Another week...

Dear Family,

  I'm super sorry that this computer doesn't have a place to connect my memory card! I wanted to send the photos of Mauricio's baptism! It was wonderful! His dad was so nervous to baptize him that he messed up the prayer twice, and once didn't get him all the way underwater. The good thing about baptizing a 9 year old in warm water is that he wants to do it over and over again anyway. Mauricio's grandma isn't a member, but loved the baptism. She especially loved when Mauricio said the closing prayer. We got her address and will probably visit her this week. She lives in the furthest part of Itzicuaro though. That night we went to visit Gloria and Victor. Gloria taught me how to make lechera!!!! OH MY GOSH! It's SO easy. You make a tea from orange tree leaves, add sugar and powdered milk! It's proportional. Just wait five months and I'll make it for you all! It's great on top of pancakes (hotcakes here) with a marmalade (which she also taught me how to make!). This week I also tried a fruit called zapote. It is the least fruity fruit I've ever had. Basically it's like a ball of melted chocolate in a soft green shell. It grows on a tree. You're supposed to eat it cold (so put it in the fridge first). It's not exactly a chocolate taste. It's like a fig in taste. And it stains your teeth. SO messy. I was really embarrassed eating it in front of our investigators.

  This week we read 3 Nefi 17 with Raymundo (isn't that funny that Max taught a Roberto and I'm teaching a Raymundo?). I felt the spirit really testify of Jesus Christ. I love that chapter. I feel like I learn a lot about who Jesus Christ is. He cries too. He's willing to change plans for us. He's powerful and merciful and patient. I love Jesus Christ! Also, I read 2 Nefi 31 in the Book of Mormon, third time around in Spanish. This time I tried to read it as if it were a letter to Max and I, telling us why our purpose as missionaries (to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the Restored Gospel...) is so important! It says, "amados hermanos mios" so many times. I crossed out "mios" and put "Poirier". Nefi teaches us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to be saved and return to the Father. So that's why our role is so important. Thanks Nephi!

  One of my favorite familles in this ward is the Familia Vazquez who just sent their son on a mission to Veracruz. The grandma is SUPER frail. She's so sweet. I was talking and she cut me off saying, "this elder makes me laugh. He has a gringo accent." ahahah Later I apologized for my accent and she said, "si". ahhaha Yesterday I saw her again and told her all happy "Hermana, I don't have a gringo accent anymore!" She laughed but then went on about how God loves us all equally. ahhaha. I love her!

   So yesterday after church I got a phone call from the Assistants saying that someone wanted to talk to me! It was Sigifredo! He got baptized yesterday!!!!!! FINALLY! I taught him with Elder Willett 6 months ago! He says he's known it's true; we were the ones that helped him get his answer. But for whatever reason he was waiting. Well, he finished reading the Book of Mormon in all this time, and finally felt it was time to get wet! So Elder Olivares baptized him! Sigifredo was crying on the phone! He said that just hearing my voice made his heart break. He and Tere love me and Elder Willett so much! AW! and I love them! I get to go to Guadalajara for a leadership conference that will last until Wednesday evening. Supposedly they're making me stay the night in an area that's close to Polanco! WHat? Why not just to Polanco?! So we'll see if I can convince them so that I get to see Sigi and Tere!

   Family! I love you! Cassie is beautiful! I'm so happy she's happy! Aleksi and mom are going to have such a great time in Utah! Dad! Until next week! Max! Be obedient and have a great positive attitude only!

Love,

  Elder Poirier

Dear Family...

