The lord has a plan for each for his children! Anyways, the fun continues on the ward Industrias, thanks so much, I love you all!
-Elder Varney
First off after arriving in my new area me and elder Dominguez had to leave immediately for a conference in Aguascalientes, so we had to lose another two days of proselyting which was fun... not! But it was all well in the end, as the Lord had already planned things out for us. First off a sister in the ward had prepared us a thanksgiving dinner filled with American thanksgiving food!! Thats a first for me in the mission!
Then the next day we were out finding some old investigators down one street later in the day when some sketchy figures came down the street, so we decided to abandon the search in that area for the rest of the day. We felt pretty crappy until Elder Dominguez had the thought to knock on the door of a less active sister, even though it didn´t look like she was home.
Turned out she wasn´t home, but her husband was; and he had plans to be baptized three years ago with the missionaries but had to leave for work but now says he´d like to join the church as soon as possible! The lord has a plan for each for his children! Anyways, the fun continues on the ward Industrias, thanks so much, I love you all!
-Elder Varney
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| Elder Domingez & Elder Varney |
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| Part of Elder Varney's new Zone (1 of the 3 Districts) |
Monday, November 19, 2018
November 19, 2018 (Week 59)
Blessings and suprises- all rolled into one!
This week was another extremely fast one, we were focusing on getting Sherlynne ready for baptism; and every time when we asked her why she would live a commandment or even choose to get baptized, her answer was always "so I can get to heaven"- pretty direct answer, but nothing wrong with it! In the end Alexis, her brother who was baptized three weeks ago was able to baptize Sherlynne which was super cool! It was so spiritually rewarding to be able to watch a family become more complete and unified in living the gospel!
We also had a very unique/cool experience when a group from the U.S. called book of Mormon central came and gave a presentation to the whole stake on Wednesday. I was able to translate for one of the founders of the group, and it was just so cool to see all the factual evidence there really is for the Book of Mormon. Of course, a true testimony can only come through the spirit through personal study and prayer; but it was very great to be able to see with more clarity how the Book of Mormon really actually took place in these lands with the real ancestors of these people!
Anyways, to cap it all off we received a reference of a man who the missionaries were teaching in Canada who moved back here to San Luis and the actually came to church on his own before we had a chance to teach him and brought his wife as well, and they had a super great time!
Unfortunately good things can´t last forever, and I´m leaving Elder Penteado here in Fresnos and going to Industrias, another ward in the same stake here in San Luis, should be an adventure!
Anyways, lots of blessings testifying of the lord here, thanks so much for all your spiritual support, I love each and every one of you!
-Elder Varney
This week was another extremely fast one, we were focusing on getting Sherlynne ready for baptism; and every time when we asked her why she would live a commandment or even choose to get baptized, her answer was always "so I can get to heaven"- pretty direct answer, but nothing wrong with it! In the end Alexis, her brother who was baptized three weeks ago was able to baptize Sherlynne which was super cool! It was so spiritually rewarding to be able to watch a family become more complete and unified in living the gospel!
We also had a very unique/cool experience when a group from the U.S. called book of Mormon central came and gave a presentation to the whole stake on Wednesday. I was able to translate for one of the founders of the group, and it was just so cool to see all the factual evidence there really is for the Book of Mormon. Of course, a true testimony can only come through the spirit through personal study and prayer; but it was very great to be able to see with more clarity how the Book of Mormon really actually took place in these lands with the real ancestors of these people!
Anyways, to cap it all off we received a reference of a man who the missionaries were teaching in Canada who moved back here to San Luis and the actually came to church on his own before we had a chance to teach him and brought his wife as well, and they had a super great time!
Unfortunately good things can´t last forever, and I´m leaving Elder Penteado here in Fresnos and going to Industrias, another ward in the same stake here in San Luis, should be an adventure!
Anyways, lots of blessings testifying of the lord here, thanks so much for all your spiritual support, I love each and every one of you!
-Elder Varney
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| Elder Varney's former District - He is now onto his new Zone! |
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| Sherlynne and her Brother Alexis with Elder Varney & Penteado |
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| Sherlynne and her Brother Alexis |
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| Sherlynne and Alexis's Family |
Sunday, November 18, 2018
November 12, 2018 (Week 58)
Time flies when you´re having fun!
Or at least that´s still true for us out here. Perhaps its also because the ward with just one companionship is quite massive, buts it´s all good, we still have the soles on our shoes! (for now..) Anyways we had another good time with our investigator Rueben this last week, he has already gotten most of the lessons and is just waiting until he can get married in two weeks before he can be baptized. Most of the members don´t believe us when we tell them he´s not a member, since he already looks and talks like one. In nearly every lesson we´ve had with him when we ask him what he knows about the subject he explains it all as if he was reading it from the pamphlet! Oh well, the spirit teaches, not us!
We also had a great experience on Sunday when everyone met up in their stake centers in Mexico to hear a special message directly from the general authorities! It was very cool so see two seventies and even an apostle speak Spanish to everyone! Amazing they can work so hard to learn a new language with all their other responsibilities! Anyways, lots of great stuff going down here in San Luis Potosi, if you could all please pray for Sherlinne, she is getting ready to be baptized next week, and she is very enthusiastic about it!
