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!!!

Saturday Baptisms!!

Visiting the Mexican Military

Wildlife Preservation.

Got a Monkey on your back?

Well this week we had a lot of sucess. We had a lesson with a investiagator who cried after we talked about the Atonement and Baptism and she accepted to be baptized on the 7th of June. We have worked with her for two months. We had two people ask us to be baptized at Church, and one ask us if she could be baptized sooner!!! We had a lot of new families and part member families that we are teaching. We are loving the ocean breeze and trying to make every second count out here!!!  It was a great week we had 10 people come to church and we have dates for every saturday in June!!! We are super happy!!! Love you all and I hit a year on Thursday!!!! CRAZY!!! Les quiero!! 

A year ago I graduated from High School!!! But now I am in a different country, speaking a different langauge, but teaching the same gospel. It is hard, I cant say it is easy. But sharing the gospel is a joy. I would like to share with you one of the best taught lessons I think I have had on my mission. Elder Petersen and I prayed 3 times for this Sister that had attended off and on for 3 years and had heard lots of missionaries. We prayed for the scriptures that would guide us to help her to accept a date. We taught her with many inspired scriptures and asked her to baptism for the 24th of May. She said she will be baptized but she won't accept a date. We asked her to pray right now and ask the Lord if she should be baptized. We put our heads down and waited patiently for 8 minutes and she couldn't say anything. Then me and my companion raised our heads and she was crying and told us I feel like I have a large burden on my shoulders but I will not be baptized this day. We explained that through baptism she could be clean of all her sin and that the Holy Ghost right now is testifying that you need to be baptized. But she said No. That was just sad leaving and knowing that we did our part and the Holy Ghost taught her, but Salvation is personal. We will pass by and see if she can get her ready for June. 

Missionary Living!! Bedroom/ office

Study time with Chester and a sandwich!

One pair of shoes worn through!

Chester the missionary dog!

Chesters 150 dollar chew toy!

The bridge. Only way on or off the island.

Ciudad del Carmen

Taking in the view!

Ideal scripture study!

Ciity at night!

Storm coming in!

Hamburger Heaven!!! First hamburgers in Mexico!!!! Love the members!

  

Barbecue on the Balcony!

Hot Dogs Anyone?

Chester in church dress!!

Getting ready for baptisms.

Little rain in Mexico.

 Buenos Dias!!! I am doing great!! We had two baptisms and one confirmation because one of them came late so they will be confirmed  next week!!! It was a fun week!!!  We shared a lot the video on Mormon.org and it helped us meet a lot of new people that we are now going to teach.  It was kinda a weird Easter, they really don't celebrate it here.  There are four of us missionaries in our ward, our companionship and the zone leaders!!!  It is awesome!!  Our apartment is like three different apartments together, it works out great!!  We didn't play basketball on the beach this morning because they are having a big fair on the beach today.  We are doing splits tomorrow with the district in Juarez, they don't live in our apartment.   We will see you all in three weeks!!  I wouldn't have  traded this experience for the world!!!   It doesn't feel like I have been gone for a year because the weather is always the same so I don't feel like time is going by.

We baptized on your birthday mom!!!!  

Got to go!!! Love you!!!

Lovin' Life

I am doing really great dad!!! We are getting ready to get into baptizing mode!!! We have two baptisms this week! Vivian and Carolina they are way excited and the husband of Sister Carolina came to church for the last two weeks! We had a great and tough week. My companion got sick and we stayed in a lot but we got a lot of great lessons in and I am really grateful for him. We are improving our Spanish and we are getting ready to baptize every week!!! I am super excited!!! I hope that everything is alright at home!!!! I love you guys and I am indebted to each and everyone of you for everything you have ever done for me to give me such a great example!!! I feel like the mission is mine and it is going by way to fast!! Love you guys so much!!!

Hunter's Apartment he shares with eight elders!

This is Chester the missionary dog.

My week was great!!!  A little tough but we have many new people we are teaching!  The great part of the area is it is easy to navigate the roads are in numbers not Spanish names.  The area is one of the best in the mission by living standards and in sights.  But my other areas in Frontera and Mini were never spoken of as pretty but they are amazing also.  This ward is about the work of salvation, it is awesome!!  We played basketball this morning it was super fun!!!  I got an elbow to the face. ha!ha!  General Conference was awesome and I can't wait to download all the talks and start listening to them.  We have 22 missionaries on the island and they make up our zone.  The members are awesome and feed us lunch everyday!!!  This is Chester he is our dog!  He guards the house while we are gone and plays ball with us!!  This area is way safer than my last one, I just didn't want to worry you.  They respect us here.  We have eight missionaries living in our house but we do have our own bathroom.  If you can, will you buy me a translator and a good grammar Spanish/English dictionary.  I don't just want to communicate I want to dominate the language!!!  Gotta Go!!! Love You!!!

The roof/ gym.

Basketball on the beach on p-days.

Basketball injury, It's all good.

Air-conditioning and a fan!

Study Time!

Look who I found Dad!

This area is Amazing!!!!  We talk to so many people, but we came and opened the area. We only had 4 investigators and lots of references. Well I am doing good here in Carmen, we have a pet dog here that protects us he doesn't like anybody but missionaries! It is awesome!!! We have talked to over 100 people this week we contacted like crazy!!!  It was great!!!! Tell Angela congrats!!!! We teach a lot of people here it is great!!! They are so prepared and Elder Petersen is a champion at Spanish and helps me a lot!!! I am really blessed to be serving here!!! We walk by the beach everyday and we played basketball in the morning on the beach!!!! It is awesome!!!! I am doing great mom!!! I am learning a lot more Spanish and I am loving the beach life!!! We put 6 dates for baptism this week and we are excited for them!!! Our area is with a beach!!!! North Beach in English!!!!  Another great thing is all the american food.  They eat a lot of fish here, which is healthy but I really don't like fish.  Our apartment has air conditioning and a blender but no hot water but it is too hot for a hot shower anyway!!  We walk everywhere we go because taxis are like 5 bucks.   I am loving it and I am really learning a lot from the people I am living with and there are 8 of us here ha ha!!!! But we are totally obedient here and I love it for that!!!  We are teaching so many people!!!!  It is small but lots of people!!! !