John's letter 1/27/14

Hey family!

I am glad you all had a good week; we had a rather good one too. Mary looked really good in her pictures, I’m glad she had fun. I still can’t believe she is old enough to be dating and going to dances! Well coop sounds a lot like another kid you guys dealt with... but it’s okay he will learn a lot from that. Oh and Brooke’s dance looks like it went well and she had lots of fun. Dad you’re going to have to let me know how your hearings go, that’s crazy 10 in one week. Good luck! Mom I hope your back starts feeling better, I’m glad you’re able to do normal things now. How is school going?

Well we continue to see success in our area slowly but surely. We have the members getting excited about the missionary work and that is the key. I know once we get all of their confidence the area will take off. We received 4 references this week, and had various members came with us to visit, including the bishop! The only bummer is we still haven’t seen the reflection of our work in getting people to church, but it is improving. And it’s going to take off any week now. I am excited to be where I am with the comp that I’m with. 

Today we traveled to Queretaro; my comp had an interview with President. I am really glad that we went. I got to see a little part of the city, and it’s really cool. But more than anything, after my comps interview President pulled us, the assistants, 2 of the secretaries and some zone leaders that happened to be there into his office and we just kind of talked about the mission for a couple hours; where it’s going, and some of the issues we see in it. It was a really good experience, he talked a little about the numbers and how we compare to other missions here in Mexico. We do a lot better than everyone thought. Then he talked about the goals he has put for the mission. Which in fact are really high, if we got them we would have to times all our numbers by like 3-5 times. But then we showed us how much we are progressing, and some examples of missionaries in the mission who have accomplished many of them. The message that hit me the hardest is one I already knew but needed to be reminded. We set our own limits. And a lot of times we lack the faith to accomplish the things we want to accomplish. But if we want something and we put everything we possibly can into it we can do it, and what we lack the Lord will make up for us. Many times even as missionaries we lack the courage to just open our mouth and talk to strangers about the gospel. We make things more complicated than they need to be. 

One thing that my comp and I wanted to do the last transfer was when we got on the bus to make an announcement that we are missionaries and we teach about being baptized the same way Christ was. And ask if anyone was interested. But we kind of chickened out. Well today coming back from our trip to Queretaro I finally did it. And honestly nothing really turned out of it. No one raised their hand or gave us an appointment, but we gave out about 20 invitations to go to church this Sunday. We saw no immediate results but we sure felt good, we completed with what the Lord expects of us as missionaries, to open our mouth and share the gospel. We put the goal to do that on every bus we get on for the rest of the transfer. We may or may not find anyone through it but I know the Lord will bless us for our faith and doing what he has commanded us.

Well I love and miss you all, have a great week,

Elder Utley

December 9 & 16, 2013

December 9, 2013

Hey family!

Well I was shocked to open my inbox and find a bunch of pictures of a snow covered St. George! That looks really fun. I can’t believe they cancelled church, that is crazy. And I also got the picture of the backpacking trip, I was a little jealous, where did you guys go? Was it Zions? I can’t believe you guys are finishing your semester of school; it seems like just yesterday that you were starting again. 

This week was kind of interesting. I had an ingrown toenail, which I have never had before. And I didn’t realize until it was already infected and hurting a lot. And I didn’t want to go to the doctor so I tried to take it out myself, but was unsuccessful. It was beneath the skin and I couldn’t get to it. But I tolerated it for a day. And then I could hardly even walk to we finally went to the doctor. They put anesthesia in my toe and cut it open and took everything out. They did a really good job. But they cut it to the point that they told me not to walk for a day and then try not to walk much. And it was easy to follow their instructions cause it was kind of painful. So we were in the house all of Thursday, it was super boring. But I am going to finish Doctrine and Convents soon and that was kind of exciting.

So we had doctors’ appointments Wednesday and Friday and rested Thursday. We didn’t get a whole lot done. We did see Jorge and put his baptismal date again, but he didn’t go to church so we are going to have to see what happens there. We did get one of the husbands of a member of our ward to go, and we are teaching their son as well. They seem pretty excited to I hope we can get them going more. The problem is that they have a lot of fear to be baptized. 

We also had transfers this week. And it was a testimony that prayers are answered. I wasn’t going to be able to stand my comp for 6 more weeks. I know it might be wrong that I was praying for that, but I am really relieved. He is a good kid and a hard worker but I couldn’t get along with him very well. 

