Monday May 28th, 2018

Hey guys!

I got my first and my last haircut from this sister in Culiacán. (Sister Samantha)

You guys feel like time has slowed down? Not me! Time keeps flying by! So, the other day, my companion and I were walking down a street when we saw thick, black smoke coming out of a house. (almost all the homes here have a wall around them about 9 ft high) As we walked closer to the house, along with another guy, we heard a shout, "Help me!" Immediately we all three jumped over the wall dropping everything behind. As we entered the house, a lady was balling her eyes out saying that her house was burning. We asked her if there were any kids in the house to which she responded no. We then asked for the keys and opened her front door so she could get out. By this time another man had joined us. We then made our way to her patio were the fire was, and started spraying it with water while one of the other guys disconnected and took out a large tank of gas. He also turned off all the breakers. In a few minutes we put out the fire and started to calm the lady down. What had burned was a table and a couple buckets of paint. Luckily, the fire hadn't crept into the house yet. About ten minutes later, the firemen showed up. It was an awesome experience to have been able to help that lady. The rest of the day we smelled like smoke, but oh well!

The person getting married is from my MTC district. Sister Morre.  The short girl on the left in the gray, is also from my district. Sister Alder. 

Jacqueline is super excited for her baptism! They are now going to church on their own, but we pass by their house in the morning to see how their going. When we passed by, Lourdes (her mom) and her daughter, Karla, were waiting for the bus, but Jacqueline wasn't. We then went to her house and found out that she was going to take care of some kids and they still hadn't gotten there. We then explained to her that before her baptism she has to go to church 3 times, and that if she didn't go this week, her baptism wouldn't be until the next week. With a concerned look on her face, she wait one sec, and I´ll be ready. She told the lady to drop off her kids at the church. She is so ready for her baptism!

Well, this is the last time I'll be emailing from the mission. Thanks for all the love and support! 

Have a great week!

-Elder Radmall

P.S.   My food list: I understand if you can't do it all: steak, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, fried chicken, lasagna, ham, turkey dinner, salmon, roast and veggies, chicken cordon blue casserole, goolash, cookies, cheese cake, cake, and brownies :)

Questions:

Dad: YES!!!  (Do you feel your Mission has gone by faster than expected?)

Mom: I'm nervous about choosing a career. And adjusting to not having a full day planned out like here.  (What makes you the most nervous about coming home?  What do you feel will be the hardest adjustment to make?)

Holly: The people.  (What is it that you will really miss about Mexico?)

Sam: Navolato.  (What area will you miss the most in Mexico?)

Dylan: yes.  (Are you excited to see me?)

Monday May 21st, 2018

Hey guys!

This week was one of the fastest weeks of my entire mission! Monday was P-Day, Tuesday and Wednesday were normal, Thursday the multi-zone meeting, Friday we had splits, and on Saturday it was normal again. It was crazy!

We have an investigator named Jaqueline, who is like 25 years old, and she's progressing crazy fast! We contacted her about 2 weeks ago when we went to visit her mom. Since then, they as well as Jaqueline's two kids and her husband, have fallen in love with the church. Jaqueline and her "husband" aren't married, but they are both willing and excited to get married this week. Her husband, Roberto, didn't want to get married without a party, and they don't have a lot of money, but Jaqueline doesn't want to have the party until they get sealed in the Temple! It was so awesome to hear that! Roberto isn't progressing as fast as Jaqueline because he only has every third Sunday off, but he's helping her in every way possible. Jaqueline has her baptismal date for the 2nd of June and is super excited. Roberto will be baptized later, but in a couple years, will be able to baptize his little daughter, who also loves going to church. She asks her mom and her grandma every day how much longer she has to wait to got to church again. Jaqueline's mom, Lourdes is also progressing pretty quickly and wants to be baptized, but is unable because her husband doesn't want to be baptized right now.  We're gonna try to talk to him this week and see what we can do, but he works a lot. They're honestly a huge blessing!

I love you guys! Have a great week!

-Elder Radmall

Questions:

Dad: I really like how he teaches doctrine, but I feel like he irons people out a little too much. He's actually starting to do it less, and I honestly think it makes us love him more.  (What's your favorite thing about your Mission President? What's your least favorite thing with him?)

Mom: I really love teaching when Jesus Christ came to the Americas. But my favorite story is King Benjamin.  (What has been your favorite scripture story to teach?  What is your all time favorite scripture story?)

Holly: Learning how to apply the scriptures to my own life.  (What is the number 1 thing that you got out of Seminary and how has that helped you?)

Sam: Really praying comes from the heart and is a 2-way conversation with Heavenly Father. Just saying prayers is something that doesn't have a lot of meaning.  (What is the difference between "saying prayers" and "praying"?)

Dylan: Not all prayers get answered the way we want, nor when we want. It's important to be patient and to be open to how we receive them.  (How do you know if your prayers have been answered)

Forest asked us what the temperatures had been like in Idaho.  When we told him that it was 70-75 all this week, he said that he was "going to freeze like a little girl when he gets home."  (It has been over 100 in Culiacan.)

Monday May 14th, 2018

HAPPY MOTHER´S DAY!!!!!!!!!!