My Dear Family!
  I'm so glad that you're all doing so well. My comments are the same as Max's! Eva's kids are growing way fast! Aleksi's boyfriend... I'm waiting for mom's opinion, and then eva's. The dogs are WAY spoiled. Last I checked they weren't allowed on the couch! Lilli, I'm so glad that your family is doing well! I miss Christian and Dylan! I'm glad they're busy with sports and school! It's what kept me out of trouble.
 This week we didn't baptize Gloria and Victor. They still didn't receive their answer from Heavenly Father that this is true. It's not that they have doubts, but rather that they don't want to do it if they're not 100% sure. It's because they haven't been reading the Book of Mormon. Everyday we told them that the only way they'll get the answer is if they read. The Book of Mormon is the "prueba" (the test). If it's true, then Joseph Smith was a prophet. If it's not true, then Joseph Smith was crazy and a liar. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I LOVE the Book of Mormon. Really. If you want to know why, read it and really ask Heavenly Father if it's true.
 Today in 45 minutes we're baptizing Mauricio. He's 9. His parents are sealed in the temple, but for economic problems, they haven't been going to church in a year. The dad works on Sundays. But now that our services start at 8 AM he's been coming for sacrament meeting. He'll be baptizing Mauricio. Next week you'll see the photos. We're happy to FINALLY baptize. We want to do better. This week I want to focus on finding families! Finding takes a lot of faith!
  I'm glad Max will be having a new companion. It'll be good for your spanish brother. I can't believe that you're gaining that much weight! Meanwhile, I put on my jeans today (that once were too small for me). I was surprised to find out that they're a little big! WHAT?! Ugh.
  We moved out of that ugly house and into a really great apartment. This morning I went running around the track that is in front! It felt so good. There were a ton of things that I wanted to say, but now I'm pressured for time and can't think of anything else.
  I love you family! I'm doing my best in this work. I'm trying not to worry about if I never become the missionary who baptizes a ton! Elder Willett has now baptized 14 people in the last 6 weeks! Incredible! And I've baptized 0. But there were faithful pioneers who never arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. But I'm going to do my best to finish strong. Almost only 5 months left. WOW.
  Love,
    Elder Poirier

PS "We shouldn't quote movies, unless they're hilarious" Elder Poirier

The "K"

Dear Family!

Everyone here spells things with "k's" when they hardly exist in Spanish. In fact...hold on. Are they playing "apple-bottom jeans" in this internet place? really?.... In fact, nobody spells or speaks correctly here! People are always telling me that I speak so well, so correctly. It's funny. The mission doesn't even want us to use the equivalents of "cool" or other words that Jesus Christ never said. We're working on it. They say that by the way we talk, people really will recognize us as representatives of Jesus Christ. Anyway, this week was wonderful! We live in this super ugly house, but we are moving out!!!!! WOOHOO! We're going to move into an apartment that is in front of a park with a race track! So I'll be able to run every morning! We're moving this Thursday. Today we spent a few hours cleaning this nasty house that we're leaving behind. It's awful. Although we spent a few hours cleaning, it looks like we didn't do anything. In Mexico, all the houses are made of cement and have tile floors. I don't know if I told you that. All the Utah missionaries look way forward to getting home and laying on their carpeted houses. I just look forward to petting a dog and not having a grey, dusty palm. PS Elder Hernandez is way scared of dogs. Yet he taunts them with the Book of Mormon (which we always have to hold in our hands). Well, he did it once. But he learned his lesson. The dog followed us for 10 minutes barking and barking.

Wednesday night, we got a call from the Assistants telling us that we had to be in Guadalajara Thursday morning for a conference for trainers and trainees. We spent ALL Thursday in Guadalajara! I LOVED BEING BACK THERE! Imagine, a year of my life in the 2nd largest city in Mexico. It was weird to see yellow taxis instead of the white ones here in Morelia. Guess who was also at the conference! Elder Willett!!!! He's doing SO great. He's baptizing a ton because he is FILLED with faith and SO focused on finding families who are really looking for the gospel. He's not wasting time with people who aren't progressing. He has the faith that there are people who are READY for the gospel. They always tell us that we're here to harvest, not to sow seeds. It was great to see him! I feel so motivated! We plan to both begin baptizing a TON and then ask President to make us companions in June until i finish my mission. We're serious. And I'm going to finish this mission STRONG. He courageously asked for permission to go visit our converts in Polanco. So we had 1 hour to go see the Familia Reyes. Alberto is now really sick because of his diabetes. He had a surgery that the church paid for. When we got there, the whole family was all surprised to see us! Alberto was asleep in a bed, or just laying there really. He's blind. It was so sad. We sat and talked to him. We cried. Olivia and Karen are both doing really well. It was great to be in Polanco again with Elder Willett. We feel like we could have a ton of success now that we both feel like we get it. Like I told dad, it's all about faith. So first you have to figure out what faith really is. I thank you family for helping me learn that, especially mom's email about a positive attitude.