The big news is that I have my first American comp! His name is Elder Craig, he is from San Diego California, and he has 4 months in the mission. He seems like a really cool kid, he runs track and loves baseball. And apart from that is just really excited to be on the mission and work hard. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good transfer! 

This week we have a special zone conference and Elder Johnson (of the 70) is coming to the mission to teach us. He is the area president of México. So that is going to be really cool. I don’t know if we will have a conference for Christmas or not, but I imagine that we will. We still haven’t received any information about the Skype calls for Christmas and I’m not sure how it’s going to be with our new president, but I will let you guys know when I know something. 

Well that’s about it for this week. I want to leave you my testimony that the church is true, that Jesus is the Christ and He lives and loves us. That the Book of Mormon is the word of God and we will grow closer to him by applying the principles that are found in it more than any other book. That we have a living prophet and apostles on the earth. And that God knows and loves us.

I look forward to talking to you all in a couple weeks, I love and miss you all

Elder Utley

December 16, 2013

Hey family!

How is everyone? Sounds like you all had a good week. Is coop still playing soccer? I haven’t heard anything about that. Oh and you guys told me that Real Salt Lake made it to the finals but you never told me who won. By the way I heard that Léon won the championship here in México, that is kind of cool. I can’t believe Christmas is coming so fast, and that this year is going to end. Is it still super cold there, is there still snow? I am assuming so because of the pictures you sent. Here December is like perfect weather.

That also means the Skype call is coming up, we still haven’t heard anything about it from the mission, so I could change but my companion and I are planning on doing it Christmas Day sometime between 5 and 7. Would that be okay?

Well this was a really good week. We worked really hard and saw a lot of results. We still didn’t get many people to church but we are getting there. We had a couple of really good references and we are going to contact them this week. We are getting the ward involved, and we have a lot of help from the stake president’s family who lives on our ward. We also got a new ward mission leader called which is going to help a lot. He is really excited and one of my favorite members.

The conference with Elder Johnson was really good, Elder Ortiz who is also a 70 actually came as well, and he is going to come just to the Irapuato Stake this week! That should be really good. We learned a lot about how to work with the members and how got get their help and support in the ward. And just as importantly how to get references, which is actually working. In 2 days after the conference we got 3 references which is pretty much unheard-of.

I really like my comp Elder Craig, the computer I’m on isn’t working right but I will send a picture of us next week. We do speak a lot of English but it’s been good I need help with my English. And I help him a lot with his Spanish. President said we should speak English because if we don’t we will forget it and then when we get home we will forget Spanish. But if we can practice switching off from one to the other we will have good retention.

We have had a lot of experiences about following the spirit this week. I have learned that we should not question if a prompting is of the spirit or if it’s just one of our thoughts. We should just do it. And we did do it this week and we saw a difference. The other thing is if it’s something we shouldn’t do we just feel empty; we don’t feel anything in our heart. And we had an experience like that this week as well. I know the Lord is guiding and protecting us. The 12th was day of the virgin here in México and it is evidently really dangerous, and we are both Americans, which doesn’t help. We had an appointment in a rather dangerous area and the appointment fell though. When walking back to the house we turned down a street that would have made our route a lot faster and we take it almost every night, but we got ten steps into it and I felt empty. I knew we couldn’t walk down that street. I realized I will probably never know what would have happened if we walked it that night, but I don’t need to. Learning to recognize and follow the spirit is one of the hardest things for me to understand. And I am sure I still lack a lot, but I was thankful this week to know that god was guiding me and my companion. I undoubtedly felt his love. I know I am his son, and we are all his sons and daughters. He loves us. And he has trusted us with his spirit and we must do his will.

I miss and love you guys

Elder Utley

December 9, 2013

Hey family!

Well I was shocked to open my inbox and find a bunch of pictures of a snow covered St. George! That looks really fun. I can’t believe they cancelled church, that is crazy. And I also got the picture of the backpacking trip, I was a little jealous, where did you guys go? Was it Zions? I can’t believe you guys are finishing your semester of school; it seems like just yesterday that you were starting again. 