Thanks for all of your thoughts, letters and love, they all help to forward the work down here!
Monday, November 5, 2018
November 5, 2018 (Week 57)
Wow, what a truly incredible week! These past 7 days feel like sonly two or three, and yet we have been blessed with so much! On Tuesday I met up with my new companion, Elder Penteado (de Brasil) and we headed off to whitewash the Fresnos ward in San Luis Potosi.
Turns out even though the area didn´t have missionaries for nearly a month there are a ton of people that are extremely prepared to hear the gospel. One of them was Alexis, a 17 year old who had gone to church even while the missionaries weren´t here. And he was simply so prepared that we were able to share all the lessons and he was able to be baptized on Saturday!
It meant so much to his family, especially his dad who was a member since childhood and was very happy to have his son accept the gospel. Anyways, we have truly seen the hand of the lord at work here, we cannot say we are thankful enough! There definitely is a merciful and powerful God that works for every one of us personally and cares for our salvation!
Love,
Elder Varney
Turns out even though the area didn´t have missionaries for nearly a month there are a ton of people that are extremely prepared to hear the gospel. One of them was Alexis, a 17 year old who had gone to church even while the missionaries weren´t here. And he was simply so prepared that we were able to share all the lessons and he was able to be baptized on Saturday!
It meant so much to his family, especially his dad who was a member since childhood and was very happy to have his son accept the gospel. Anyways, we have truly seen the hand of the lord at work here, we cannot say we are thankful enough! There definitely is a merciful and powerful God that works for every one of us personally and cares for our salvation!
Love,
Elder Varney
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| Elder Varney, his new companion, Elder Penteado, and their convert, Alexis |
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| Alexis and his family |
Sunday, November 4, 2018
October 29, 2018 (Week 56)
Elder Varney had a shortened P-Day this last week due to him getting emergency moved out of his current area - all is well, but he did not have a lot of time to send out an update, so here is a abridgement of his weekly letter:
But for now We´re with the assistants in the Colinas ward, which is actually super cool and we´ve seen so many quite amazing miracles in our short time here. The biggest one of these was that they were able to baptize this last week, which was the first time the assistants have been able to for a long time. And it ended up being part of God´s plan because their district leader couldn´t come to do the interview, so I was able to do it for them instead! super great blessing for us all.
Elder Ethan is doing well - keep up the prayers on his behalf!
Sunday, October 28, 2018
October 22, 2018 (Week 55)
Another one bites the dust...
The time is flying by down here, it is true what they say, after completing a year the time flies! And speaking of biting the dust, our new house of prayer is bigger and prettier than the old one, but the rooms are so big that they each collect a ton of dust throughout the week, so we always help out the family that is assigned to clean it each week.
This week he had almost all the floors mopped up when one of the three year old's dumped out all the mop water and reversed all the work we did. Oh well!
One of the things we have seen this week as we've invited people to baptism is that it is the natural desire of our spirits to want to make commitments and covenants with the lord. After the lessons where we invited the investigators to be baptized they each mentioned how it was something that they had the desire to do for a while, but just didn't know how/where to satisfy that spiritual hunger, until they experimented with the gospel.
There are many signals and signs that show when/if a person is willing/ready to accept the invitations of the gospel, signs that the person is willing to put of the desires of the natural man and follow the quiet subtle desires of the spirit.
Anyways, that's my rant for this week, be sure to pray for hermana Gloria, Yudit, and Elizabeth so they can continue following the path of the gospel, I love you all!
-Elder Varney
The time is flying by down here, it is true what they say, after completing a year the time flies! And speaking of biting the dust, our new house of prayer is bigger and prettier than the old one, but the rooms are so big that they each collect a ton of dust throughout the week, so we always help out the family that is assigned to clean it each week.
This week he had almost all the floors mopped up when one of the three year old's dumped out all the mop water and reversed all the work we did. Oh well!
One of the things we have seen this week as we've invited people to baptism is that it is the natural desire of our spirits to want to make commitments and covenants with the lord. After the lessons where we invited the investigators to be baptized they each mentioned how it was something that they had the desire to do for a while, but just didn't know how/where to satisfy that spiritual hunger, until they experimented with the gospel.
There are many signals and signs that show when/if a person is willing/ready to accept the invitations of the gospel, signs that the person is willing to put of the desires of the natural man and follow the quiet subtle desires of the spirit.
Anyways, that's my rant for this week, be sure to pray for hermana Gloria, Yudit, and Elizabeth so they can continue following the path of the gospel, I love you all!
-Elder Varney
Sunday, October 21, 2018
October 15, 2018 (Week 54)
This week was full of lots of opportunities, first off we had lots of experiences with prayer, when our plans had failed we acknowledged that it was what the lord had planned and said a fast prayer together to be shown where to go. In every case we were able to find people that had been prepared to listen to the message, the "chosen"-if you will. We've been seeing a lot of the influence of the spirit preparing people in their lives, we had two lessons where the investigators said they had felt this specific feeling that is "hard to describe" before and knew it was something good.
