Short letter! Transferred!!!!

Hola,

It has been a super great, busy awesome week here in Mexico.  I don't have my preparation day this week and I got to go work so I am just going to write this really fast.  It was a pretty cool week. I was in the trio with Elder Anderson and Elder Diaz and that was so much fun. We celebrated Thanksgiving together but I will have to fill you more in on that next week.  The other half of the week I worked in Coyoacan, the richest area of the mission.  It was pretty wierd but it was cool.  I worked there with the assistants and the secretaries of the mission.  We also had a ton of fun.  but I am most excited for my transfers.  I will be going to Iztacalco!!!!   Yep I am leaving  Iztapalapa for the first time in 18 months.  I will have to fill you in more about Iztapalapa when I get home.  I will not be a zone leader this next change and I am super stoked for all the time that I will have!  I will be with Elder Chronister from Las Vegas.  I don't know him but everyone tells me he is super cool.  He has 5 months in the mission, so this should be pretty dang fun. Thanks for your letter mom, I will write you more next week and let you know whats going on. love you tons.

Con muchìsimo amor,

Elder Joe Fuell

I love to see that kind of change in people. It is the favorite part of my mission. Without a doubt!!!

Joe and other missionaries in his district and zone

Hola,

It has been another great week in Mexico, or as you could say, mexi-cold.  I know it is really not that cold, but the slight drop in temperature has been killing me.  Especially because we have been bathing in cold water every morning since our water heater blew up.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANAYE!!! I am super excited for you and I sent you a letter. 

 It has been a pretty crazy week because it is the last week of Elder Stauffer.  I didn't let him be frito and he did really well enduring to the end.  He just wanted to eat all the Mexican food he could because its just not the same in the states.  So we went out to eat almost every night.  It is a miracle that we didn't get sick.

This week I will be in a trio with Elder Anderson (he started the mission with me and he is from south Salt Lake) and Elder Diaz who is from Guatemala.  We will be working our two areas and I have a feeling that it is going to be a wild week ha ha.  So we will be celebrating Thanksgiving together.  Its not celebrated here but we are going to see what we can do to celebrate it.

We saw a ton of miracles this week.  This week a 93 year old man contacted us.  His name is Fermin and he is progressing very well.  He is very active for such an old man.  He plays tennis every day.  Without a doubt he is the oldest person I have taught in my mission.  I don't know if I had told you about Cristina or not, but she is one of our investigators that we have had for a while.  She just wasn't progressing really well and we were praying for her and trying to figure out what we should teach her and we felt like we should show her a conference talk.  We did that last week and since that day she has changed 180 degrees.  She always reads in the bible and the book of mormon and is attending the church every week.  We still have a few more things to teach her but I am sure she will be baptized soon.  I love to see that kind of change in people.  It is the favorite part of my mission. Without a doubt!!!  It was super cool.

Hey Dave, keep your shoes on at school! ha ha.  

Kate,  I believe I left a list in my box about 100 ways to be a member missionary that President Baker gave us.  Could you check if its there in my books, I believe its in mormon doctrine or one of those church books.  If you could retype that and pass it to me, that would be great, and if you could translate it into Spanish it would be even better!

I love you all and am glad that you all had a good week.

Con Muchísimo Amor,

Elder Joe Fuell

I can't believe that it has been 18 months!!!!

Hola,
It has been another great week in Mexico.  I cant believe that it has been 18 months.  Its like the last leg of the 400 meters. ha ha but I am excited and ready to do all that I can to endure to the end.

This week was super cool!!  We were so busy teaching people that I didn't even have time to buy bread because we where running from appointment to appointment.  I hope I can buy bread now that its preparation day.

This week we found a really cool old man named Andres. I would think he is 60 years old by the way he looks but he is really 80 something.  He has known about the church for some 40 years now but just barely is opening up his heart to listen to the missionaries.  He is not even a member and he wants us to talk with all of his children and grandchildren.  We have no problem with that.

