Hello Dear Readers,
Before posting the latest from Elder Summers we want to tell you that we were able to talk with Keegan for Mother's day. In México, Mother's Day is always May 10th instead of the second Sunday in May like it is here in the U.S. so he called on Saturday afternoon. We had a great visit with him and talked about a lot of different subjects. He looked and sounded great. He's really enjoying his mission and working diligently to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with whomever will listen. He didn't send any pictures this week so we wanted to be sure to post this from our visit with him.
We also wanted to tell you thanks for your support for our family and more specifically for Keegan. He still has another year so be sure to keep following.
Before posting the latest from Elder Summers we want to tell you that we were able to talk with Keegan for Mother's day. In México, Mother's Day is always May 10th instead of the second Sunday in May like it is here in the U.S. so he called on Saturday afternoon. We had a great visit with him and talked about a lot of different subjects. He looked and sounded great. He's really enjoying his mission and working diligently to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with whomever will listen. He didn't send any pictures this week so we wanted to be sure to post this from our visit with him.
We also wanted to tell you thanks for your support for our family and more specifically for Keegan. He still has another year so be sure to keep following.
Dear Family,
First off it was really good talking to you on Mother's Day (even though you weren't able to go to the cabin ;) ). This past week was pretty good and I learned a few things. One thing I learned is that to be truly successful in this work is that both of the companions in the companionship have to be doing their part. Our mission has really put emphasis on a "Talk with Everyone" goal. As a mission we have a norma [rule] that we need to talk to more than 10 persons each day. In these last few months, I have been really focused on this and have really opened up and talked with a lot of people, and as a district we really started to talk with everyone! It was awesome. Well in this last week I was kind of anticipating that I was going to have a change and was going to be leaving Elder Francisco here to lead the area... it came to me that I was doing great with the norma of "talk with everyone" but that my companion was struggling with it. So this last week I told him that I was going to follow him, that he was going to initiate everything. I told him that I would help him out but that I was going to wait for him to do things. For example, in the planning sessions, the lessons, the companionship study, AND with this norma of "talk with everyone". He honestly didn't understand why I was just waiting for him to act and why I wasn't taking charge. He got angry when I kept asking him where we were going, how many lessons that we had taught durring the day, and how many people we had talked with. At the end of the first day we didn't complete with the norma [Spanish directly translated into literal English - what I think he means is "we didn't meet the rule or goal"], specifically with the talk to everyone norma. So I talked to the zone leaders earlier that day and asked them if they could talk to him at the end of the day (or chew him out a little bit) if we didn't complete with the norma. Well, they started talking to him but he told them that I could explain the reason why we didn't complete with talking with everyone better than he could so passed me the phone. I guess he didn't want to be chewed out and wanted me to take the blame, but he didn't know that we already planned a trap as a teaching experience to help him out. After I talked with them I handed the phone back to him and the leaders talked to him again. He was a little angry and felt kind of bad... but then understood that he needed to do his part. For the rest of the week we talked with everyone. I repeat WE talked with everyone. It was awesome! He was really excited to complete with the norma and started to talk with everyone. We then started completing the norma together instead of just me doing more than my part. Although he didn't understand why I just let him lead the area this week (no, he didn't know about my plan to have him get chewed out instead of me), he grew from the experience. This is an awesome experience of success that I have had in the mission without worrying about the numbers.
Well I did end up getting changed this week. I am now serving in the Zone Reforma 2 and in the Area Libertad 1. So I am still in Guadalajara. Honestly, I wanted to leave Guadalajara to know other parts of Mexico but it's all good. I have been assigned to serve as a Zone Leader as well and am excited to be able to serve more missionaries in this way. I am really excited to get to know my new mission companion, he just seems like a really good guy and is just super chill from what I have seen. I am really excited to work with a missionary who also wants to be obedient and complete with the normas of the mission. Although I had some good times in Buenos Aires 2... I was ready for a change and am super excited to meet new people and work with my new companion. His name is Elder Solórzano and is from Oaxaca, México.
Love you all, I will update you how it goes in this new area next week!
Elder Summers
First off it was really good talking to you on Mother's Day (even though you weren't able to go to the cabin ;) ). This past week was pretty good and I learned a few things. One thing I learned is that to be truly successful in this work is that both of the companions in the companionship have to be doing their part. Our mission has really put emphasis on a "Talk with Everyone" goal. As a mission we have a norma [rule] that we need to talk to more than 10 persons each day. In these last few months, I have been really focused on this and have really opened up and talked with a lot of people, and as a district we really started to talk with everyone! It was awesome. Well in this last week I was kind of anticipating that I was going to have a change and was going to be leaving Elder Francisco here to lead the area... it came to me that I was doing great with the norma of "talk with everyone" but that my companion was struggling with it. So this last week I told him that I was going to follow him, that he was going to initiate everything. I told him that I would help him out but that I was going to wait for him to do things. For example, in the planning sessions, the lessons, the companionship study, AND with this norma of "talk with everyone". He honestly didn't understand why I was just waiting for him to act and why I wasn't taking charge. He got angry when I kept asking him where we were going, how many lessons that we had taught durring the day, and how many people we had talked with. At the end of the first day we didn't complete with the norma [Spanish directly translated into literal English - what I think he means is "we didn't meet the rule or goal"], specifically with the talk to everyone norma. So I talked to the zone leaders earlier that day and asked them if they could talk to him at the end of the day (or chew him out a little bit) if we didn't complete with the norma. Well, they started talking to him but he told them that I could explain the reason why we didn't complete with talking with everyone better than he could so passed me the phone. I guess he didn't want to be chewed out and wanted me to take the blame, but he didn't know that we already planned a trap as a teaching experience to help him out. After I talked with them I handed the phone back to him and the leaders talked to him again. He was a little angry and felt kind of bad... but then understood that he needed to do his part. For the rest of the week we talked with everyone. I repeat WE talked with everyone. It was awesome! He was really excited to complete with the norma and started to talk with everyone. We then started completing the norma together instead of just me doing more than my part. Although he didn't understand why I just let him lead the area this week (no, he didn't know about my plan to have him get chewed out instead of me), he grew from the experience. This is an awesome experience of success that I have had in the mission without worrying about the numbers.
Well I did end up getting changed this week. I am now serving in the Zone Reforma 2 and in the Area Libertad 1. So I am still in Guadalajara. Honestly, I wanted to leave Guadalajara to know other parts of Mexico but it's all good. I have been assigned to serve as a Zone Leader as well and am excited to be able to serve more missionaries in this way. I am really excited to get to know my new mission companion, he just seems like a really good guy and is just super chill from what I have seen. I am really excited to work with a missionary who also wants to be obedient and complete with the normas of the mission. Although I had some good times in Buenos Aires 2... I was ready for a change and am super excited to meet new people and work with my new companion. His name is Elder Solórzano and is from Oaxaca, México.
Love you all, I will update you how it goes in this new area next week!
Elder Summers