And last of all, I had the opportunity to give a baptismal interview where I heard a powerful testimony of how the lord really has prepared people over the course of a year, in this case over 20 years, to know that the church is true immediately when it is presented to them.
Anyways, love you all, thanks for your prayers, have a great week!
-Elder Varney
And last of all, I had the opportunity to give a baptismal interview where I heard a powerful testimony of how the lord really has prepared people over the course of a year, in this case over 20 years, to know that the church is true immediately when it is presented to them.
Anyways, love you all, thanks for your prayers, have a great week!
-Elder Varney
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| Elder Varney and his Companion at a branch activity with one of his youth investigators. |
Sunday, October 14, 2018
October 8, 2018 (Week 53)
I like to call these weeks the ¨Christmastime¨ weeks, not because of Christmas but for the same anticipation I get for general conference that I got when I was a kid from Christmas!
Ok, that´s a pretty strange comparison, but of well, now as we reflect this whole week had prepared us to receive revelation from our prophets during conference. One thing we noted was how many times we noticed forgiving others in the conference talks, which we can apply since we have faced a lot of opposition from the family members of our investigators really persecuting them for listening and coming to church with us. It was quite hard/frustrating to have that happen again and again with several people who were progressing very well, but now we can see that in order to progress we must forgive, which has made it easier to see the hand of the lord working with us.
Other little miracles we have been seeing is that in every seemingly arbitrary place where we are, the Lord has given us great opportunities in the form of people. The best example happened in between the sessions of conference on Saturday; we were simply sitting on a bus stop and started talking with the man next to us, and it turned out he was a former investigator. We invited him to the next session of conference, and he came and as it turns out the missionaries who´s area this was had been recently looking for him. There truly is a heavenly father who knows the best for us, we simply must follow his will as he reveals it to us through his prophets!
Have a great week full of the spirit!
-Elder Varney
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| Elder Varney surveying his area |
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| The skies "opening up" after General Conference |
Sunday, October 7, 2018
October 1, 2018 (Week 52)
Swarming success...
This week was had lots of well-deserved blessings for many people in the branch. First off, we finally found a new house of prayer, which was almost new, the only problem was that it had been sitting around uninhabited for a while so there was a huge wasp hive on the balcony. The day when we went to help clean and get the house ready we pointed out the hive to an older hardworking sister in from the branch, and she just narrowed her eyes and said "I'll take care of it..."
We had to leave shortly after but the next day when we came back to finish cleaning the hive was completely gone and the balcony was full of dead wasps... Anyways, on another note we've had more success with teaching the youth we've found, our only challenge right now is convincing their parents to let them get baptized, we still need to meet formally with each of their families, but we're fasting and praying that their hearts may be softened and allow their kids to get baptized.
Anyways, things are nice and chill here in the villa, talk to y'all next week, thanks so much for all the thoughts and prayers!
-Elder Varney
This week was had lots of well-deserved blessings for many people in the branch. First off, we finally found a new house of prayer, which was almost new, the only problem was that it had been sitting around uninhabited for a while so there was a huge wasp hive on the balcony. The day when we went to help clean and get the house ready we pointed out the hive to an older hardworking sister in from the branch, and she just narrowed her eyes and said "I'll take care of it..."
We had to leave shortly after but the next day when we came back to finish cleaning the hive was completely gone and the balcony was full of dead wasps... Anyways, on another note we've had more success with teaching the youth we've found, our only challenge right now is convincing their parents to let them get baptized, we still need to meet formally with each of their families, but we're fasting and praying that their hearts may be softened and allow their kids to get baptized.
Anyways, things are nice and chill here in the villa, talk to y'all next week, thanks so much for all the thoughts and prayers!
-Elder Varney
Sunday, September 30, 2018
September 24, 2018 (Week 51)
Pozole, flirt2convert, & en el medio del viaje…
Hey there everyone! We had many great opportunities to find new ways to teach people better this week, the entire zone conference and the interviews were based on improving our teaching, and it was super nice to have each of the points we focused on in improving as a companionship we saw fulfilling needs in nearly every one of our appointments!
We´ve also had lots of success with the teenagers we are teaching from the ¨biker gang¨ many of them have lost focus and not kept the commitments, but two of them, Carlos and Marco, are really going against the trend and even though they had to give up many of their friends they have really chosen the right and will be baptized very soon!
We´ve also had some unexpected extra success with another one of our youth investigators, she had been learning very very fast and progressing when on Saturday she asked if she could bring her boyfriend to church with us. We kind of rolled our eyes and said yes, but it turned out that Fernando her boyfriend, is very spiritual and progressed extremely fast at church and of all things was most interested in family history! Flirt to convert does work! (at least for now...)
Anyways, we´ve also found two previously unknown former investigators and each of them love to feed us their Pozole every time we stop by, which is very nice and filling the first few times, but to eat it two times a day is almost impossible! Oh well, we´ll keep truckin´on!
