My Last Email

Dear Family,

  I'm crying reading all your emails. I can't believe how quickly time has passed. Aleksi tells me it will all feel like a dream when I get back. It really will. I already feel like this was all just a dream. I can't believe it! What an incredible journey this has been. It has been so demanding. I don't have any more words except that I'll forever be grateful to Heavenly Father for this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to serve Him with all my heart, might, mind, and strength and time. And I'm SO grateful to you, mom and dad, for supporting me financially while I've been here. I can't believe it's all about to end. I love you all! I miss Max! It breaks my heart that he won't be there when I get home! I'm a mess crying right now.. for real. And I'm in a public computer lab.

  This week I gave all the women's clothing to the RS first counselor. She's my favorite hermana. She told me she'd take care to get something to every hermana. Mom, all the sisters are extremely grateful. They wrote down your email address. I hope you'll receive their emails this week. I'm grateful as well. You impress me with your charity. Thank you!

  We hope to baptize this week! My LAST baptism! It makes me so sad and so happy at the same time. Benjamin's wife Patricia and his daughter Maria Fernanda want to get baptized. What a priviledge that would be. Unfortunately I won't be here to see their confirmation. This Saturday I have to go to Guadalajara again because there MIGHT be problems with the visa.. I knew it. So yesterday was my last Sunday in the ward. I spoke in sacrament meeting. I read the story of Peter walking on water. Peter DID have faith! He took courage and went out to do what no other in the boat did. And when he began to fail, the Lord showed mercy on him. I cannot express my profound gratitude to the Lord for doing the same to me, for reaching out and grabbing me to keep me from drowning in this mission. My faith has grown so much. My heart is full of love and charity. I am so happy that I've finished the mission. I feel so content and impressed that the Lord helped me to finish exactly how I wanted to, exactly how I dreamed to finish.

  I look forward to seeing you all family! I look forward to hugging you and crying and taking photos. And eating.

 I love you SO much. I don't know if you all realize. I love you SO much.

Love,

   Elder Mitchell Poirier

See you soon

Dear Family,

  I have NO time to write. The zone leaders are next to us and they're not going to let us write past 6 PM. You see, I had to travel by myself to Guadalajara last night to go sign my visa or something today in the morning. Well, it turns out that I can't sign because of who knows what. The elder that is working it out is taking it lightly, but again let's hope everything works out so that I see you the afternoon of the 24th. Today President and the assistants drove me back to Morelia. That was interesting. President wanted to know how Elder Turner was doing.  We just got back. I do miss Guadalajara a lot though! And I miss Tere and Sigifredo and Elder Silos!

  My converts are all getting sad that I'm going home. I have 18 active converts here! They're all planning little dinners and parties. Jorge and Lucia made me a special "mole." It made Elder Turner sick. I got the packages mom! But the zone leaders won't give it to me until tomorrow. Ugh zone leaders! 

  WE BAPTIZED THREE THIS WEEKEND! Jenny and her son Carlos, and Benjamin. I love to end the mission baptizing!

 Aleksi--did you ever send my emails to Landon and Felipe?

 Cassie--remember me?

 Max--it is WAY hard to get people to church unless they understand exactly what will happen and you be really direct in what blessings they'll receive and what commandment they're keeping. 

 Dad--I want to eat taco salad at home before I get released. I think it'd be beautiful considering that's what we always would give the elders

 Mom--  I love you! I can't wait to hug you!

  Eva--Are we going to go to Disney?

Lilli and family--I can't wait to see you all again.

Love,

  Elder Mitch Poirier

Montezuma and his revenge...

Dear Family,

   Again? Yes. I woke up this AM at 3:30, 4:30, 5:45, 6:11, 6:18, 6:25 (and then I stopped counting and looking at my watch) with diarrhea. It was bad. I don't know what I ate. Elder Turner is fine. I feel really week. I've taken medicine, but probably still need to drink more Gatorade. I'm hungry. This week Elder Turner and I are watching how Satan really wants me to just give up early here in the mission. BUT we have faith, and so far we've beaten every obstacle fine. Jenny and Roberto were going to get baptized this weekend with their son, but for complications, we had to move it to this coming weekend. They were kind of upset, but what can you do? I was on divisions in a different area and was really stressed out considering I couldn't be there to explain it to them or to console them. Ugh! But when I got back, we went straight to their house. They were sad. We read Alma 47 and then Alma 48 because Jenny just wanted to keep reading. The Book of Mormon really gave us all comfort and peace. They'll wait until this weekend then. Hopefully. I'll explain it all more clearly in a few weeks. They went to church yesterday and paid their tithing! They're not even members yet! Whoa. We had all but one of my 15 converts in church yesterday. Nivardo bore his testimony! So did little Jair! I was thrilled!!!! Another family who will soon get baptized, Benjamin and Patricia, came again to church. He wants to get baptized this weekend. She's a little hesitant. We'll see how it goes. But possibly there are 6 baptisms this week! Pray for me!