We look forward to baptizing soon. This week 20 year old Victor is going to decide to get baptized or no. His mom, Gloria, is out of town, but as well could get baptized. Pray for it! I want to send you those photos next week! I'm going to have that hope! I'm happy that Max is going to baptize finally! And that Easter was so beautiful! Max is right, Easter Sunday is nothing here tampoco. Everyone celebrates the death, etc. of Christ, but not His Ressurrection. Sad. So we did! We read the story of His Ressurrection with our investigators and made them all go to church especially for that day. Unfortunately the church didn't even acknowledge that it was Easter. Aye... But with faith we're going to change this ward!

I LOVE YOU FAMILY!

Love,

Elder Poirier

Hi All

Dear Family,

  I'm fighting a sinus infection which has given me painful headaches all week and has clogged my ears. We fasted twice this week! Athlete's foot and an ingrown toenail. Gross, right? But I keep working because I just want to baptize. I've worked through days of vomiting, so this is easy. I had a great week! I love it here in Morelia, though I'm starting to worry that I won't get to go back to Guadalajara before I finish my mission. I only have 4 more transfers. This is the last week of this transfer, but we won't have changes because I'm still training Elder Hernandez. So then I'll only have 3 more transfers and who knows what will happen?! But whatever. I just want to baptize.

 This week we had a zone conference with President Jesperson and the assistants. President read us pages from his HUGE mission journal. I was CRACKING UP laughing, but the only one doing so. Why? Because he was JUST LIKE ME at first! He was having a lot of tough times and thinking that that was just how the mission was going to be. That there aren't really that many miracles, etc. A ton of work, and little fruit. He says his poor family must have felt awful reading all his sorry letters. BUT a letter from his dad changed his mission. His dad told him exactly what mom told me a few weeks ago: it's all about your attitude, your mind! You've got to be positive! You've got to have FAITH! So he and his companion fasted and prayed for a goal, the number of people they could baptize in the following 3 months if they had faith and did ALL they could. The Lord told them 30 in 3 months, but that was very high for the mission at the time. Well, they trusted that the answer came from God. Faith is a hope for things which are not seen but are TRUE. And they knew it was TRUE that they could baptize 30 because the Lord told them they could. Well, they did it. And they saw INCREDIBLE miracles. From then on he baptized more and more!

 So this week my companion and I fasted and prayed for a goal for the next 2 months. We decided 16. We're going to keep being ONE HUNDRED percent obedient, having positive attitudes, and faith! We've got to control our minds! We cannot let doubt it! Not even a bit! So pray for us! It'll be incredible to reach that goal! I'm going to do it! As President told us "better late than never." I'm going to finish this mission STRONG.

  As for General Conference, we watched practically all of it in Spanish. It's fine. I understand perfectly, but I don't enjoy it as much. The translators don't speak with as much power or emotion. And because we brought investigators to almost every session, and it was so far away, we missed most of the first talks, including Elder Holland. So I look forward to getting the Liahona!

  We completed the standard this week again, even though we only had 2 full days to work. My companion is a great influence on me. He's trying to give his all and focus. He wants to baptize. I want to help him really see it's possible. Plus I want to see that it's possible!

       I love you family! I love you so much! I can't really express myself, but I wish I could just hug you all! Mother's day is coming up! SKYPE!!

Love,

  Elder Poirier

6 months to go...

Dear Family!