This week was kind of interesting. I had an ingrown toenail, which I have never had before. And I didn’t realize until it was already infected and hurting a lot. And I didn’t want to go to the doctor so I tried to take it out myself, but was unsuccessful. It was beneath the skin and I couldn’t get to it. But I tolerated it for a day. And then I could hardly even walk to we finally went to the doctor. They put anesthesia in my toe and cut it open and took everything out. They did a really good job. But they cut it to the point that they told me not to walk for a day and then try not to walk much. And it was easy to follow their instructions cause it was kind of painful. So we were in the house all of Thursday, it was super boring. But I am going to finish Doctrine and Convents soon and that was kind of exciting.

So we had doctors’ appointments Wednesday and Friday and rested Thursday. We didn’t get a whole lot done. We did see Jorge and put his baptismal date again, but he didn’t go to church so we are going to have to see what happens there. We did get one of the husbands of a member of our ward to go, and we are teaching their son as well. They seem pretty excited to I hope we can get them going more. The problem is that they have a lot of fear to be baptized. 

The big news is that I have my first American comp! His name is Elder Craig, he is from San Diego California, and he has 4 months in the mission. He seems like a really cool kid, he runs track and loves baseball. And apart from that is just really excited to be on the mission and work hard. I have a feeling it’s going to be a good transfer! 

This week we have a special zone conference and Elder Johnson (of the 70) is coming to the mission to teach us. He is the area president of México. So that is going to be really cool. I don’t know if we will have a conference for Christmas or not, but I imagine that we will. We still haven’t received any information about the Skype calls for Christmas and I’m not sure how it’s going to be with our new president, but I will let you guys know when I know something. 

Well that’s about it for this week. I want to leave you my testimony that the church is true, that Jesus is the Christ and He lives and loves us. That the Book of Mormon is the word of God and we will grow closer to him by applying the principles that are found in it more than any other book. That we have a living prophet and apostles on the earth. And that God knows and loves us.

I look forward to talking to you all in a couple weeks, I love and miss you all

Elder Utley

December 2, 2013 Happy Birthday to Cooper!

Hey family!

First of all I want to with Happy Birthday to Cooper!!!! I can’t believe he is going to be 13. Everyone is going to be so much bigger when I get home. Tell coop I love and miss him and to have a fantastic birthday. So when does everyone get off of school? What are the plans for Christmas? I am excited to talk to you guys.

We don’t really have any plans for Christmas yet. But a few people have invited us to have dinner with them. That is the big thing here, the 24th they have a huge dinner and then they sleep really late the 25th. And they just spend it with their family. One thing I am really excited for is they have little festivals in each neighborhood here and they have their friends over for dinner. Which we usually get invited to so we will eat really well this month! The dinner is always pazole or tamales with ponche. Pazole is a corn based chile type dish I don’t really know how to explain it but it is corn based and it have meat from pigs or chicken. And they put lots of spices and salsas in it and once it is served each person puts lettuce, onion and some other spices in and makes it how they like it, and you eat it with tostadas which are basically tortilla chips but it’s the whole tortilla it’s not in chip form. Tamales I think you guys know what they are, but they are a little different here, I particularly like the sweet ones, they make them in flavors of strawberry, pineapple, etc. And ponche is like apple cider but they put a ton of different fruits in and they fruit comes as part of the drink. So you drink it and they eat the boiled fruit, it’s a little odd but super good. 

Thanksgiving wasn’t anything special. I actually completely spaced that it was thanksgiving until about 630 when we got to one house and one of the sisters asked me about it. And I had to think a little and then said oh your right that is today. But it was really cool because she bought us little Caesar’s pizza and ice cream, so that was our Thanksgiving dinner ha ha I enjoyed it. She also invited a friend to the lesson and we started teaching her. So that was the best part, and the friend seems really excited. She didn’t go this week because the sister traveled and didn’t go either but I am really hoping they both go next week. 

Jorge didn’t go to church, I don’t really know what happened but he called us in the middle of it and he felt kind of bad and put an appointment in the afternoon, but then he wasn’t there for the appointment... His baptismal date fell. But I think he will get back on track and we will just move the date back a week.

We have transfers coming up this weekend, it will be interesting. I don’t think I will be moved, but maybe they will move my comp. Time went by really fast this transfer.