  So supposedly there are problems with my visa now that Mexico passed a new law. They say it'll take 30 days to fix. I sent papers on Friday to the  capitol. They'll arrive today. So 30 days from now is likely when I'll be able to leave Mexico... So October...  So pray for that too! I would only not mind staying longer if I got to go see people in Guadalajara! But I doubt that...

  Don't worry. We're seeing great miracles! We're loving being companions. Elder Turner said he really missed me while we were on divisions with our  District Leader. He's got a lot of potential to be an INCREDIBLE elder, but for now depends too much on me!

   Also, I gave 200 pesos and so did Elder Turnip to a girl secretly in our ward because they're my favorite family and they commented to us that they didn't have enough money to buy new school shoes for her. They totally believe that it didn't come from us. I couldn't sleep two nights thinking about how I'm buying souvenirs and meanwhile this girl's heels are practically on the ground.

   I hope that package gets here this week mom full of gifts for the hermanas. We'll see. I love you all!

Love,

  Elder Poirier

WOW 4 WEEKS!!!

Dear Family,

  Today I made a list of things to write, so I'm prepared. Maybe this email will be as interesting as one of Max's. But first let me say that Cassie looks A TON like Max! I can't even believe it! Except that Max is fat now. Elder Turner says "fatty." I can't believe already all of our senior photos will be hung on the wall. And I'm really disappointed that I won't get to speak in sacrament meeting those first two sundays home. I wanted to cut my hair like my converts do, the familia Martinez. Remember how Aleksi tried to cut my hair that one time before a youth conference? Like that except much better. But everyone will want to see me as a missionary still... I can't believe I only have four weeks left. This week flew by. Ah!

  1) This week a guy called out to us in English, "You guys are christian missionaries?" He just wanted to show the woman he was talking to that he speaks English. Aye. It happens all the time. But he found it fascinating that my companion was from England. "Let's hear that accent," he said. My companion asked, "What do you want me to say?" "OH MY GOSH You do have an accent!" replied the guy... Well duh. Then I said something. He looked at me all strange and said, "You have an English accent too!" What? For real. Elder Turner says it's for real. That my accent is mexican and english put together. But I CAN'T tell. It's strange. So in a couple weeks I'm going to record myself talking so that later in the year I can listen and see if it's true.

  2) This week I overate again. I don't know if I've told you family how many times I have vomited in my mission. And hardly from being sick. It's almost always from overeating. I get all sweaty and nauseus. I can't handle it. This time I burped SO loud before it all came out. I was in the street. My companion couldn't stop laughing for literally 20 minutes. It was way rumbly. But then it all came out. The good thing is that it didn't come out of my nose like it has before. It's that we went to our lunch appointment, but when we visited Patricia later, it was her birthday. Here, every birthday means a bowl or two of pozole. VOMIT. I love pozole, but vomited because it was too much food.

  3) This week we went to a christian church. Our hair-cut lady invited us. WEIRD. Max, I recommend that at some point you go to catholic mass or other churches. It will help you be able to teach better. It was quite the experience. Dancing. Singing. Crying. Praying. But all while actually looking up at the ceiling as if you see God. Weird. Not to offend any christians. But they mix up the Holy Ghost with feelings of sadness or the desire to spin around dancing. Aye.

    I got to go! I love you family. See you soon!

Love,

  Elder Poirier

  

5 weeks

Dear Family,

  I'm so happy to hear you are all so well. Dad! A guys trip would be nice, but since we're just two and you're retired anyway, let's go on one just you and me when I get home! Okay? And as for the sterling silver girls, I'll look, but that seems like something you have to be here to pick out for yourself. I really hope you don't get mad with the few souvenirs that I do get you. Max, where is your companion from?! How cool that he's in Mexico! Did you tell him that I'm serving in Morelia? I'm sure you must have! Cassie, I can't believe you're a senior!!! WHOA. I can't wait to go to the beach with you all the time! Can you all believe that I only have 5 weeks left! WHOA.

