Chester made himself a new home!

Zone Leader Conference

Well I had an experience that is for sure. We played soccer on the beach in the morning and we always play without shoes but I went for the ball and I stepped on a piece of glass. I was just going for the ball that was right out side of the field. It started to bleed a little bit but then I just went home and washed it out and wrapped it up with some stuff mom gave me and I slid it back into place but I can still feel the little cut. So I learned  you have to look where you are going always, so you can get to your destination without harm. Now I relate this to our investigators, we have to help them see the whole picture or guide them and prepare them for lifes' unknowns such as temptations. That is our goal to have converts that stay strong and when they fall down they know how to get back up.   ( I just need to have someone tell me where the glass is at. ha! ha!) 

Command Central

Studying Hard!

Storm Brewing!

View from the roof

 Island Breeze keep coming.....

Welcome to the Blog of Elder Hunter Darren DeVries. I currently have served 14 months of my mission. Some call me an old missionary but we are really the youngest and hottest things that are in the mission. Ha! Ha! Alright well so life as a missionary has been awesome and I love every minute of it! We had a rough month in July because here in Carmen City, they bought a statue to worship for 7 million US dollars and they partied from the 15 of July to 31 of July. It was a difficult month finding new people with everyone partying  but we were able to pick the wheat from the tares. We have a few people coming up with a date for Baptism and we are excited for them!!! We have a lot of investigators just from contacting and we have a few part member families that we are teaching!!! Then to top it all off  The president of the Mission called us to be Zone Leaders. I still can't believe it because me and Elder Petersen are still together because he called us both. We are going on 5 months in the same house. We are loving it! We contacted a huge ADO bus while riding into Villahermosa and back,  it was awesome to feel like a real missionary and do that!!! We also are trying to get the members more involved and help us with the work here, because this is the Members work we are just here to help! I would like to invite everyone of you to read the Story of Joseph Smith in the Pearl of Great Price and then think how many of your friends haven't heard of that story, and more then anything haven't prayed to know if it is true. I invite you to write down your friends names and give these names to the missionaries with the direction of the house and go with them! Be a part of the RESTORATION!!! Love you  and I know you will feel the importance of the gospel if you do it! I got my package!!! I love the Dove soap! It is awesome but hot in Villahermosa!  It was a alright week, Zone Leaders do a lot of different things but we are getting used to it.

Elder Hunter Darren DeVries 

We had a really good week and we will continue to look for more people to teach. It is incredible to me that God has given me this many people to teach. We are trying to find more for August and we will continue to go and look for them. This week was pretty fun we had a 4th of July party and we cooked hamburgers. It was pretty good! Then we beat  a Captain America  pinata. Then the next day we had our baptism and it was amazing.  It was really good and simple but you could feel the spirit very strongly.Then the next day we had ward council and we talked about how the work was going in the ward. Then our mission leader Roberto told us that the Bishop likes us a lot and that he is starting to realize the importance of the bishopric helping us retain these converts!!! Made me happy to see almost all of our converts at church and we are struggling to find new people that progress but we are finding them slowly but surely!!! Love it and I cant believe I only have ten months left.... well oh yea and we had Zone Class and we sang only american hymns, but God Bless America 2 Nephi 10:11 13. Love you guys!!!

That is awesome mom!!! I am sooooo excited for everyone that is leaving on their mission. I think they will love it..... nah I know it!!! I think I am still getting the hang of being a missionary. I had to go to Villahermosa this last Tuesday for a Special Conference for District Leaders. So we went to the ADO where we traveled on the bus to every city in the mission, we were in a companionship of three. So I got the seat by a random lady and President had challenged us to contact everyone and a six hour Villahermosa trip ended up being a long contact. So after we past by Frontera, Tabasco I decided to start up the conversation and I am grateful I did. I was able to have the Holy Ghost as my companion and he taught a great lesson. It was the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesús Christ and I gave her a Book of Mormon and invited her to read it. She accepted and she was so interested. So I invited her to be baptized, she said Yes!!!! She said she would be baptized if the book is true and if the missionaries pass by and visit her. I got the reference and after the conference I asked  President if I could call the missionaries to pass by that day. He handed me the asissants cell phone and I called up the Elders. Now I don't know what happened from that point on but I do know she now has the opportunity to learn more about the góspel and know for herself that it is Gods Church! I know this work is His and I am happy to be a missionary! ​

June 21st Baptism Day!!!

