God qualifies the called

Hello people in a distant land!!!

It has already been three weeks and now I am working on my fourth. Wow! It has been crazy so far. Ok ok ok…the updates on how to lay low in Mexico ha ha…

So last time I left you was after we got our first baptismal date with our neighbor. And well, since then a lot has happened. I’m not sure where to start, but ok, this past week has been about going to a lot of meetings and finding new investigators. My companion is the district leader in our area of 200ish miles--and we have to have meetings a lot I guess. Once again when I say that… I mean “he” has meetings because all I do is read my scriptures (or draw ha ha they talk amazingly fast and it makes no sense to me so don’t judge).
We have now become seminary teachers for the next while, so as of now we teach both seminary and institute and two classes in church.

Well I do have a story for all of you. About a week and a half ago I met a man by the name of Gregorio (in English it is Gregory). The reason I met him is because I am the only white guy for probably 50 miles and am taller than everyone here. He of course saw me and came and talked to me. Luckily for me he spoke English!!! We talked and he is an illegal that crosses the border every other year for work. He is probably one of the nicest people I have ever met and is always trying to get me to take drinks from his store for free ha ha. Well, anyway we taught him the first lesson. We came back to him two days ago to give him the second lesson, give him a book of Mormon, and maybe ask about a baptismal date. But when we got there he told us his Pastor was there. Well he told us to talk to her and we were hesitant but he was persistent so we came back and saw her.

Well, we said “hi” and all the nice things then she started asking all the questions about what our message was about. I haven't been able to talk to kids let alone explain the church and defend it. So I did what I have been doing, have always done, and expect to do for a long time… I sat there smiled and nodded my head. Then came the time to testify and I tried my very best to tell how the Book of Mormon has changed my life. Ok, this is the cool part… after my horrible attempt to do my best at speaking the language, she told my companion that I spoke horribly but she understood me and felt my testimony!!!! Ok, that is the gift of tongues right there!  We gave her a Book of Mormon and left. It was all in all pretty cool.

Ok, one more story that comes to mind… we were coming back from an appointment that fell through (which really stank because it takes us like 30 min on a bus to get there and 20 on foot up some pretty steep hills) and we felt like we had wasted a lot of time. But on our way back we met a guy that told us he had read the whole Book of Mormon and wanted us to teach him. I was super excited. We went back to his house and he got out his Book of Mormon and showed us. And guess what his bookmaker was… a pornographic image. I saw it and started laughing pretty hard because I’m super naive. He didn’t even notice. We told him we would come back in a day or so. My companion later told me that he was drunk. So a long story short we came back and had a lesson with him and he is going to be baptized at the end of the month hopefully. All in all, everything in Mexico is going at full speed, so thank you all for tuning in and listening.

Testimony time:
I was told something by a teacher in the MTC that has stuck with me it goes something like this. “God doesn’t call the qualified, he qualifies the called.” I know that right now I am nothing, but going through the refiners fire or trials and life will be what I want to be. I will overcome my weakness as long as I count on the Lord and do all I can He will do the rest. (2 Nephi 25: 23)

Alright, thank you so much for sending me email/mail it helps a lot and it also means a lot to me. If you want to send me packages, and of course you do... this is the address:

Elder Aaron Paul Cranford
Mexico Puebla Mission
Calle 25 Sur #907
Col. La Paz
72160 Puebla, Puebla
Mexico

The champion of your hearts,
Elder Aaron Paul Cranford