  This week flew by! It was so eventful, but as always, I sit down to write and I can't remember anything. All I want to write about is how Vannesa got baptized! She's so happy. Emma, her mom, spoke in the baptism (we baptized Emma in June). She cried at the end expressing her love for Vane and her joy at the decisions she's making. It was really special. After the baptism, it rained a TON. This week it has been raining a lot and flooding the streets! An hermano told Vannesa that it was because the heavens were so happy with her that they too wept with joy. She said, "ah bueno, esta bien entonces."

  I don't really know what else to write. I'm just happy. I'm happy to be here in Morelia. I'm happy that we have even more baptisms coming up. I'm just doing my best to finish strong. I hope that that package gets here sooner mom because if no one ends up going to the offices after it gets to Guadalajara, I won't get it in time.

 College applications. Aye! I don't want to think about that! I can't wait to see you all, but I don't want to plan my life out yet!

  See you soon!

And PS I'm going to win in the muddy!

   Love,

  Elder Poirier (Mitch)

Counting down

Dear Family,

   And so begins your countdown! Today is the first day of my LAST transfer! Six more weeks! And guess what! I'm STILL in Itzicuaro! I've been here since JANUARY!!! OH EM GEE. Who would've thought that this would've been my last area when I got here 7 months ago?! NOT me. But I'm really really happy! I'm so excited. We have all the love and trust of the ward. Our converts are all active and well! And we have 8 baptisms coming up! By the way, NIVARDO GOT BAPTIZED!!! It was his anniversary, so we splurged and bought him and his wife flowers. The baptismal service was really beautiful. The Bishop helped us clean the font, but when we filled it, the water was GREEN! He said it was because of all the rain. Um. "This will not do!" (Umbridge). So we rushed to a vet shop and bought blue dye (normally for fish tanks to make the water look blue and fresh). I poured a ton of it in the font and stirred with a broom upside-down. The water turned BLUE!! A little too dark, but better than green! And there were no other obstacles with the baptism! Wow! We were so grateful to be the missionaries who finally baptized him! After 22 years of them being married and all her family pressuring him, he finally read the Book of Mormon and could not deny the peace and joy he began to feel in his life. Wow. I love being a missionary.

   All my converts and all the ward were really worried that I'd be leaving. They all bought me gifts and made me cakes. Really. A ton! I spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday. I summarized a poem I wrote in college about Nana. It might be on my laptop if you want to read it. I think I called it "Zlata" or else "starfish". I spoke on 3 starfish that we need to forget about because they do us harm 1) Regret with things in the past 2) Envy of others in the present and 3) Impatience with the arrival of the future. It was a really good talk. In the poem, just in case you don't find it, Nana is sitting on the shore of the sea with her eyes all red and swollen because she'd been admiring a starfish under the salt water with her eyes open. She wished she could be like the starfish (a starfish can regrow arms if they are lost). Not that she doesn't have arms, just that somethings in life we can't change. My point in the talk was that those 3 things are results of wanting to change things we can't. I'm really happy to be here in Morelia for my last 6 weeks. Elder Turner will still be my companion. He will become my longest companion. In three more weeks he beats Elder Willett's record. Apparently there's more I have to do to help him, according to President.

  As for last week, I didn't have enough money in my account yet, so I only bought a few souvenirs. We're going to go today to Centro and I'm going to buy more things. Hey mom, can you look up all the travel rules? What am I not allowed to bring into the US from Mexico? And how much will I have to pay if I bring a lot of souvenirs. Also, I look forward to filling out those college applications.. And I think that's all..

   We had 9 investigators in church! I love that! And they love church!

 Love,

   Elder Poirier (Mitchell)

Flight Plans and Tamales

Dear Family!

   WHY DID YOU SEND ME MY FLIGHT PLANS? OH MY GOSH I STILL HAVE SEVEN WEEKS! NOW THAT'S GOING TO BE IN MY HEAD ALL SEVEN OF THOSE WEEKS!! aye aye aye hahaha. So 4:40 PM September 24th.

   You'll be pleased to know that I have a ton of recipes and look forward to making all this real mexican food for you all. Yesterday I FINALLY LEARNED HOW TO MAKE TAMALES!!! Since they're my favorite I was WAY excited! Patricia and Adad invited us over to make them! They came out so delicious! Do we have any little mexican markets in Stuart or nearby kind of. Or would I have to find the corn husks (hojas de maiz) in corn fields? Also, Patricia explained how to make Morelia's famous corundas, which are very similar to the tamal. I cannot wait to make them for you!