Well that’s about it for me. I just want to share my testimony of the Book of Mormon. I have been studying about the Book of Mormon a lot this week. I have understood why Joseph Smith said "it is the keystone to our religion" and "without it we have no religion". It is nearly impossible to become converted to Christ and have a testimony that this is the true church without reading and having a testimony of the Book of Mormon. I testify of the words of Joseph Smith when he said "a man will come closer to god by reading it and living by its principals than any other book over the face of the earth". It truly is a guide for our lives. It helps and comforts us in the most difficult times and inspires us in the best of times. 

I love and miss you all,

Elder Utley 

November 25, 2013

Hey family!

How is everyone? Sounds like a little busy but that’s good. I can’t believe its thanksgiving this week. It doesn’t seem as weird to me as it did last year. I won’t be celebrating it but it’s the last one I will miss. It doesn’t actually feel like thanksgiving to me either. And I am seeing tons of Christmas stuff but it hasn’t quite hit me yet that is almost Christmastime. I think part of me doesn’t want to admit that the year is going to end; it’s my only full year in the mission. And in the next one I have to come home.

I got to go on splits this week to my old ward here in Irapuato. I was a little bummed because only one of my converts was there, but he told me his family is doing well and I saw the family of one of the other ones and she is doing good too. But I did get to see a lot of the people that we worked with while I was in the area. It was super fun to see them again. The funny part was when I arrived at their houses one of the first things they asked was how much time I had left to go home. I told them I still had a lot left but the more I thought about it the time is really flying. And it kind of scares me, the thought of going home. I think it’s going to be more or less the same as leaving. Exciting, but really scary, and I won’t really know what to expect. But the good part is that I don’t have to worry about that as long as I am here. And it’s helped me stay motivated to finish out strong the more that people tell me that “voy de salida”, or I’m "on the downhill".

Today we went to OfficeMax and we saw some people from the States. It was really funny because I was actually kind of nervous that they would talk to me because I know my English is suffering and they spoke it normally. My comp was definitely making fun of me.

Anyway this week went pretty well. We still didn’t get the people we thought were going to church to go. But we have one investigator that just showed up by himself last week and went this week too, whose name is Jorge. He is really awesome, he has gone through some super rough stuff in his life and he is trying to put it back in order again. I think he has like 45 years. He has a baptismal date for the 21 of December. It was kind of cool to see that even in the people we really wanted to go didn’t that the Lord was blessing us. But I am not content because I’m sick of just having 1 or 2 people that are preparing for baptism. I want to have more, and families preparing. And the frustrating part is that we are teaching 3 really good families, we just haven’t got them to church yet. So we are looking at things we can change so that our circumstances change. But meanwhile I think we are learning a good deal of patience.

Anyway we are working hard and I am happy to be working with Jorge. He is really humble and willing to change and be a better and different person. It inspires me when people are willing to make that change in their life, and motivates me to find more people like that. 

Well I have been thinking a lot this week about our role as missionaries, as I read the articles about hastening the work and watch the videos they have given to us as missionaries. The more I read the more I realize the work has so much less to do with us (the full time missionaries) than the members, and even we, think. We are only a tool given to the ward to teach the people they find and prepare. But so many times it works the other way around. The members think that they are a tool the missionaries use to help the investigators. I know it’s not like that. The part the members play is the most important and sometimes the hardest. But the church will not progress only by the pure incentive on the missionaries’ part, the members have to take incentive. 

So I want to invite each one of you who reads my letter this week to find someone or a family and prepare them, and invite them to hear the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Most of the time we complicate our job. But in Doctrine and Covenants 100 verse 5 it says "Therefore, verily I say unto you, lift up your voices unto this people; speak the thoughts that I shall put into your hearts, and you shall not be confounded before men;" All we have to do is open our mouth, and we have the promise that we will not be confounded. It’s so much easier than we make it, we just have to trust in the lord and speak the thoughts he will put in to our mind in the precise moment.

So I challenge you to open your mouth and speak. To share the gospel with at least one person before this year ends.

I love and miss you all

Elder Utley

November 18, 2013

Hey Family

Sounds like you all had a great week. Mary seems to be going on lots of dates these days. And Coop has a tournament this weekend? Tell Brooklyn hi for me and thanks for sending her emails with moms. Mom told me that she had midterms already; I can’t believe that this month has passed so fast. We are almost in December! Dad I still haven’t gotten a picture of the beard!