-Elder Varney
Hey there everyone! We had many great opportunities to find new ways to teach people better this week, the entire zone conference and the interviews were based on improving our teaching, and it was super nice to have each of the points we focused on in improving as a companionship we saw fulfilling needs in nearly every one of our appointments!
We´ve also had lots of success with the teenagers we are teaching from the ¨biker gang¨ many of them have lost focus and not kept the commitments, but two of them, Carlos and Marco, are really going against the trend and even though they had to give up many of their friends they have really chosen the right and will be baptized very soon!
We´ve also had some unexpected extra success with another one of our youth investigators, she had been learning very very fast and progressing when on Saturday she asked if she could bring her boyfriend to church with us. We kind of rolled our eyes and said yes, but it turned out that Fernando her boyfriend, is very spiritual and progressed extremely fast at church and of all things was most interested in family history! Flirt to convert does work! (at least for now...)
Anyways, we´ve also found two previously unknown former investigators and each of them love to feed us their Pozole every time we stop by, which is very nice and filling the first few times, but to eat it two times a day is almost impossible! Oh well, we´ll keep truckin´on!
-Elder Varney
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| Familia Rico de la rama, super awesome family! |
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| Nuevo maca! (Special Hammocks made in Mexico) |
Monday, September 17, 2018
September 17, 2018 (Week 50)
Hey there everyone!
This last week was pack full of miracles for us! First off this "biker gang" of kids/teenagers tuned out to be super super great, we've been able to meet with all of them consistently every day of the week and they understand and believe almost everything very easily! it all reached a peak when we brought seven of them with us to church, it was a great boost of energy to the branch!
In other news we may have found Forrest Gump, or perhaps one of the three Nephites. There is a man named Ted who we always see just walking on the same street, he has a big beard and always wears the same baseball cap and jacket every day, and one day this week we saw him five different times at different hours of the day in completely different parts of the city! Just another fun little quirk of this pueblito.
Anyways, thanks for all your prayers and thoughts, they help us out a ton down here!
-Elder Varney
This last week was pack full of miracles for us! First off this "biker gang" of kids/teenagers tuned out to be super super great, we've been able to meet with all of them consistently every day of the week and they understand and believe almost everything very easily! it all reached a peak when we brought seven of them with us to church, it was a great boost of energy to the branch!
In other news we may have found Forrest Gump, or perhaps one of the three Nephites. There is a man named Ted who we always see just walking on the same street, he has a big beard and always wears the same baseball cap and jacket every day, and one day this week we saw him five different times at different hours of the day in completely different parts of the city! Just another fun little quirk of this pueblito.
Anyways, thanks for all your prayers and thoughts, they help us out a ton down here!
-Elder Varney
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| Proclaiming the Gospel... To the whole city! |
Saturday, September 15, 2018
September 10, 2018 (Week 49)
A house of prayer...
Another good time in el campo! As a Bienvenida for my companion to the branch, the owner of the house of prayer where we hold the sacrament meetings told us we have one week to move out, so now the hunt is on to find a new house of prayer... But I'm sure the Lord will provide, we simply need to exercise our faith.
In other good news we got in touch with the local biker gang, that is the local twelve year old biker gang. We found two of them outside an investigator's house and they accepted the first contact we made with them, and when we met up with them the next night the two kids brought the rest of their crew, about eight kids in total, to "hear what god wants to tell us."
It was super sweet and they are all super interested and sincere, we were able to have two lessons with all of them two days in a row and they were all super excited about prayer, so it should be pretty sweet!
Thanks to all of you for exercising your faith in prayers, they are in action out here!
-Elder Varney
Another good time in el campo! As a Bienvenida for my companion to the branch, the owner of the house of prayer where we hold the sacrament meetings told us we have one week to move out, so now the hunt is on to find a new house of prayer... But I'm sure the Lord will provide, we simply need to exercise our faith.
In other good news we got in touch with the local biker gang, that is the local twelve year old biker gang. We found two of them outside an investigator's house and they accepted the first contact we made with them, and when we met up with them the next night the two kids brought the rest of their crew, about eight kids in total, to "hear what god wants to tell us."
It was super sweet and they are all super interested and sincere, we were able to have two lessons with all of them two days in a row and they were all super excited about prayer, so it should be pretty sweet!
Thanks to all of you for exercising your faith in prayers, they are in action out here!
-Elder Varney
Monday, September 3, 2018
September 3, 2018 (Week 48)
Esperanza en la villa
This last week was pretty crazy, in a good way. For the first time in a while, almost every day we got back home super tired, a good sign from all the awesome work we achieved. We set a goal to find at least 20 new investigators, and in the end we were able to find many more than that, nearly every one with lots of potential.
In particular one day we were praying to find more hope (esperanza) as an attribute of Christ we were trying to develop, and that day we found a lady whose name is literally Esperanza! The Lord is pretty ironic in his answers. And it got better, because it turns out Esperanza has 20 children, 39 grandchildren, and at least 12 great grandchildren. And we got nearly half of them from her as references.