  So this week Elder Turner and I worked out all our problems. He was lacking a TON of iniciative so I was doing everything. He won't cross a street if I don't go first. We'll just stand there as he looks around waiting for me! AAAAHHHH!! But it'll be better. This may be our last week together since there are changes in one week. I really wish President would send me back to Guadalajara to end my mission. I don't think he's going to... he sent me an email that says I'm training Elder Turner until he's ready to be senior companion. So...  SIGH. But we'll see. Heavenly Father knows what's right and what I need, and His will be done.

  I love you family! Max, cheer up! I love you! I wish you were my last companion!!!!

Love,

   Elder Poirier (mitch)

Wonderful Week

Dear Family,

   I'm jealous of your tans. When we went to go buy toilet paper this AM they were showing the Olympics. It was the men's synchronized diving. They were really tan too. I miss my swimmer's body! And my swimmer's tan! You are not going to want to go anywhere with me when I get home! I'm happy that you all like Nick. From the vidoes Aleksi and Cassie sent me, I assume his voice is the one that has a HUGE Utah accent. He talks like all of my Utahan companions. Very well. I'll get to know him soon enough. And I will have to be the one to tell Max the truth! I remember when we were younger, mom told us that she'll be blatantly honest about who we're dating until we decide to marry them. I'll be the same.

  This week was wonderful. Merry Christmas in July! The celebration was a blast! My favorite Hermana made a ton of tamales. Two of my converts made a delicious cookie atole (which is a drink). We watched certain Christmas videos and did a tour of the church for the non-members. There were in total 169 people there (including children), but only our converts were the ones who brought non-members. Lame. Really. I'm grateful for our converts, but are the members that selfish and uncreative? One hermano played the guitar while a few of us missionaries sang "The First Noel." I messed up and started singing the second verse too early. SO embarrassing. jajaja! At the end of the activity I shared a brief message about how we can remember Christ and Christmas all year (the sacrament). Then I asked everyone to say "FELIZ NAVIDAD!" to me since it was my last Christmas in Mexico. Jorge (one of my converts) said the closing prayer. He prayed for me especifically. It was sweet jaja. So Christmas was wonderful here.

   Yesterday was the best day! Nivardo, a scientist husband of a less-active woman (who we've activated), is one of my favorite investigators. He's now ABOUT to get to 3 Nephi 11. Yesterday he FINALLY accepted to be baptized. Coincidentally, he found that in two weeks is his anniversary. So on August 11th he's going to get baptized. We're thrilled. The best part was that he wouldn't answer ME as I commited him to get baptized. He wanted Elder Turner to do it. But he made Elder Turner do it THREE times. Elder Turner is dry and nervous in his teaching and committing. So Nivardo took a moment to kind of grill him on how to convince people. He told Elder Turner that if he gets another companion who is the same as him, they're going to end up crying on the sidewalk. Jajaja harsh! So Elder Turner took heart and with a simple testimony, invited Nivardo to get baptized. The Spirit was really strong finally. That's when Nivardo pulled out the calender on his phone and said, "The 11th sounds like a good day." Wow. It was neat how he already wanted to do it, he just wanted to help Elder Turner learn something really important. Wow.

   I love you family!

Love,

  Elder Poirier (Mitch Poirier)

2 Months to go...

Dear Family,

  This week we spent almost EVERYDAY in the house while my companion slept. He got a stomach infection Tuesday morning that kept him down all week. When that started to get better, he got ulcers on his tongue, supposedly from the fever, and had a headache that was so huge he just had to sleep all week. So I was SO BORED. There's no TV, video games, Harry Potter, or  computer to keep me busy. Instead I ended up playing chess by myself.. Really. So not much to report.

  All I can say is that I love my converts. They are so anxious to share the gospel with their friends and family! I'm so grateful we baptized them before these rules changed because THEY are going to be the ones who help us keep baptizing. Honestly, I don't enjoy visiting less-actives. One of them is a returned-missionary sealed to his wife in the temple. The whole family is less-active. How sad! And there was vodka on the shelf by the TV, half empty! What?! It makes me so sad. I don't want to stray from the iron rod! I've committed myself to read the scriptures everyday for the rest of my life. It's what's going to keep me safe and sure. I recommend you do it too.