Well, Dylan, you need a haircut bud.  (referencing a photo sent to Forest)

This week went by super fast! So, we have church a 10 am and we eat at 2 pm. After church, we have Ward Council, and we have to drop Jesús off at his house. Well, yesterday, Ward Council went a little long, and we ended up getting to Jesús´s house at 2 pm, and our food appointment was super far away. So, we started walking to our appointment, when a guy yelled at us and motioned for us to come over to him. He told us that he was the owner of the taco business, and asked us if we wanted to eat. We told him that we were on our way to eat, but he insisted on giving us food. He gave us a complete order of meat, with the tortillas, salsas, onions, and pop that we ate on our way to the food appointment. When we got to the food appointment, the sister gave us chicken soup, and cake. We were so stuffed! It was awesome!

This week we were also able to place a baptismal date for the first week in June, and we plan on putting another one this Wednesday with her daughter. They, as well as Jesús went to church which was awesome! On Friday, we also took 3 youth to mutual, which was pretty sweet! They re-enacted Lehi's vision and then we explained what it all meant afterwards. Jesús loved it! and the other two youth thought it kinda iffy.

I got the Higginson's,  Mom's and Holly's letters today. Thanks!

I love you guys! Have a great week!

-Elder Radmall

Questions:

Dad: Actually I have told it to a few of my companions who also like that type of humor. They thought it was hilarious. haha  (Have you told anyone your blue Mexican joke?  haha)

Mom: Probably all the little jokes with Jesús and his family. They're a lot like our family.  ( What was the funniest thing that happened to you this week?)

Holly: Talk about or think about how you can apply what you read/studied to your own life.  (How can we make our scripture study more meaningful?)

Sam: Nope, not yet. but I'm getting there! can you?  (Can you do 100 push-ups in 2 minutes yet?)

Dylan: If they've made any positive changes.  (How can we know if we have had an affect on people for the good?)

Monday May 7th, 2018

Hey guys!

Congrats Sam on going to the Temple! That makes me super happy that you want to be in the House of the Lord. I know you had ISATs, and it was super early in the morning, but I also know that the Lord blessed you immensely for going to the Temple. Great job on working for the Lord!

  

(Forest got to call one last time as a missionary for Mother's Day.  He called from a member's home.  He had to think about how to say some words in English.  We talked about what he wants to eat when he gets home in 4 weeks...steak, mashed potatoes with gravy, and a good salad with ranch dressing.  He also mentioned wanting desserts and jerky.  Sounds like he has missed meat.)

We've been working crazy hard! Committing people to go to church every day of the week, doing brief visits every day, sending message reminders every night, and praying for them. And only one kid went. I don't know what else we can do to help them. But on the bright side, the kid that went is named Jesús, and he´s 12 years old. He loved church! At first, he helped us convince his mom to let him go, then we talked to the Young Men's President to invite him to mutual on Friday, and then Jesús told us, and his mom that he wants to go to mutual and to church again on Sunday! It was awesome! We're now trying to focus on his entire family. Yesterday we gave service as well to them. His mom makes tortillas, so we helped her make 15 kilos of tortillas! haha but as we were making the tortillas, we talked about the Plan of Salvation. It was a pretty cool experience.

There was a lot more reverence at church yesterday as well, which I really appreciated! I hope it continues to get better!

I love you all! Have a great week!  Talk you to in 2 hours!  (He called for Mother's Day on his p-day.)

-Elder Radmall

Videos from our Mother's Day Skype call...(Funny thing...Forest could not hear his mom's voice very well...haha!)

Questions:

Dad: Yes, I still get hot easy, but I'm sure I'll freeze back home.    It's being received really well. Yesterday, priesthood was on ministering, and how we do it. I´m really excited to work with it back home. (Do you still get hot easy? You may freeze here:) Also, How has the ministering been received in Mexico?)  (your questions from your letter) More about the city- it´s pretty dirty. There are immigrants from Central America travelling to the U.S. who beg for money at a few speed bumps. How is street contacting now that you know Spanish- a lot better, and a lot easier. It's now a lot easier to get to know the person and relate something to the gospel. Do you run into gangs?- there really aren't gangs here like back home, they travel more in secret for the most part. From what I've heard, they only travel in big groups when they're going to fight.

Mom: Raul still hasn't decided to get baptized, and 5 de Mayo practically doesn't exist here.  (Any news on Raul getting baptized?  How was Cinco de Mayo? )

Holly: To Los Cabos, and I've heard that Mazatlán is really pretty.  (Would you want to take your wife back to your mission?  If so, what are the top places that you would want to take her?)

Sam: I like knowing where the food comes from, and potatoes.  What is your favorite thing about having a garden?  What is your favorite plant to grow in the garden?)   (your questions from your letter) ideas for downstairs- a workout area. Are you excited to go to Garden Valley? yes.  Should I (Sam) buys a pistol from the S.O.? yes. How tall are you? 5ft 11in Shoe size? 10 1/2. Favorite color? blue.

Dylan: I'm not exactly sure, I like a lot of them. But I'm gonna let my wife pick.  ( What temple do you want to be married in?)  (question from you letter) what song should I play with Holly at the piano? The Spirit of God.