Well this week was interesting. It was really busy but we didn’t accomplish a whole lot in the area... On Tuesday we had a 4 hour zone conference... super long, but it was good I think I learned a lot that I can start applying in my area. On Wednesday we had interviews with the mission president, which went well, but they took up the whole morning. And Thursday my comp hit his head on a piece of metal that was sticking out of the wall in the street, and he cut his head open pretty bad. So we were in the hospital the whole day. And the next day (Friday) we had the interview of Manuel and had to go to the hospital again to fill out all the paper work. It was a mess. And one of the streets in one of the neighborhoods in our area has a fair amount of blood! They put one giant stitch in him that is like an inch and a half long. I think they should have put 3, but it worked. It wasn’t long but the cut was deep and that was the problem. It was interesting. But he is doing good now, except for the fact that they cut his hair down to almost nothing and his is really self-conscious about it.

Anyway we had Manuel’s baptism on Saturday and it was a mess getting it all set up (as normal.) No one in the ward wanted to help us with anything (again normal...).  But, we finally got everything figured out and the baptism went really good. The bishop baptized him and I will send a picture.

My favorite part of the baptism is that we assigned Manuel to give his testimony after the ordinance. He talked about how he couldn’t share it all in a few minutes, but that his whole life he had been looking for the truth going from church to church and reading the bible. But nothing ever filled the emptiness in his heart or answered the questions that he had. And he said that the emptiness was filled and the questions answered as he found the church. And that the Book of Mormon helps him understand all of the questions he had. It was a really powerful testimony. And he says he is going to go on a mission in a year!

So that was the highlight of the week. We also put 5 baptismal dates but the people didn’t go to church so they all fell through. I am getting a little frustrated with people telling us that they will go and then they don’t come through on the commitment. But I guess that’s our work as missionaries. I hope for this week we will be able to help them get there. 

I have been reflecting a little on the Book of Mormon and the simple truths of the gospel. It is true that the Book of Mormon answers all the questions of the soul. And we have it right in front of us but sometimes we don’t take the time to read it. I have learned a lot from Manuel, more than any other investigator I think. He has amazed me how he takes those simple truths and applies them so quickly and without doubt. He knows God will complete his promises. And then he opens his mouth and isn’t afraid to share what he knows. Even before he was baptized he came with us on visits and shared his testimony.

We should never be afraid to share the simple truths that we know. And we should trust in the promise that the Lord has given us that we will be blessed for opening our mouths and sharing what we know, and that we will not be confounded before men. I love the scripture in Doctrine and Covenants 58:31 that says:  “Who am I, saith the Lord, to have promised and not fulfilled".  I know He cannot make a promise and not complete it. When we feel like the Lord is not completing a promise we should first look at ourselves and see if we are not doing our part. And second have patience because the Lord’s time is not our time.

Have a fantastic week! I love and miss you all

Elder Utley

11/11/2013

Hey family!

How is everyone? Sounds like Brooke had quite the fall. That picture looks pretty nasty. But I guess that means she was having fun, and sounds like everyone else is really busy. I like the Movember idea, sounds pretty cool, dad you will have to send a picture with your beard! 

Well this week was pretty good. We worked really, really hard. We had a ton of lessons; we put a couple of baptismal dates and had 10 new investigators. We are trying to work better with the ward, we got the bishop to visit a family with us, and the stake president is going to visit with us tonight. It’s kind of cool that the stake president is in our ward, and willing to help us.

Manuel is going to get baptized this week so that is exciting. He is super ready. He says he wants to go on a mission in a year and he was participating in all the classes and stuff on Sunday. He is definitely one of the most prepared investigators that I have had my whole mission.

The only disappointment is that we committed 15 people to go to church this Sunday and only 4 went... I was super bummed. We had 3 families that said for sure they we going but none of them went. The good thing is that we have a lot of work and we are definitely going to see lots of progress in this area.

I don’t really know what else to tell you guys. I have been thinking about the story of Enos in the last few days. About when was the last time our souls hungered? And about sincere prayer. Many times we fall in the habit of prayer, that it’s just something we do in the morning and night. But when we can really have a sincere prayer, with real intent, and "cry" unto the Lord like Enos instead of praying or talking to him, that’s when we will see real changes in our lives. 

I love you all, have a great week

Elder Utley