Superb blessing and they have a ton of real intent in the gospel, so we really saw the lord raining down bendiciones on us! The only trouble we are still having is getting people to church, it is still really hard for them to understand the concept of the commandment of the day of rest and to make the sacrifice to go to church, please pray for help with going to church so they can participate in the gospel!
Anyways, thanks so much to y'all and all your sacrifices and prayers for us out here, nos vemos!
-Elder Varney
This last week was pretty crazy, in a good way. For the first time in a while, almost every day we got back home super tired, a good sign from all the awesome work we achieved. We set a goal to find at least 20 new investigators, and in the end we were able to find many more than that, nearly every one with lots of potential.
In particular one day we were praying to find more hope (esperanza) as an attribute of Christ we were trying to develop, and that day we found a lady whose name is literally Esperanza! The Lord is pretty ironic in his answers. And it got better, because it turns out Esperanza has 20 children, 39 grandchildren, and at least 12 great grandchildren. And we got nearly half of them from her as references.
Superb blessing and they have a ton of real intent in the gospel, so we really saw the lord raining down bendiciones on us! The only trouble we are still having is getting people to church, it is still really hard for them to understand the concept of the commandment of the day of rest and to make the sacrifice to go to church, please pray for help with going to church so they can participate in the gospel!
Anyways, thanks so much to y'all and all your sacrifices and prayers for us out here, nos vemos!
-Elder Varney
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| Random art that Elder Varney found in his area |
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| ...More random art |
Friday, August 31, 2018
August 27, 2018 (Week 47)
Chuggin' on!
This last week was one of the most challenging I've had in a real long time, but as he always does, the Lord showed us the fruits of our hardships at the very end. This last P-day president Hernandez had the idea to do the interviews while we were playing soccer and basketball, and of course when he is there everyone seems to get injured, with at least three sprained knees and an ankle and lots of big ugly scrapes on my knees. Everyone left super exhausted and we suffered they physical consequences the next few days, piled on with the fact that two of our families that were progressing dropped out of the teaching pool.
Then we extended a baptismal date to our near perfect investigator Julio, who said yes but then told us he'll be moving to San Luis Potosi in two days. Things were pretty rough until on Saturday on a last minute appointment we found a former investigator's family and taught all of them, and the two ten year old boys basically taught their parents what it means to act upon faith, so they all committed to make the sacrifice to come to church and read the Book of Mormon every night! Super great end to the week.
Well, as it turns out I am staying in Villa Juarez for another transfer, I'll be receiving Elder Arce who is from Bolivia, he is super great and loves to work, so we'll be able to se some great fruits in this branch with this new change! Thanks for all of your prayers and inspiration that you all share with me, it works!
-Elder Varney
This last week was one of the most challenging I've had in a real long time, but as he always does, the Lord showed us the fruits of our hardships at the very end. This last P-day president Hernandez had the idea to do the interviews while we were playing soccer and basketball, and of course when he is there everyone seems to get injured, with at least three sprained knees and an ankle and lots of big ugly scrapes on my knees. Everyone left super exhausted and we suffered they physical consequences the next few days, piled on with the fact that two of our families that were progressing dropped out of the teaching pool.
Then we extended a baptismal date to our near perfect investigator Julio, who said yes but then told us he'll be moving to San Luis Potosi in two days. Things were pretty rough until on Saturday on a last minute appointment we found a former investigator's family and taught all of them, and the two ten year old boys basically taught their parents what it means to act upon faith, so they all committed to make the sacrifice to come to church and read the Book of Mormon every night! Super great end to the week.
Well, as it turns out I am staying in Villa Juarez for another transfer, I'll be receiving Elder Arce who is from Bolivia, he is super great and loves to work, so we'll be able to se some great fruits in this branch with this new change! Thanks for all of your prayers and inspiration that you all share with me, it works!
-Elder Varney
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| Elder Varney's Last District |
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August 20, 2018 (Week 46)
Wow, I guess the church really is true!...
Another week of good 'ol grinding with the work in Villa Juarez, this last week we've had great experiences with using the spirit to help people really realize the need to change their living to see the blessings of the gospel. We've been able to do that mostly through the Book of Mormon, but in particular we had a great experience with a family that has had many problems physically and with relationships inside the family, but with just using the first three chapters of 1st Nephi they told us at the end of the lesson that they felt a spirit of peace and unity they had never felt before.
On Sunday we had an interesting time when the electricity failed in the house of prayer so we had the sacrament meeting in the primary which has the only window to let light in the building. Then we had a sweet talk from an eleven year old in the branch, everyone, even the kids, are used to giving talks and Manuel told us how after he was baptized one day he asked heavenly father to answer his prayer if the church was true, and then he told us how after going to one of his friends churches he realized and said to himself, "Wow, the church really IS true!"
Hehe, and interesting but very powerful testimony. Anyways, transfers are next week, we'll see how they go, most think I'll be going back to San Luis Potosi, which would be nice, but who knows!
Love you all!
-Elder Varney
Another week of good 'ol grinding with the work in Villa Juarez, this last week we've had great experiences with using the spirit to help people really realize the need to change their living to see the blessings of the gospel. We've been able to do that mostly through the Book of Mormon, but in particular we had a great experience with a family that has had many problems physically and with relationships inside the family, but with just using the first three chapters of 1st Nephi they told us at the end of the lesson that they felt a spirit of peace and unity they had never felt before.