June 28th Baptism Day!!!

Forever Families!!

We had a great week!! We had two baptisms this week and we are working to have a baptism this saturday and four baptisms for the 28th. We are so happy for our investigators. We baptisted a Dad and here daughter this week. His name is Luciano. He can't hear and yet he accepted the gospel of Jesus Christ!!! He read the whole book of mormon in a month and has already read the Bible 3 times and is half way through Gospel Principles, we teach him with a whiteboard. He fulfilled the scripture in Isaiah 29:18 and I am proud to be able to have helped him be baptized. But let us start from the beginning we were contacting one day and just as we were about to leave we hear a man from across the street. It was Luciano and he asked us if we could teach his daughters about God, and you know us we gladly took the chance from that point on we passed by every two days and only had to bring them to church once. Luciano made sure his daughters came with him. He had just had heart surgery so he had to stop his life long addiction four months before and he stopped drinking coffee the moment we told him. Now if you missed what I said He is deaf. So how did he see us from a house that only has one small window. I testify that God works and prepares people to listen to the gospel. I so testify that revelations have not stopped from existing much like the revelation found in Isaiah much like President Monson and his counselors give us direction today. We need to participate in the Work of Salvation! There are people, just look!!!! I promise that you will feel the joy that I feel if you leave behind yourself and put the Savior first. But I promise you will find your self in Him.

Rainy Season?

Love the sweet members!

I don't know

Chester the dog

Well Dad,

I am glad you think so highly of Elder Petersen and me, President is looking to find divine companionships and I think he wants to give us one more transfer together. I really think this might be  the transfer that we baptist more than 8 people!!! I am so excited and really the work is coming along. We are just doing what we are asked to do and seeing the blessing come!! We are excited to have so many family come into the gospel and to see the change that is happening in them. We are proud to be called missionaries. But we are still striving to be better for example, we just had the Stake Conference and one of my best friends that I met on the mission, Elder Bromley spoke. We have know each other since the MTC and his spainsh blows me away. It makes me want to be better and to continue to be the Lords Instrument. I really honestly can say I still cant believe I am a missionary. I still look at certain missionaries like o my good golly gosh, that is a missionary. Yet I am one. I believe the Lord always wants us to be better and to find the best in people so that we can use it for our benefit. I love this work and  I testify as a Servant of the Lord Jesus Christ it is true and I am grateful for everday that I have here!!! I love you so much!!! 

Elder DeVries

Alright lets start off by saying that this week was amazing in the sense that I slept a lot but terrible in the sense that I was sleeping because I was so sick. But we just made the best out of the sick moments of last week, with a few shots in the butt and some mexican medicine, and all that jazz. But really we are quite happy with the progress that we are making with our investigators. We had another soild week with 8 people coming to church from our Investigator pool, and they best of all is that they were two families. We are so excited for them because both families want to be baptized. One family is Lusiano and his two daughters. He read the Whole Book of Mormon and accepts all the doctrine, even though he can't hear. We write on a whiteboard to teach him. Also his daughters are super excited to get baptized and they are reading the Book of Mormon!!! Then we have the Family of a recent convert named Gerado. They are a family of 9 and 7 of them went to Church this Sunday. We are super excited for them because when we started teaching them they were really timid and quiet. But now even the youngest of six years participates in the lessons and knows a lot. We are super excited for them and the oldest daughter cried because she prayed to know if they Church is true and felt peace and warmth in her body. She actually asked us if she could be baptized early!!! First time that has happened to me in the mission. We are excited for our other investigators too and we are continuing to  work with them!!! Even if you get sick, Let the Good Times Roll. Whats better than your Best Two Years!!!! 

LOVIN' MISSION LIFE!!!