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Hey family!

Sounds like you all have had an amazing week. Me too! Tell the kids thanks for the letters. And mom and dad thank you for the letters as well, they were especially good this week.

Well I got toms last later, it really affected me. I still can’t see the mission ending. But it has been the hardest, most rewarding, best experience of my life. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. And his letter put everything in perspective again. It does end, so I will take advantage of every moment while I am here. It sounds like he has grown a ton, and I am happy for him. Tell him congrats for me. He reminded me of a motto I have tried to live in my life. No regrets.

Well this week was awesome! Numbers wise it was the best in my mission. We found 7 new investigators. Including a young man that will be baptized this Saturday. He is active in the church but was never confirmed; he got baptized 4 years ago. So we are going to do the ordinance again. We have been working with his family since I got here, they are really awesome. We are actually going to teach them tonight and then have cake and celebrate a little for my birthday. We taught a ton of lessons this week. We are seeing little miracles daily. Even when some of our plans fall through. I am as happy as I have been in my mission and possibly as happy as I have been in my life.

We also found Luz this week and she went to church. She is excited to be baptized on the 3rd of August. She is doing really well. Her daughter is a little confused but we will work with her this week and hopefully she can be baptized with her mom.

Today was a fun day, the sisters in our district made a cake and we had a little get together with everyone in the district this morning. And then we rented what looked like Flintstone cars, but they were pedal powered, and had races. It was really fun.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes. I will be excited to celebrate the next one at home with all of you guys! But I am really discovering the joy of losing myself in the work, and today there is no place I would rather be than in good old Celaya Mexico!

I know the church is true. Christ lives and loves us, and is willing and anxious to bless us, but we have to do our part. For every commandment there is a blessing, the more we obey the more blessings we get.

I love and miss you all

Elder Utley

Bajo del cuchillo and Recovery Week

Hey Family

Sounds like you guys have had a buys week and a busy summer. That’s really exciting that Mary got her license, it seems like I just barely got mine. And Coop started acceleration, tell him to work hard, that really helped me. He also told me they might drain sand hollow? What’s that all about? Anyway, good luck at girl’s camp this week. Hope you guys get some good fishing in too.

Well I don’t have a whole lot to tell you guys this week. Surgery went well, it was kind of freaky to have it done here, not to mention it’s the first surgery I have ever had. But everything turned out okay.

The president came on Friday but it wasn’t really to visit me, we had a special zone conference to get to know our new president. And he definitely knows who I am ha ha. He was super nice, and his family too, they were all very concerned. He seems like a really good mission president, and a good guy. I was very impressed. I learned a lot at the conference and the spirit was really strong.

Anyway we got back from the hospital on Wednesday and just slept and rested. Then we slept most of Thursday morning. Then we went in a taxi to an appointment and again in taxi to the food with the members. And we actually had another appointment that night, and as we stopped a taxi a member offered us a ride. So that was nice. And on Friday we got up normal and studied and went to a few appointments, I got brave and started taking buses cause taxis are expensive, and in the afternoon we had our zone conference and I got to rest during that. And starting Saturday we started working like normal again. It’s been rather amazing how fast I have recovered. But I guess we get some special blessing as missionaries to be able to do what we do.

Luz and her daughter didn’t go to church and we couldn’t see them this week. We are super bummed because her husband prohibited her from going and listening this week. But her friend that gave us the reference is going to talk to her and her husband and see what they can do, because she and her daughter really want to listen and change.

On Sunday we had kind of a cool experience. One of the young men in our ward got his appendix taken out. And I was able to share a little of my experience with him and some of the thoughts I had. And I think it really helped him and his family.

I talked to them about a scripture in 2nd Nephi that talks about how it’s necessary that there is opposition in all things, and that we have to experience pain and trials to know good health and happiness. And a quote from Elder Eyring that talks about when everything is going good in his life he prays to the Lord and says give me mountains. All trials happen so that we can learn something, and are the best way to learn in this life. That’s why the Lord allows them.

I have been grateful for this experience, it has allowed me to exercise my faith and realize the testimony I have of the gospel and of this work. It would have been really easy to just go home, take time to recover, it would have been comfortable and I would have had my family to help me. I could have gotten back into swimming to lose the weight I need to so that this doesn’t happen again, and gone back to normal life. But I realized my work here isn’t done yet, and I don’t even have the desire to go home. I want to share what I know, and I still have a lot to learn in my mission. And I have actually been more excited to work and share the gospel since all that happened. It helped me realize my purpose here and testimony and I am grateful for it.

