First Letters Home

Elder Hugo Rodriguez 11-28-18 November 28, 2018 10-31-18 Hello Sister Blackburn, I arrived at the Provo MTC all well. Tell my mother that i love her with all my heart and I'm safe as can be. Also tell her that ill give her a call as soon as i can. I love you also. Things here are so different than just being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ out in the world. I'm filled with all these emotions but mostly just excited and nervous. Feeling a little sad that I left everybody. I'm sorry for not doing that video you wanted at the very end but i just couldn't do it. So just checking in with you all, meeting so many new elders and sisters it almost feels weird. Are you able to send me all the email addresses you have because i totally forgot about them. I need the truetts,and president weirichs especially. Tell megan to email me at the end of the week because i don't her email. I love you all. TELL EVERYONE IM DOING GOOD PRETTY PLEASE!!!! 11-3-18 Sorry about that... these computers are kind of sketchy here 😂 but i just wanted to share a little message with you all. I want to share 5 steps that need to happen to us (missionaries) before it can happen to others: 1. Pray more earnestly 2. Study more deeply 3. Repent more sincerly 4. Experience a mighty change of 💙 5. Feel His Spirit and obey I can testify to you that as we experience these things,even before we go as missionaries and members to investigators or even to the world,we can have a better understanding the love Jesus Christ has for us. Even also, it makes us remember why we are here on this earth. We are nothing without Jesus Christ ( Alma 26:12) we always need to remember that, always keep Jesus Christ first. Thank you for all the support you have given me. Ill never be able to repay you all for that. I love you all. I hope everything is going well for you and back home. Feel free to send me pictures and other stuff. IF YOU WANT to send me stuff at the MTC heres the addressThe mtc address is make sure to use the whole thing: Elder Rodriguez 11-19 (is my departure date) MEX-AGUA 2005 North 900 East Unit 91 Provo, UT 84602 11-10-18 Hello fellow Brothers and Sisters, Its been a good time here at the MTC in Provo! Its nice seeing Elder Packard's beautiful smile and face here with me! I know that we both know that we have a purpose here on this earth that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ made for us. Anyways i know that my Spanish is going to be insanely good when i get back to Texas! so y'all better be ready to know some Spanish when i get back there. Its crazy how much i fell in love with the scriptures here at the MTC, I love every word in the Book of Mormon it seems like, all the words are making more sense to me just in these past few days. Im so glad im here. Im so grateful to be a tool in God's hands, and Im so Thankful for all the support from you guys at home! My companions and I already have taught three lessons to an Investigator( or someone is who interested of the church). The First Lesson was over the Restoration, went pretty well for us, but after that I knew that the guy was just a person like me trying to the truth of the world, my words came out more smoothly... it was like pure magic. It was incredible. The next few lessons were just follow up questions. We gave the investigator commitments or compromises to end each lesson such as read the intro. of the Book of Mormon, Read Alma 32, which talks about faith in Jesus Christ and so on.. Tonight for our class we have to teach our teacher for 15 minutes which is not bad at all, i cant wait for it! I literally cant wait for the future! Im so excited to go out to the mission field, but as the days get closer i get more nervous... hahaha But alright peeps i gotta go do some stuff!! Ill report back to you Saturday💙 11-17-18 Hey just letting you all know that this upcoming wednesday ill be out in the Mission field, Time has gone so quicky here at the MTC. Im glad i got to experience the Provo MTC. Once in a life time thing. AGAIN thank you for all the support from back home! Love you all! Ill send out an email as soon as I get to Layton. Hope my visa doesnt take too long. Elder Rodriguez 11-26-18 Hello Brothers and Sisters, I got to the Utah Layton Mission on Wednesday around 10. Hopped on the bus leaving the mtc around 8 or so. Had lots of things going through my mind, honestly really didnt want to go to Layton. But it was a neat experience traveling on the first train in my life to Layton. As soon as we got to the mission home President Call and his wife were waiting for us in the front of the building. They both shook our hands and said hi to each of one us as we walked in. we walked into the gym of the building. They put sheets of papers all around the walls of the gym with our names on them, so i found my name and put my luggage by my name. As i looked around i saw some bagels and stuff to eat. That morning i didnt eat any breakfast so i was starving. So i ran over there to get a bagel and stuffed my face with it. But after awhile Sister call wanted to talk to every new missionary that arrived that morning. She called me up and wanted to know about me. I noticed she had a packet with all this information about me. She asked me if my parents were members? If i played sports in high school? whatd i like to do on my free time? i was very surprised that she didnt ask me if i had a girlfriend 😂 but i escaped the questionnaire feeling good! Next she walked me to the Presidents office!!!! I was actually pretty excited about that. As soon as i walked into the room he asked me, "Elder Rodriguez, why are you here?" and i became teary eyed and responded that I love my Saviour Jesus Christ. I told him also that i was here to help him in anything that he needed. I felt embarrassed as i left his office because i dont usually cry like that. But President Call is a really good guy and i like him. What i realized is that im so much more emotional that before this mission, i dont like it all but its okay i guess. President also told me that Heavenly Father has sent me here for a reason and that changed the whole aspect of the temporary assignment. What he said has helped me a lot. Its hard to believe that I dont have even a week out and im falling in love with this and the people. So, the night i got here my companion and i had a lesson! i was so nervous and scared. But as we went a long with the lesson i felt the holy ghost guide us both towards a very good lesson. It was amazing, loved it. But the investigator was kind of stubborn and a very strong catholic so the message didn't really get through to him as we wanted it to get through but we felt good about our lesson. I felt good about my first fetchin lesson. So then Thanksgiving came, didnt know what i was going into. Thanksgiving was amazing, all six of us elders ate 7 dinners!!!! It was awesome but it was way too much food for us. After the 2nd dinner i was full but we had 5 other dinners to attend. Met all the families in the ward. Sorry that i dont remember all their names but theyre so sick and awesome!! I already love them so much. Im still getting used to knocking doors and the missionary lifestyle, this is all new to me but Elder Swihart and i have found like 5 new poeple to teach. Elder Swihart is such a stud, hes so awesome and helpful. Thank goodness he was my first companion, hes already 15 months out so he pretty close to be going home but im for sure going to remember him throughout my life, So thankful for him being my trainer in this first transfer!!! I have been learning a lot of new stuff about the mish, all the elders here say the word, Fetch, its pretty contagious. Im pretty sure im going to be saying that word so much after i leave layton. I miss you guys at home so much yall dont understand. I love you all and im eternally grateful for all the support you all have given me. Ive been handing blessings left and right but the elders in my zone just tell me to get used to it because as missionaries we give so many blessings out. so yeah I love you all back home and Gracias por todo que hacen por mi, no tienen idea como me siento por ustedes. Ustedes van hacer mi familia para siempre. LOS AMO SIncerely, Elder Rodriguez