  I have nothing else to say. I'm sorry. I love you all!

 Love,

   Elder Mitch Poirier

Incredible!

Family!

  I don't have a lot of time to write today unfortunately. Plus I won't be able to send photos either. The family got baptized! It was incredible. This Thursday that we went to see them, Nora had been upstairs reading the Book of Mormon. Earlier that day she took her son Omar to the doctor. He's got a severe diabetes that NO child in all of Morelia has ever had, so the doctors haven't exactly known what to do. That day they told her that Omar's kidney was really bad. So she went home feeling so sad. She couldn't control her crying no matter what she did until she went into her room and began reading. That's when she said she felt a great peace come over her and the feeling that says "everything is going to be alright." They've had rough times, but she is filled with faith and hope. So much so that as she was telling this story to us that evening, I had the impression, "She's got the faith for you to give Omar a blessing." So we did. We gave him a blessing. The hermano that was with us said the prayer. He blessed him to be able to heal completely. They got baptized on Saturday while it was raining outside. The water was warm. The spirit was really strong in that service. The dad, we found out, is a member. We found his lost record, so the rest of the family got baptized. My companion and I walked home in the rain feeling such a peace and joy. I feel so grateful for the tender mercies of the Lord. I trust that this family will be strong. Ever since Thursday, Omar has been feeling much better. I trust that soon all will be okay. God is a God of miracles still. I know that He lives. I love you family. I love you mom and dad for letting me lean on your testimony so many years until I decided to read the Book of Mormon for myself. I love Heavenly Father for the Plan that He created so that we can grow so much on this Earth and return to His presence so much greater. Read. Pray. I love you all!

  "This is a work of FAITH" President Jesperson (who I really miss). PS the new President is way strict. Oh and by the way, David A. Bednar chose our mission and 4 others in Mexico to begin a pilot program. We are NO LONGER allowed to knock doors, contact people, or do anything of the sort. If we want to find, we have to depend on the members to talk to friends and family. They have to set up the appointments to teach in their house. We are just teachers from now on. Cool. But we found NOBODY this week. haha. I'm STILL in Itzicuaro. Changes are the 13th or so of August. This is my longest area now. Five transfers in total. But since August will be the beginning of my LAST transfer, who knows if they'll change me. I hope not. Everyone loves me here. And we have 13 converts since August who still remain active and faithful! WOW.

   Love,

Elder Mitch Poirier

Christmas in July

 Not much to report here in Mexico. We plan on baptizing a family of five this Saturday! I'm pretty excited about that. I don't know what else to say. This week I get to meet the new mission president. I don't know how I feel about that. It's weird. I only have 11 weeks left on the mission. I'm interested in what he'll teach us. Starting in August we're going to be promoting Mormon.org here in Mexico because it's FINALLY going to be translated into spanish!! All the cool videos and the blogs, etc. We're going to be required to go online everyday for one hour to look up things that will be helpful for our investigators. That'll be pretty cool.

  As for college. Um. I don't want to go to BYU I've pretty much decided. I think just visiting Utah every once in a while will be enough. But I do want to go to UF in January. I think October, November, and December is enough for you all to get used to having me back haha and then you won't miss me so much when I'm in college. I   feel like I'm needed there in that branch kind of. I also feel like that would be best for my future. 

  I love you!

Love,

  Elder Poirier

Happy 4th of JULY

---

My beloved brothers and sisters,

  (That's how President Monson always starts) I first want to wish Max a very happy birthday this week! I'll be sending you a letter and postcard today! It's so weird to turn twenty! As for the USA, happy birthday as well! I love to celebrate the 4th of July. I feel a longing desire to be in the Keys with you all this week. But I'm in MEXICO! And that's still really amazing to me! Everyone at home and abroad seems really happy, especially Bentley! I love you all so much. These next three months are going to fly by, but I'm not letting myself think past my mission. Not yet. That plane ride home will be for thinking about the future. Let me tell you though, it's hard not to think about it. Even reading the Liahonas (Ensign) makes me think of whether I should live in Utah or stay in Florida. But I won't make a decision yet.