But we should not wait for a trail to come to be humbled like that. Like Alma taught in Alma 32, the people were blessed because they were humble. But they were poor and cast out and that’s why they were humble. He said even more blessed are those that done have to be compelled to be humble.

Well I love and miss you guys, have fun with all the activities these next few weeks
Elder Utley

Hey family!

Well I am sorry you didn’t get my messages for a while last week. The place where we usually write was closed and we had to go to another but it wasn’t very nice and me and my companion both had problems with messages not sending. But the good thing is it got there. Sounds like you guys have had a buys couple of weeks. But, lots of fun. Before you know it the summer will be over and everyone will be back to normal schedules!

So mom told me she got into nurse practitioner school! Congratulations!!! When do you start? What are the hours like? Where is it?

Well my week was good. I have been feeling good. I got my stiches out this Thursday, I was going to do it Saturday but the skin started healing over the stitches and it was really hurting. And its healing really nicely, it doesn’t look too bad even though the scars are big. The bummer is that there is a ton of scar tissue underneath and it all hard and feels kind of funny. But the doctor told me that will mostly go away with time.

As far as the work goes, we had a decent week. I still took it kind of easy but we worked like normal. We had problems with all of our appointments falling through this week, at least with investigators, but we visited a ton of less actives and new converts. We had a goal for 40 total lessons this week, but we ended up having some activities of service and district activities, which took up a lot of time. But we still had 30, and I am content with that because the mission standard of excellence is 25. My comp has been awesome. He had the same surgery so he can really relate and that experience really helped us become friends really fast. We have been working really hard. Bummer is that he will probably get transferred in the next transfer the first week of August...

Anyway we got to teach a few new investigators, and we taught one lesson to Luz and Lucy and it went really well, we put a new baptismal date with them, and they were really excited but they didn’t show up to church, so we will have to go see what happened there. We were kind of bummed this week, we had 10 investigators commit to go to church and not one of them went... but they have their agency we can only invite. Apart from that we invited like 5 or 6 less actives who committed to come as well, and only one showed up. So in the sacrament meeting I was kind of bummed and thinking of what we can do better to get people to church, and how I could be better as a missionary. And I was just supper bummed that those people didn’t come. But about halfway in a family of 3 walked into the church and just sat down. I looked at my companion and he said they weren’t members. They ended up being a family that one of the members had invited about a month or two ago and today they just showed up. That is huge! And they are going to go again next week. We have an appointment Wednesday with them. It was cool to see that if we work hard the lord is willing to bless us even if the people we teach use their agency and don’t act according to what they know.

Well that’s about it for this week. I hope everything goes well with coops soccer camp and Mary’s EFY, and all the activities. The youth in our ward went to EFY last week and came back completely changed people it was cool to hear all of their experiences. (They do EFY for stakes and they have all the stakes in the mission go to one EFY together)

I love and miss you all
Elder Utley

First week in Celaya

Hey family!

First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!! I hope it has been a great day! It is super cool that I get to write you on your birthday. What are you guys going to do? Hope everything goes well and have a great day!

Also I got a few pictures from the surprise party you threw for Mary, looked like a lot of fun! Tell her I want to hear from her on what it’s like when 2 worlds collide ha ha (I might know a little about that, but it was voluntary on my part.). How did coop like scout camp? It’s kind of a bummer it wasn’t a stake or scout camp for his first one, but I am sure it was fun none the less.

I hear you guys are trying to kill the family tradition of Escalante this year, again. I hope you get to go this weekend, tell Mary and Brooke that we go to Salt Lake all the time and Escalante only comes once a year.

Well this week went really well for us. I really like my companion he is a super hard worker and excited to have a new companion as well. This week we put 2 baptismal dates for Luz and her daughter Lucy. They found them 2 days before I got here, and we taught them 3 or 4 times this week, but even in a week I can see a huge change in them. The mom didn’t think that repentance was possible, but she is now super excited to get baptized and change her life. She has some things to change but is really excited. We also worked with a lot of members and had some good lessons, today and yesterday we received 3 or 4 references that we are going to work to contact this week. We taught 30 lessons and that was with a lot of time restraint, the mission goal is 25. Its super exciting to be here where there is so much work if we want it.