On Sunday we had an interesting time when the electricity failed in the house of prayer so we had the sacrament meeting in the primary which has the only window to let light in the building. Then we had a sweet talk from an eleven year old in the branch, everyone, even the kids, are used to giving talks and Manuel told us how after he was baptized one day he asked heavenly father to answer his prayer if the church was true, and then he told us how after going to one of his friends churches he realized and said to himself, "Wow, the church really IS true!"
Hehe, and interesting but very powerful testimony. Anyways, transfers are next week, we'll see how they go, most think I'll be going back to San Luis Potosi, which would be nice, but who knows!
Love you all!
-Elder Varney
Saturday, August 18, 2018
August 13, 2018 (Week 45)
We've been having a good time in all the pueblitos out here. It is quite interesting to see the church out here, of course the church is the same and always true in whatever part of the world, but the people are sometimes interesting...
For instance we arrived at one of our food appointments to find the member coming back from the veterinary clinic with his sick dog, but later his dog began to get better and he explained to us how he knew he couldn't give it a blessing, because he didn't yet have the Melchizedek priesthood, but instead he fasted for three hours and that seemed to do the trick.
Another member told us he built an altar where he offered sacrifices in the form of his artwork he does of Jesus; I often wonder how they come up with some of these things. Anyways, in other news we've had a good miracle with another family of investigators; we've been teaching Hermana Kenia for about a month and she loves the Book of Mormon, but her husband was never there in the appointments. But on Friday he approached us asking how god could help him with his health and work problems, and we were able to teach him how the Book of Mormon can help him with all of those things, and now we are able to teach the whole family together and they are much more willing to progress!
We've also had a good zone conference where we concentrated on the power of the Book of Mormon and the three different parables of the lost sheep, the lost money, and the prodigal son and how they apply with less actives and old investigators, very very powerful!
Anyways we're just chugging along down here, thanks for all the love and letting me know how each of you guys are doing!
-Elder Varney
For instance we arrived at one of our food appointments to find the member coming back from the veterinary clinic with his sick dog, but later his dog began to get better and he explained to us how he knew he couldn't give it a blessing, because he didn't yet have the Melchizedek priesthood, but instead he fasted for three hours and that seemed to do the trick.
Another member told us he built an altar where he offered sacrifices in the form of his artwork he does of Jesus; I often wonder how they come up with some of these things. Anyways, in other news we've had a good miracle with another family of investigators; we've been teaching Hermana Kenia for about a month and she loves the Book of Mormon, but her husband was never there in the appointments. But on Friday he approached us asking how god could help him with his health and work problems, and we were able to teach him how the Book of Mormon can help him with all of those things, and now we are able to teach the whole family together and they are much more willing to progress!
We've also had a good zone conference where we concentrated on the power of the Book of Mormon and the three different parables of the lost sheep, the lost money, and the prodigal son and how they apply with less actives and old investigators, very very powerful!
Anyways we're just chugging along down here, thanks for all the love and letting me know how each of you guys are doing!
-Elder Varney
August 6, 2018 (Week 44)
Diligence brings forth blessings...
Well, this week was another one of new and perfect experiences to enjoy and to learn from. We had to learn much from diligence early on when three of our former investigators who were progressing simply decided they didn't want to listen anymore. We could've gotten discouraged completely but just kept on trying, and the lord brought us great people towards the end of the week.
One of those new people are a young couple that run a store near our house, we had always known them as friendly people but never really talked much with them, but this last Saturday we got into talking about differences in religion out of the blue, and we promised to bring them a Book of Mormon the next day. On Sunday when we came to bring them the book they were excited and said they had been waiting for us, and later as we passed by on the street we saw them in their shop completely absorbed in reading the Book of Mormon! That sure was a sweet feeling!
Another thing we've seen is the power of the Book of Mormon to completely respond to conflicts. We've had three instances where people told us in lessons that we taught the same thing as all the other churches and that there was nothing new, but simply with two or three verses of the Book of Mormon the people who moments before wanted to contend were left without anything to say other than to agree to read more of the book!
Ha, the lord sure does work in mysterious and sometimes pretty amusing ways! Anyways, thanks for all your prayers and love, talk to ya next week!
-Elder Varney
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
July 22, 2018 (Week 43)
Burning the time away...
It has been good to get back into the good villa Juarez, and it has stopped raining every day recently, but now that means that it is getting pretty hot during the day, which you notice but don´t really realize until someone gave us a ride and the thermometer in th car read 101 degrees...
But anyways, its been a good learning time trying to get people to keep commitments, a lot of people just are choosing to not follow the example of Christ, even though many of them know it is right, but it is good because for everyone who doesn´t want the message the lord gives us another who is fresh and willing to hear.
