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.

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

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

Baptism of Aydeé, performed by her boyfriend

Baptism of Aydeé, performed by her boyfriend

Almost all the elders from our mission generation!  (Elder Burton and Loyola are assigned to the offices)

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

In front of a big Cathedral in Matehuala

Elder Varney and the Missionaries in his Area

Elder Varney, Elder Dominguez and the Missionaries in Matehuala

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

Elder Domingez & Elder Varney

Part of Elder Varney's new Zone (1 of the 3 Districts)

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

Elder Varney's former District - He is now onto his new Zone!

Sherlynne and her Brother Alexis with Elder Varney & Penteado

Sherlynne and her Brother Alexis

Sherlynne and Alexis's Family 

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!

-Elder Varney