The ward is one of the biggest in the mission, the chapel was completely full and there were about 170 people there. I really like Celaya. I comparison to the other cities I have been in it is bigger. I think Irapuato is about two thirds of the size and Matehuala is about a tenth of the size. There are 2 zones here but just one stake.

Well that’s about it for this week, I just want to testify that this is Christ’s work, and his church. Because of his atonement we can repent, and receive help and guidance in difficult times, consolation in others, and be able to overcome weaknesses and make them strong points in our lives. (Ether 12 27) I know Christ lives and loves us and watches out for us. And that prayer is the basic for us to communicate with him, and that scriptures and church attendance are the basic forms to receive answers.

I love and miss you all. Again happy birthday mom,

Elder Utley

Baptism, 6/24/13 letter

Hey family!

Sounds like you have all had a pretty good week. First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARY!!!! I can’t believe you are sixteen! I remember that birthday and it doesn’t seem very long ago. Hope you have an amazing week, and a great day. Just know you are now the designated taxi driver of the family. But luckily, you only have 2 little siblings instead of three! So Coop went to scout camp, I didn’t get if it is a stake one or a ward one. Are they working on merit badges? I always loved those; I hope he has a lot of fun. So are mom and dad still running? Or biking? Haven’t heard much about what you guys are doing.

So this week was crazy, exciting, frustrating, happy, sad, and just about any other emotion you can think of. Things went really well my last week in Matehuala. The members were working with us, and we put another baptismal date.

We also learned that Rosario moved back in with her boyfriend... that was really tuff news. And it looked like she was going to do the same thing and not make a decision again. She wanted to live with him, but somehow still obey the law of chastity, so that her daughter would be able to live with both her parents. We explained that that just simply wasn’t okay nor would it happen. She was super bummed because she thought she had it all figured out. She still couldn’t decide so we asked if we could come by the next day when her boyfriend was there. She agreed. My companions and I did a special fast and a lot of praying for her. When we got to the lesson as you can imagine he wasn’t the happiest guy and had a lot of questions. We explained them, and the reasons why they couldn’t be like that. We used stories and scriptures and basically we were all just stuck. Then I felt like saying something that honestly he probably should have wanted hit me for, but I said it anyway. I very directly told him he was not setting a good example for his daughter, that if they wanted things to change between them then they had to change something, and if he sincerely loved his family that this was the thing to do. I was ready to get thrown out, but he sat their silently and then said “ok I will move out”. Rosario couldn’t make a decision but luckily he did. We then made a goal with them to get married in a couple of months, and for him to stop drinking. He has also been coming to church with them and he asked if he could keep coming. And he actually already had 15 days without a drink. We told him yes of course. And then Rosario said she wanted to follow through with that date. It was a small miracle, okay maybe a giant miracle.

So that Friday we had the interview at 4. And we had planned the baptism for 8 on Saturday. But while we were in the interview the zone leaders called me and said that me and both of my comps had changes and that we had to come to the conference with all of our stuff, and we wouldn’t be going back to Matehuala. I was freaking out, I had them call pres. and I sent him a message but nothing was going to change. They finished the interview and I told Rosario the news. She decided that she wanted to get baptized that very day at 7 (it was 5). So we flew to the church filled up the font, (which takes 2 hours) got the baptism stuff and everything else ready.

It ended up being one of the best baptisms I have been to. Her boyfriend came and both of them thanked us about 100 times for all that we had done for them. It was amazing. There was also a ward activity that night so a lot of members were there and they were both able to stay and make some friends in the ward. It also worked out nice because we got to say bye to everyone there. It was really sad, we all felt so loved by the people there, about half the branch was in tears. It really made me not want to leave.

But we did, (oh and she did get confirmed Sunday even though we weren’t there.) and we went to the zone conference the next day. It was really nice; president has done a great job. That night we got the changes, and they ended up closing my area (which I don’t get cause it was really starting to take off, but I guess the Lord knows why). And I was bummed about that. I don’t know what will happen with our investigators. Then I got my changes. And right now I am writing from the city of Celaya, Guanajuato. I am in one of the biggest wards in the mission, with some of the best member support. My comp is Elder Lopez, he is from Nicaragua. He has about 6 months in the mission. And my old comp is going to be a secretary in the offices. I am going to miss him.