  Anyway, this week we didn't baptize. It felt a little bad after four weeks in a row. We still have a handful of great investigators though. There's Nivardo, who only is home from work on Sundays because he works in a city that's four hours away or more. He's in Alma 58. He's a scientist (like me) and was saying that he wants me to look up exactly which prophet said that "hot drinks" referred to tea and coffee in DyC 89. He wants to see the evidence, etc. He says it's the scientist in him. So I decided to pull out the scientist in me and proposed an EXPERIMENT. He LOVES coffee, but my hypothesis was that if he gave it up completely for one month, then he'd 1) find other things that are still delicious 2) have more energy in the day and 3) feel the promptings of the Spirit guide him more in work and in his home (He has a wonderful family of members). Well, I got him! He couldn't get out of that one. So for two weeks he hasn't drank coffee. He says that he feels tired, but that he's not so nervous in work. He feels more calm and less stressed. Two more weeks and he'll be convinced. I have faith.

  There's the Familia Martinez, the two parents and FIVE sons (but only three sons are of baptism age). The dad said he was baptized in the US 14 years ago, but we found out that the Church actually has no record of him. SO he has to get rebaptized. The sons went to what would be considered youth conference. They loved it. The 12 year old boy is already in 2 Nefi 8! That's incredible. He was telling us that the destruction of Jerusalem is a lot like what is happening in his life because... etc. It was WAY incredible. Smart kids here in Mexico!

  We have Hector, the father of Patricia. He's 69 and talks A TON, like all old people. But he says he's been thinking a lot about all the things that we've been teaching, and that he just feels happier.

  We have a few others, but we're just going to keep working with faith. President Jesperson now went home! So sad! I don't really feel the desire to meet the new President, is that wrong? By the way, I'm STILL here in Itzicuaro, making this my new LONGEST area! But the ward LOVES me and doesn't want me to go yet. They want to have a going away party for me when I go home. We'll see. Six more weeks in Itzicuaro and then are my last changes. We're planning as a ward and missionaries to have Christmas in July. It's going to be a big dinner, Christmas play (the Christmas Orange), and a tour of the church for all the visitors, etc. We're looking forward to it. My companion and I were just SO bored of the way we were working. We had to change something. This will be exciting. My second Christmas in Mexico kind of!

   I love you family!

Love,

   Elder Mitch Poirier

21 months.............

Dear Family,

  This week was SO hard. We were trying to get 10 people baptized! Two families! But one of the families ended up not being able to get permission from their father who is WAY hard-hearted. We did our best this week to confidently talk with him and to have faith, etc. To no avail..yet. So the mom and five daughters will have to wait. Unfortunately he won't even let them go to church anymore. Doesn't he realize he's STOPPING them from following Jesus Christ. I have a question. If you're fighting against Jesus Christ, who's side are you then on? Satan! Man! I hope this guy will get it! But we baptized the other family. Jorge and Lucia got married on Friday! They finally sealed the deal after 16 years living together. We also baptized the daughter, Georgina and the granddaughter, Angelica. They are such sweet little girls. When Georgina shakes my hand, it "electicutes" me. She loves it. And Angelica's hand "burns" mine. The photos are beautiful, but this computer lab is SO LAME and I'm stressing out!

  We also had a zone conference this week. It was my last time seeing President Jesperson and his wife. We took a photo together. He gave me a hug. I'll really miss having him. I can't believe I only have 3 months left. Tonight there are transfers. Who knows if I'll be changed. Half of me wants a NEW AREA as beautiful as Chile. The other half says I'd love to stay here and work even harder. The ward LOVES me. My converts all LOVE me. We'll see what happens.

  So Cassie is WAY chubby..like Max. And Max sends the most beautiful photos. Mexico is NOT beautiful where I am. Actually though, to marry Jorge and Lucia, we had to go to a pueblo called Tacicuaro, which was SO Mexico. It was exactly what I thought Mexico would be like. I have photos, but this dang computer lab...

  Summer seems really nice from so far away, but I'm enjoying my last times here. Today we're going to make pizza with an hermano who is a breadmaker. He's cool. By the way, Max, since when do you want to get in on the pie business? And don't think too much about life after the mission. It's just going to be the same. And when will you get to go to Chile again?! That's why I'm getting all these recipes though! Yesterday we ate chicharron. Not so good. I mean, it's full of flavor, but it doesn't please me too much.

  Very well family!

     I love you all!

 Love,

    Elder Mitch Poirier

Happy Day!

Family!