We had Stake Conference this week.  All the missionaries say that I am the most popular guy in the stake cause of all the people that knew me.  After the conference  we needed to leave but a ton of people, converts and members, came up to me and wouldn't let me through so we could leave.  I guess that is what happens after serving in the same stake for 18 months. ha ha.  I have also worked in every ward in the stake through intercambios (exchanges).  I had intercambios with Olivos Ward this week which was the only ward where I hadn't worked, but its cool to get to know all these people.

Two of my converts received the melquisedec (I don't know how you spell that in English) priesthood (It's spelled Melchizedek.  His spelling was bad before he left...  I cant imagine how it's going to be at the end of two years).  It was super cool.  The Conference was over satellite transmission from Salt Lake and Elder Scott spoke to us.  It was super cool.  He talked about temples and strengthening the family.

It is the last week with my companion so I am going to help him endure to the end.  It is going to be a super awesome week.  I will let you know everything that happens next week. My companion is going home a week early for thanksgiving but the changes arent until two weeks so I will probably be in a trio next week. So I might write on monday or on tuesday, I will find out sunday.  I love you all have an awesome week.
Con Muchísimo Amor,
Elder Joe Fuell

SURPRISE!!!!!

Surprise!
This morning the assistants called us and told us that today would be our preparation day, because the president needs to have a meeting with us tomorrow.  So its just going to be for today and next week we will be back to Tuesday again.
The big news of the week is that Elder De Hoyos came to the mission.  It was pretty cool.  We had the meeting with two zones, us and paraiso, but I was in charge of everything since I was the zone leader with the most time.  Everything went perfect.  And it was super cool to have him there.  He told us that since President Monson made the announcement for missionaries, the number of missionary applications have went from 700 per week to 7000 per week! And it has been like that every week since the conference announcement.  When he said that the spirit filled the room. I feel so excited to be a part of this work. I know that the lord is advancing his work at a quicker pace and he needs a lot more missionaries, or at least that is what the spirit testified to me during the meeting. They talked a lot about working with members and the Book of Mormon.  It was great and I learned a lot.

This week we saw a couple miracles in the area.  First we felt like we should go with Marina and Gustavo because we hadn't been able to go with them for all of the intercambios(exchanges we where doing.  We arrived at the precise moment that they needed us.  The dad of Gustavo died just a couple of days earlier and he had a lot of questions about whats after this life and how he could get closer to God.  The lesson was awesome, so awesome that they came to church this week.  The testimonies in the meeting where super strong and Marina was crying the whole time because she said she knows this is where she need to be, and that she had never felt so much peace in her heart before.  They also brought their 4 kids who loved it as well.  The ward really gathered around them.  It was super awesome.

Our ward mission leader is super cool, he is Brother Meza.  He is always super excited to work with us but its hard for him because his wife is less active.  So we went and visited with them this week and she came to church, for the first time in years!  It was awesome, I have never seen our ward mission leader so happy...He is always a happy guy, but to see him there in sacrament meeting with his wife and son was just another level.  I am so grateful for families because I know that's where we can have the greatest happiness

Ok, long letter . . .
The other big miracle this week was Maria Teresa.  She was a person who contacted us, yes SHE contacted US, you would be surprised ever since we have stopped contacting like we used to and started working more with the members, the people have just been running up to us and wanting us to teach them.  The other day we had 4 people contact us before lunch. ha ha.  But Maria Teresa is awesome.  We went in her house and she had a picture with Jesus walking by the shore where Peter and the apostles are fishing. The same one we have in our church.  And then she started talking about her "heavenly father" which is not how the people here usually refer to Him so I started looking around for the hidden cameras, trying to figure out who was pulling the gag, but no one was,she is just a lady who is super prepared to receive the gospel. 
We have stake conference this week and two of my converts will be receiving the Melchizedek priesthood.  I am super excited for them.  This work is great. I am having the time of my life.  I hope you are all doing well and will hear from you next week.
Con Muchísimo Amor,

Elder Joe Fuell