Anyway that has been my week. Crazy but exciting (on top of being really sick the last couple days...). I am really happy to be in Celaya, which means I will be in the Queretaro mission. I actually got to pass through there today and the city looks really pretty, and huge. My comp seems nice, but he talks really funny and I don’t understand him that well.

Oh and I wanted to share a quote from the president’s wife that is about missionary work but it applies to all things, I really like it. She said ‘Pray like everything depends on the Lord, and work like everything depends on you!’

Well I love you all, I miss you

Elder Utley

6/17/13

Hey Family!

Sounds like it has been a really fun summer! You are all making me jealous with the boating pictures. I guess everyone is busy, Mary’s birthday is coming up, and with her new job, that is exciting. That is a good summer job. And coop with his soccer, summer games sounds like it was a blast. Tell him to keep working his butt off. 

So to clear up a little confusion, we receive the transfers this coming Sunday, and they happen next Monday. I am excited and not excited too, I know it’s very probable that I get changed and I am starting to really love it here and love the people. We finally have the trust of everyone and we have found like 8 new investigators in the last three weeks. The good thing is I have a great comp and he will keep up the good work. Also we have been in a trio for 4 weeks now, this is our 5th. We are actually covering two areas (which is good a bad, lots of work, not enough time) so when transfers come, Elder Finlay, who got added into our companionship when his comp had to leave, will get a new comp. And we think I will leave and my comp will get a new guy too, so both areas will have a companionship again. And the new missionaries started effecting last transfer, 16 got here with only 3 leaving so they opened like 7 areas, and it should be about the same this transfer as well. 

So this week was awesome. We have worked really hard for the last couple of months and it is slowly building up. Like I said we have found about 8 new investigators in the last 3 weeks, we are still teaching like 6 of them! We completed with the mission standard of excellence with 25 total lessons this week (which is not easy to do, but it counts less actives, investigators, and recent converts). We taught Rosario and she is going to get baptized this Saturday! And she came to church this week again. She is bringing her boyfriend to church but they are not living together right now. We are hoping to get them married soon, and I think he will get baptized with a little time. I really hope it goes through. We also had 13 less actives to church this week! This is a mission high for me. The most we had ever had before was 7. And the church assistance shot up about 20 people this week. It’s really fun to see all the fruits of 4 months of hard work, but like I said the bummer is we are finally seeing results and I think I will get transferred.

We also have a special zone conference this Saturday to say bye to our mission president. He is really great; it’s going to be sad to see him go. And on July first our mission splits, so I will know with these changes which one I will be in. It’s really weird to think I won’t be in the same mission as one of my areas, because I have been in both missions. I will let you guys know next week.

Well that’s about it for this week. I know that the church is true and that it is the only way to be truly happy in this life. I know by living the gospel principle our Father guides and blesses us. I know repentance is a gift, and such a vital part of this life, without repentance the Savior’s sacrifice would mean nothing. That is something we have been focusing in this week. And something I am trying to get better in. I would challenge you all to repent of whatever is necessary this week and go the church next week completely ready to take the sacrament, and have a spiritual experience.

I love you and miss you all

Elder Utley

Happy Father's Day

Hey Family!

How is everybody? Sounds like a fun week, with trek and all. I remember really loving it, did Mary like it more this time?

Happy Father’s Day dad!!! (I am pretty sure it’s this week right? if not early happy father’s day) Hope that you have a great one. Tell the kids they need to do something extra special for you! Thanks so much for everything you do for me! If it wasn’t for you I know I wouldn’t be where I am today. Love you.

Well the kids didn’t write, tell them to take like 5 minutes when they get on Facebook and write me ha ha. How did coops soccer try outs go?

So this week was a little rough because we were not able to find a lot of people. But the work is going good. It’s kind of hard having two areas to have to work in; they both kind of suffer a little bit. It’s also hard sometimes having 3 in a companionship because there are so many different ideas, but mostly cause its weird teaching in 3. But it’s going really well, we all get along really well and we are working hard and having fun too.

