Lots of love but not a single foto

I am so thankful for the many blessings that i have. The hardest part about being a missionary is that i see the people in the most humbling circumstances. and i feel like crying because they won't accept the things that will help them the most. what makes me feel really rotten is that i myself sometimes don't accept them either. i know that my testimony is strong, but if we are to recieve the full blessings of our father in heaven we need to do ALL that he asks of us. and being that we are imperfect, we will at one point or another fall. I have learned this week that it really doesn't matter if you can't speak the language all that well or if you can teach every principle perfectly. if you lack the spirit for whatever reason. you will never have true success. I am trying to beat my own depression that i feel because of my weaknesses and because of the way things aren't perfect. so that i can better serve my companion and better serve the people. because if i do that i will succeed in serving the lord. 

Querecotillo is growing in strength, but still has a long way to go. we have plenty of investigators that really want to learn and want to progress, but satan is putting his fickle finger in the lives of all of them. we had zero in the church the last 2 weeks. despite our efforts. But it should be all, so we will be putting our shoulder to the wheel and calling all the members to do the same. we are going to try to invite the members to bring the investigadores. I have a feeling that that's going to be really tough, but i know that God will help us. 

--my letter to pres

as for me I'm doing fine. today we took a trip to cerro mocho a tiny town about 40 min from any form of civilization and played soccer. ate lots of rice and played carnival or water fights. it was great. but back to the better work. 

just a little something for you to laugh at i left the keys to our apartment in the backpack of one of the other elders yep. my comp thinks I'm an idiot and i just know that I'm me. . . . and me is special.haha

i have a feeling i am going to have a good week

star wars cast is looking good. we have investigators. forgot my camera in cerro mocho with all the other crappy belongings of my backpack, but i dont care. things are going better and better. I've  decided to start enjoying myself more and being a lot less serious, which will be good for me. I'm thinking of sending y'all a letter with pics hand made. but that will take time and I'm lazy hahaha

love y'all and keep safe. i hope every thing goes well for the wedding

que no se maten

Elder preece

may the force be freaking with you

fotos

hey yall January 20

so the last few weeks have been a tad crazy with my two comps. i have experienced a lot of growing pains, but in the end i have learned to rely on my father in heaven more and have developed great relations with the missionaries. 

a few of the lessons i have learned are

dont let resentment build up

seek guidence from my leaders. leaders surprisingly have a lot of experience and they a lot of the time say things that build you up and make you strong.  and perhaps most of all remind us of the strengths we have, and use those to beat our faults and weaknesses.

ask for a preisthood blessing. as i counceled with my zone leader this last week we discussed several things that i could do to help me and comp over come some of the problems we had. and the key really was to ask for a blessing to help bring the power of God. it works. i know it works, and we should show our faith and ask for more blessings. God put his power in the earth for us to have it in our time of need i feel like i wait too long before i ask for help. which is really dumb because he will give it. 

when you don't feel like loving or serving just do it anyway. I'm talking cleaning shoes, sinks bathrooms, buy a soda or treating them to a nice cooked meal. 

a testimony doesn't have to be burning feelings all the time it can be a calm knowing. i at times have felt like i don't have a real testimony, but i realize that a strong spiritual experience isn't a testimony in and of itself, but a building block. when we share our testimonies, we share the net result of what we have learned through a life time of spiritual experience, which that God loves us, that jesus lives, and that this is his church. we have the priesthood. we have prophets. and although we have faults, and we fail at times our God will never ever abandon us. 

i love you all and want you to know that i have been working my tail off. 

que la fuerza te acompañe

su amado hijo amigo, y hermano.

Elder Preece

fotos y dibujos January 20

Happy January 13

for the record I'm still not worried, because its only been a month. so it's not like i have all that much time waiting. i think its really just right around the corner, but if you do try for a birthday package could you send me 3 bottles of american crew forming gel. i really don't like using   anything else. i know it's weird, but i hate regular gel. 

good to hear that everything's going as smoothly as things can. 

this week we found some new investigadors which seem really promising because they were references. i believe the first true references of my whole mission. the lessons went alright. one of the ladies sounded like she cried during the lesson. 

i made a big mistake this week as we played soccer one morning with some local kids. which is very against the rules. and ... yeah lets say the spirit testified that that was not a good activity through the chastizment of elder zevallos DL. hahaha

no i didn't feel good about it either, but elder melo insisted. and so we went. to be honest i was way too relaxed with everything. but thats the thing we are here to work not play soccer. yikes he got so mad. 

enough story chau

One more week January 6

this week was tough because down here new years is a 2 3 day fiesta, and all the people drink like crazy. that and my new comp didnt want to interrupt anybody. which i understand it's not exactly like people want to listen to us anyway. i honestly think its nuts what we try to do sometimes. we knock doors and try to tell them there is was some prophet that saw God and Jesus and that they are listening to a bunch of lies. yeah that's a tough sales job.. . 

I decided that all this missionary business has made me far too serious and that it's going to take a while to be as immature as i was when i left. .. a goal that i sincerely hope to complete. 

onto a more happy note our ward mission leader is doing a bit of leading, which is a bit different then before when he wasnt doing anything. but that's all cause he got dumped by his girlfriend. don't  you just hate it when that happens. i am reminded of a phrase that mom used to say when you have 1 boy you have a boy when you have 2 boys you have half a boy and when you have 3 boys you have no boy at all. i propose the following addition when you have 1 boy and 1 girl = ¨negitive 5 boys. 

anyways i love you lots fam still haven't seen heads or talls of your package, but i still say my prayers so who knows. . . 

que la planificacion de la boda no les mate y que el espiritu del señor les acompañe que escuchen musica fuertemente y que no sea de la iglesia

Elder preece