  I love you all so much! Happy Father's Day dad! You're the best! I loved seeing all the photos of the house getting painted and all the photos of the fun summer Cassie and Aleksi are having! This week was wonderful! Adad decided to get baptized! He picked me to baptize him. I felt bad because so did Patricia two weeks ago and Emma one week ago. But this week we may be baptizing MANY people, so Elder Turnip will for sure be dressed in white as well.

  I don't have much time today family, but there's SO much I wanted to say! First of all, Elder Turner and I have been having a few conflicts in our relationship. I've been trying really hard to get him to push himself and step out of his comfort zone so that quickly he can become an incredible missionary. I wanted him to learn everything I know NOW so that he doesn't take 21 months in learning for himself. But he was just getting really fed up. I was really doing it with love, but he NEVER opens up about what is on his mind, what I'm doing that bothers him, or what we should do to improve things. He just stays silent.  So I  decided that I'm no longer going to push him to do anything. I'm not going to help him become a better teacher or give him ANY advice that he doesn't ask for. And he said he'd motivate me more so that I don't get doubtful and stressed out. Really, I can't explain all the details for lack of time, but let me tell you that EVERYTHING has been great since. 

  That same day, as we were walking out of the house to go work, the cel lphone started to ring. It was PRESIDENT. I wish I could go into detail about what he told me, but to be fast, he told me that he woke up thinking about me and felt the Spirit telling him that he had to call me. He told me (I didn't say anything the whole phone call of course haha) that he could've made me assistant or a zone leader. I qualify. I'm worthy. But that it's not been the Lord's will. The Lord has me where he wants me. He began to cry telling me this.. And he told me that the Lord is REALLY pleased with me. I was crying too! ahah. What a surprise, huh? He actually was thinking about me! This week he comes to our zone. It'll be the last time I see him. In a couple weeks we'll have a new mission president. Whoa how time flies. This week I complete 21 months! How fast!

  Family, I love you! I hope that you all read your scriptures and work harder to love everyone! I love you all so much! Last night I dreamed of Bentley. ahaha I gave him a kiss on the head!

   Que el Senor les bendiga esta semana!

Elder Poirier

Errors and all...

Dear Family!

  This week I don't feel like writing because everytime I make a mistake, the backspace button doesn0t work right away. Soyou now what?= I'm going to leave the errors . Sorry. It's jsut wey esier. Oh my gosh. I'm not doing this ion purops.OH MY GOSH hahahah! really? NAyway, this week has been pretty fun! President came to visit us in our humble apartment. He interviewed us tand talked about FOCUS. (i just typed "focus" all wrong, but it looked too much like a foul word, so I took the time to correct it). He told us to kae (TAKE) 5 minutes 12 times a day to just meditate on ONE topic without letting the mind wander. IT IS SO HARD. Try it. Then onece we can do it, he told us to take 10 minutes 6 times a day. then 15 minutes 3 times a day. Once we can do that, we'll be way better at focusing and receiving revelation for our investigators. Elder Turner, who had been feeling SUCH a lack of desire (seriously, i was doing all the work, all the thinking..." What's on your mind?" "Nothing" "Really? How can you have NOTHING on your mind?" "I really don't.") now is all up and wroking angain. That's good. President told him that I'm a great missionary who know s how to do everthing and that he needs to become like me ASAP. Wow. That made me feel good. This week we had s

  This week we had success too! We baptized Emma!!!! She's so cool. After the baptism she came up to me and told me "thnak you for being that lucecito that (the little light) lead me to this" and had tears in her eyes. I didn't realize how much she really felt this was true and wanted to do it. I felt humbled. She's really tough too because ALL of her family rejected her now. Even her 3 daughters. Whoa. And I spoke in sacrament meeting. It's one of my favorite things to do, speak in church! Everyone here gives boring talks,s o i Get to spice things up. I talked about OBEDIENCE: and commpared it to a pie. In 1NEFI 20:10 it says in spanish that we're all pies in an oven of affliction. So if we want to turn out right, we've got to follow God's recipe. WE CANNOT DISOBEY. I compared three obstacles to making a great pie 1) mixing the ingredients mal (priorities all wrong. 6 days work 1 day God. Family > sports etc)  2) never putting the pie in the oven! (like not doing hometeaching, reading scriptures, family prayer.."YOU AREN'T PUTTING THE PIE IN THE OVEN")  3) leaving the pie in the oven too long (being in the world not of the world). I talked about how IF WE LOVE HIM, WE KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. I told about how dad USED to be a firefighter and would come home with sad stroies of childern drowing or accidents caused by drinking and driving. The commandments are for our PROTECTION. STOP JSTIFYING SIN. It was great.