One funny story before I leave off, we´ve been going to many little pueblitos that are far away to go after new references, and there the people really aren´t used to seeing a white person, and one older lady asked me ¨Hey, are you gringo (American)? Well, yes, yes I am. And how does that feel to be gringo? Well, just like how it feels to be another regular person, I suppose. Yes but, but...¨ Lots of fun awkward times when the people are dumbstruck that you can understand them.
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But anyways, just keeping on going hard out here, thanks for all the love!
-Elder Vaney
July 30, 2018 (Week 44)
This past week was a pretty dang solid one. We got working hard on finding lots of new people with potential, focusing a lot on individuals and families that have a reason to be interested in the gospel. We were having pretty normal results, when out of the blue one of the members who lives in one of the furthest always pueblos called us and asked us if we could teach his son.
Turns out it was a miracle from the Lord, because he was super prepared and committed to reading the Book of Mormon and going to church all in one lesson, and then he actually made the hour and a half trek in the buses to come to church! He´ll be in Mexico city for the next week visiting his family, but we got him an appointment to visit the visitors center in the temple in Mexico city!
In other news our branch is finally able to start up the self reliance classes so now we can start the pilot program and contact people in their businesses about coming to the church to get the self reliance classes. We first contacted a guy we know who has a shop, and right when he saw the pamphlet he asked us for five of them and gave them to all of his friends, and told them that he knew that these are the best administration classes in all of Mexico! Who knew! The Lord really, really prepares people!
Anyways, I love each and every one of you, see ya next time!
-Elder Varney
Turns out it was a miracle from the Lord, because he was super prepared and committed to reading the Book of Mormon and going to church all in one lesson, and then he actually made the hour and a half trek in the buses to come to church! He´ll be in Mexico city for the next week visiting his family, but we got him an appointment to visit the visitors center in the temple in Mexico city!
In other news our branch is finally able to start up the self reliance classes so now we can start the pilot program and contact people in their businesses about coming to the church to get the self reliance classes. We first contacted a guy we know who has a shop, and right when he saw the pamphlet he asked us for five of them and gave them to all of his friends, and told them that he knew that these are the best administration classes in all of Mexico! Who knew! The Lord really, really prepares people!
Anyways, I love each and every one of you, see ya next time!
-Elder Varney
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| Elder Varney and Elder Magana (his "Brother" from the same trainer |
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| Rainbow in Mexico! |
Saturday, July 21, 2018
July 16, 2018 (Week 42)
This week has been full of little miracles all over the place! In the district meeting I wanted to have a testimony meeting for everyone at the end but everyone started talking a lot on a subject and we lost almost all of the time, but inside of the discussion everyone ended up sharing their individual testimonies anyways!
Me and Elder Wakley found a man who at first seemed like a normal contact but I ended up sharing the whole restoration with him in 2 minutes and at the end he told us he felt that it was true. Quite a miracle! And lastly we were waiting for a bus on Saturday to take us back home but nothing came for half and hour, but the hand of the lord ended up being in play because we found someone from the other stake who was nervous about going on a mission and hadn't submitted his papers, but we were able to encourage him enough that he left and scheduled an interview to send in his mission papers right after our conversation!
Anyways, there really have been lots of seemingly small but rich blessings every day, and we are so thankful, especially for your guys' support!
-Elder Varney
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The last District meeting before the new transfers
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Elder Varney and the two other American Elders in his District
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Elder Varney and his temporary Companion - Elder Wakely
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Elder Varney catching a "little snooze"
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July 9, 2018 (Week 41)
**Dad note - Elder Varney had a sick companion that made it so he had no posts until July 16. All is well, so please jump to that week for his latest update and pictures...
July 2, 2018 (Week 40)
**Dad note - Elder Varney had a sick companion that made it so he had no posts until July 16. All is well, so please jump to that week for his latest update and pictures...
Thursday, June 28, 2018
June 25, 2018 (Week 39)
Good times in the villa...
This week was full of good stuff, we had a good lesson with Irving and the spirit was very strong, and it ended up being one of those funny stories when we got talking about the true church of christ, it went like this, "hermano, would you like to be a part of this church?" "Well yeah, but there isn't one around here now is there?" "Well, hermano, we have a chapel here in villa juarez and we meet at 10:00." "oh... well that sounds pretty good!" Next we invited him to be baptized by someone who has the authority of god, and he answered: "Well yeah,but there isn't anyone here that has it, now is there?" "Well, hermano, we have the preisthood, and that is the authority of god." "Oh.... Well then yeah, for sure!"
He then told us how he had a dream where the virgin Mary appeared to him on a wall, but then he heard a voice telling him to follow the real truth, and he looked up and saw Jesus. Good times! Anyways, we had another good experience when we contacted one person and they were apparently impressed by us so she gave our number to all her friends and six people ended up calling us and we ended up getting appointments with all of them.
Anyways, the rain still isn't stopping, almost every day at the same time a new wall of water appears, but at least we don't get flooded like they do in Aguascalientes city... Anyways, thanks for all your prayers, they carry us through!