This week we got Rosario to church again, she is ready to be baptized; it’s just a question of when. She finally separated from her boyfriend, which is good, but it’s been hard on her and her daughter. So we haven’t put a baptism date with here yet but it will be soon we hope, she really wants to get baptized and says that she really like going Sundays to the church. We will see how it all goes.

The branch is doing a lot better, the church attendance is slowing going back up, and the leaders are actually starting to work again. We have also found some new investigators, finally, and they have been excited to know that. And to see some of the people we have been able to get to church or get back to church.

Today we also went to Real de Catorce, it’s a little hippie town about an hour from here. It’s really popular with tourists. It was super cool, there was a great view getting there, and then a tunnel about a mile long before you reach the town. The town just has a really cool look to it; I sent a photo that I hope you get. It shows a little of the city. I also bought that sweet jacket thing, and a really cool backpack. It was a fun day.

I know the spirit is real and that we need to do the right things to have it with us, and be in the right places. I know that the spirit leads and guides us and it is so important to keep with us.

Well I love and miss you all. Happy Father’s Day!
Elder Utley

Wedding, Baptism, Temple

Hey Family!

So how is everyone doing? I haven’t heard from the kids in a while, sounds like they have a little extra time now (hint hint). But sounds like everyone is having a great summer!

So is trek this week? Tell mom and Mary good luck, I loved trek. It will be a good experience. And tell Coop to work his butt off in tryouts. I heard a quote really loved this week that really goes with how I am trying to live my life and tried to live it before as well. They were talking about a motto (saying?) that is “NO REGRETS”. And someone said “There are only two types of pain in this life, the pain of hard work and the pain of regret."  How true that is, hard work is temporary and it pays off, but regret never goes away. 

So this week was definitely one of the best weeks of my mission. I sent a bunch of pictures, I hope you get them. To start on Wednesday morning we had the wedding of Maria Elena and Alberto. They are so happy. It was a little anti-climactic for me because they did it in the government offices and it was basically just reading of their rights as a married couple and signing things, but they were so excited and happy. Alberto came to me after and really thanked me for helping him take that step for his family. Then the next day we had the baptism of Maria Elena. She asked me to baptize here, which was a really cool experience. They are such a great family. The baptism actually went really well; there were a ton of branch members there and a strong spirit. Everyone that was supposed to showed up (late, but they came) and everything just went smoothly. Usually baptims are really stressful but not so much this time. Then after the baptism, the branch didn’t really come through with a party for them but one of the members that helped us with them invited us and them to his house for dinner and cake. It was a good day.

And on Friday night at 1230 we left for the temple in Monterrey. It was about a 5 hour bus ride (in a really uncomfortable bus, but we got there), and needless to say I didn’t sleep much that night. And we got to the city of Monterrey and I was awake, so I got to watch as we came in. It was the coolest city I have seen in Mexico and one of the coolest I have ever seen. It has a ton of mountains and the design is really well done in the city and it is well maintained. Anyway we got there and it was still dark and the temple was lit up which was really cool. Then we had to wait till 9 to go in because another ward just barely beat us there. But that was okay. Yesenia got to go in and do baptisms and she loved it. Unfortunately they have a temple rule that missionaries can’t do baptisms or confirmations there so we didn’t get to help... But we got to do a session, my first one in Spanish. It was really cool, it was exactly the same but I think I paid a little more attention and I learned a lot of things. And then they needed some people to help with sealings cause they didn’t have enough so I got to be a witness at some sealings, it was really cool. And we actually saw 2 brothers get sealed to their parents who are dead. There was a really strong spirit there, I had never seen a sealing before.

Anyway that was basically our week. And we found a couple of new investigators that look really promising. The only bummer is we have changes in 3 weeks and I think I will get changed so I might not be able to see everything through. But it’s been cool to see this area and this branch change from when I got here, things are really picking up and we are seeing a lot of success. 

Well I hope you guys have a great week, and enjoy the pictures. Thanks for sending the pictures of the lake and Mary and Brooke. It’s really fun to get those; they are both growing up really fast.

I love you and miss you

Elder Utley

Hey I forgot to mention we got put in a trio this week. Elder Finlay who lives above us is now part of our companionship. His comp had some problems and had to go to the offices in Léon. So it’s been interesting, it’s a little harder but he is a good kid and works hard. He has like 3 months left in the mission. Anyway that’s kind of weird being in a trio. But it’s the way things go.