   The part that I want to tell you about was this: at the beginning I joked, "I'm really nervous and am shaking. Let's say it's because I only have.. one month in the mission." Everyone chuckled. haha. At the end, wehn I bore testimony, I told them, "The truth is that I almost have 21 months and soon will be going home. Wow" AND IT HIT ME. And I started to cry. I had to take a pause and collect myself. We had 11 people we'd brought to church (families are way more effective that just one person, Max. DO IT! :) ). I didn't want to embarrass myself. I ended fine, control. I sat down. And I just wanted to cry. I really really feel I've been serving with all my heart might, mind, and streght and I know that the Lord is very pleased with me. He loves me. I feel it strongly. But I'll never get to be a missionary again. And I just feel such a love for everyone here! Everyone kept complimenting meon the talk. They felt such inspiration to be obedient. I'd told them (in the talk) to take a few minutes and analyze what they could be doing better to be more obedient and to do it!

   Have I told you that I love going to church! I never recognized the peace and sweet spirit that I ALWAYS feel in church. Probably because I felt it at home too, but here I really recognize the spirit just being in the chrch. I have converts and investigators that tell me things like this "I want to get to church early so that I can ENJOY all of sacrament meeting" or "when church is over, I want it to be sunday AGAIN SO THAT I CAN COME BACK" WOW. That makes me want to cry. I think we all really underappreciate (not a word?) the spirit we have by being part of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Others don't even know what it feels like!

   May you all take a few minutes to analyze what else you could cahnge to foolow Jesus Christ more fully. I love you all! I love you for loving me enough to have prepared me for and now support me in this mission. Thank you for loving me enough to say goodbye to me for two years. I can't explain the joy I feel knowing that I have served with my ALL and the gratitude that I feel that I still have another 3 months here to serve!

   Love,

  Elder Mitchell Poirier

Esta Semana En Mejico

Me Querida Familia!

   This week was excellent! Monday evening we found a family of SEVEN! There are five little girls between 8 and 15! Incredible! And all of them ended up in church on Sunday! We brought 15 investigators to church! And we BAPTIZED finally! Patricia got baptized! And the water was nice and warm in the font, which is funny because afterwords she told me she would've preferred cold water. Apparently even in winter she showers in cold water. That's actually pretty common here in Mexico. We went through the hassle of heating the water assuming that that's what anyone would prefer. Sunday night she and her son Adad (who is getting baptized this weekend!) made us enchiladas! Real mexican enchiladas! I'm going to get the recipe. So far there are three hermanas that owe me recipes. 1) The Hermana Vazquez made us Pozole de Trigo 2) The Hermana Araceli bought us Corundas and knows how to make tamales! 3) And the Hermana Zaragoza makes her OWN chocolate! And now I want the enchiladas recipe! WAY different than the ones we make at home! WAY different!

  On Tuesday we made salchipulpos and salchitacos with the Familia Valdez Villa. So delicious. But I actually stressed out. Really. I haven't stressed out in MONTHS now, but I was walking home that night when I realized, "I'm stressed out! That's why I'm feeling so unhappy!" And since then I've been trying to control it. I'm still training Elder Turner from England technically. He was part-trained in Washington and here we finished, but I figured out this week that we still have a lot of work to do. He kind of is giving me ALL the work to do, which is understandable in the first two weeks, but he's got five months in the mission and should be able to take the lead in planning, teaching, or finding. But no. So I'm working on patience and charity. Elder Willett is a great zone leader and is really helping me to stay positive and feel that I'm doing my best.

  I love to teach. I feel like every lesson can be so fun if you just turn on your charisma, which I've developed here. You've got to know how to get people to smile, open up, and feel the Spirit. I love being a missionary. Really, I had a dream this week that I went home and was SO bored. SO BORED. I was just walking around the house with nothing to do. So I need to count my blessings, and every day in MEXICO is a great blessing the Lord has given me. I'm starting to really feel that I love Mexico in a way muy diferente than a tourist would feel. It's not so much of a love for the culture, but a love for the experience and people and places that have shaped me into the person I am right now. I really am happy because I know that I'm doing my best. 

  The only thing that is worrying me is that I'm like 10 days behind in my journal. My OCD says, "You CANNOT just skip those days! GO BACK and write them!" And there's NO time.

 I love you family!

    Love,

 Elder Mitch Poirier