-Elder Varney
This week was full of good stuff, we had a good lesson with Irving and the spirit was very strong, and it ended up being one of those funny stories when we got talking about the true church of christ, it went like this, "hermano, would you like to be a part of this church?" "Well yeah, but there isn't one around here now is there?" "Well, hermano, we have a chapel here in villa juarez and we meet at 10:00." "oh... well that sounds pretty good!" Next we invited him to be baptized by someone who has the authority of god, and he answered: "Well yeah,but there isn't anyone here that has it, now is there?" "Well, hermano, we have the preisthood, and that is the authority of god." "Oh.... Well then yeah, for sure!"
He then told us how he had a dream where the virgin Mary appeared to him on a wall, but then he heard a voice telling him to follow the real truth, and he looked up and saw Jesus. Good times! Anyways, we had another good experience when we contacted one person and they were apparently impressed by us so she gave our number to all her friends and six people ended up calling us and we ended up getting appointments with all of them.
Anyways, the rain still isn't stopping, almost every day at the same time a new wall of water appears, but at least we don't get flooded like they do in Aguascalientes city... Anyways, thanks for all your prayers, they carry us through!
-Elder Varney
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| The "Daily Wall of Water" as Elder Varney calls it... |
June 18, 2018 (Week 38)
This week was a wet and a pretty good one. We spent half the week in aguas to finish elder Lopez's recuperation and for the zone conference with elder Pino from the seventy. The conference was real good, we learned how to focus everything we do on baptizing and a new way to invite people to be baptized. Later that day it began raining, and didn't stop for 3 days straight, the roads became rivers!
As we approached Villa Juarez in the bus, the whole place was covered up with a a cloud, and just being outside for one minute got us all soaked. I felt like I was in Utah again, but instead of snow it was rain. But anyways we got a great miracle because even though we were gone for a week and a half we were able to pick right up with all of our investigators, and got three of them on a baptismal date, and got them to sacrament meeting.
All in all, the lord opened up the windows of heaven, in more than one way! Anyways, thanks for all your support spiritually, they work!
Love,
Elder Ethan Varney
As we approached Villa Juarez in the bus, the whole place was covered up with a a cloud, and just being outside for one minute got us all soaked. I felt like I was in Utah again, but instead of snow it was rain. But anyways we got a great miracle because even though we were gone for a week and a half we were able to pick right up with all of our investigators, and got three of them on a baptismal date, and got them to sacrament meeting.
All in all, the lord opened up the windows of heaven, in more than one way! Anyways, thanks for all your support spiritually, they work!
Love,
Elder Ethan Varney
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| Elder Wakley getting soaked out in the rain |
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| Biggest freaking concha I've ever eaten in Mexico (Mexican Sweetbread) |
Thursday, June 14, 2018
June 11, 2018 (Week 37)
The lord loves to keep us on our toes...
But it's good! This last week we had a good time finding super good hidden little nuggets of new investigators and less actives who are really in tune with the spirit of the lord. Unfortunately, in the middle of all this at 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning elder Lopez woke up with super intense pain, and a few hours later at the hospital they told us he had appendicitis, that they were going to operate in an hour. It was super crazy trying to coordinate between the mission presidency and Elder Lopez's family, but luckily everything was planned by the lord and it all wound up fine.
For now we are staying here in Aguascalientes city with the zone leaders for Elder Lopez's week of rest, but luckily I had the opportunity to go back with Elder Wakley to Villa Juarez for Saturday night and on Sunday to see how everybody is doing. It was super great, Elder Wakley was in Villa Juarez six months ago, so it was good and very spiritual to visit all the people that he knew, and to also introduce him to some new people.
It has been a crazy week going to different places almost every day of the week, but it has all simply built up the faith in the lord that everything will work out fine in the end! Thanks for all your love, thoughts and prayers, they carry us out here!
-Elder Varney
But it's good! This last week we had a good time finding super good hidden little nuggets of new investigators and less actives who are really in tune with the spirit of the lord. Unfortunately, in the middle of all this at 2 a.m. on Wednesday morning elder Lopez woke up with super intense pain, and a few hours later at the hospital they told us he had appendicitis, that they were going to operate in an hour. It was super crazy trying to coordinate between the mission presidency and Elder Lopez's family, but luckily everything was planned by the lord and it all wound up fine.
For now we are staying here in Aguascalientes city with the zone leaders for Elder Lopez's week of rest, but luckily I had the opportunity to go back with Elder Wakley to Villa Juarez for Saturday night and on Sunday to see how everybody is doing. It was super great, Elder Wakley was in Villa Juarez six months ago, so it was good and very spiritual to visit all the people that he knew, and to also introduce him to some new people.
It has been a crazy week going to different places almost every day of the week, but it has all simply built up the faith in the lord that everything will work out fine in the end! Thanks for all your love, thoughts and prayers, they carry us out here!
-Elder Varney
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| Elder Varney at Zone Conf |
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| More at Zone Conf |
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September 9, 2019 (Final Post)
HE IS HOME! Here is some final pictures that his Mission President sent just before he came home:
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Good times in the villa... This week was full of good stuff, we had a good lesson with Irving and the spirit was very strong, and it ended... -
Leave things better than you found it! Or at least that's my motto with areas in the mission, and its what we were able to do this las... -
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 Wa...