  This week was incredible! My companion and I really saw the miracles of the Lord for being obedient and having a great attitude. Positivity! The goal was to complete the standard of excellence for the second time in a row. Supposedly after completing three times in a row you begin to baptize. Well Sunday came around and we still needed to put baptismal dates with two people and find two new investigators. We had six people in church, all of our lessons, and all 200 contacts. We sat down on a door step to pray that the Lord would have mercy on us. We’d been doing all we could to be obedient, so I felt confident asking the Lord for His help. It was interesting because I wasn’t feeling hopeless or stressed. In fact I was feeling quite excited, anxious to see how the Lord was going to help us. It was like being on a rollercoaster.  A thrill. I was surprised by how I felt. Well, after the prayer, I felt we needed to knock that door where we’d been sitting. Right there we found three new investigators. A cool family that has heard little about our church and was interested. Then we put a plan for the people we were going to invite to baptism. Both accepted as we planned. The Lord really showed us that this is HIS work. We have to do things HIS way. So we are really grateful and really thrilled. There are a few of our investigators that I just love. I love them. And I want them to get baptized!!! By the way, Max says he sang! WHOA. Did you know that I’ve sung BY MYSELF in lessons here?! Can you believe that?! MITCHELL? Yes. So funny. But it was worth it because it brings the spirit!

  As Max says, the Book of Mormon is wonderful! I love it more than I can explain. That’s why it makes me so happy when others we teach really begin to read and enjoy it as well! Our church services are going to start at 8 AM after General Conference. OH MY GOSH. That’s going to be a great challenge for us getting people to come. President Jesperson comes on Wednesday for a Zone Conference. He says he wants to talk to me then. I really am glad that I got everything off my chest because now he really can help me. Family I love you. Mom! I’m so sorry that I forgot to say Happy Birthday! I even wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget! But HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I LOVE YOU! And Dad! Take care of all those quehaceres before I get home.  I don’t want to be a House Elf when I get back. Today we went bowling as a zone. Out of the 18 of us or so, I got second place with a score of 130. WOW. It’s because we haven’t played in so long. PS I HAVE 18 MONTHS IN THE MISSION. Whoa.

I love you all! Always, forever near or far etc. Aleksi got the song stuck in my head.

Love,

  Elder Mitch Poirier

Hola Familia!

My Dear Family,
  From now on I'm only going to be positive. Thank you for all the advice. I hit another low last week, but from now on I'm not going to let myself. I want to finish this mission strong. Elder Perez and I had a wonderful week. We completed the Standard of Excellence without stress. President had called me on Tuesday telling me that the mission really needed me, that I had all the talent and potential, I just have to have confidence in myself and not over-complicate things. Some good things that happened this week:
1) We realized that we need to be a lot more bold in inviting people to get baptized. We need to help them really understand the point in giving them a certain date as a goal. It's so that they actually put in some effort towards being ready. That they read, pray, and actually go to church. If they don't have an effective goal, they will progress way more slowly. So we're going to improve that.
2) One of the best families that we teach FINALLY came to church. It's been a month, but we've only been that patient because they are really struggling with their other family members that are WAY against them meeting with us. Finally the mother of the family had the courage to talk with her parents and tell them that she possibly will be changing religions, depending on if this is really what God has intended for her family. We love them.
3) The weather has been really nice outside. The sun is hot for a few hours, but then it gets behind the distant mountains, and everything cools down. It's breezy. The sky turns pink at sunset because of all the clouds. Occasionally it sprinkles rain. I'm trying to get the feelings stuck in my memory so that when I'm home and wondering if I'll ever get to visit again, I'll remember how great it is here. I'm sure all the world is beautiful. Mexico is not the most beautiful, but it definitely is unique.
4) I didn't get sick! I say that because Elder Perez got really sick. One day he was saying he felt strange, possibly with a fever. Then after a lesson at night, we walked out the door and he said, "Excuse me," and went to go vomit on the other side of the street. Poor guy. But I didn't get sick! Who knows what he ate..
5) We got "special changes" again! It's interesting how many times that happens here for me. I now have companion #15, not including the MTC. Isn't that crazy? In 18 months I've had 15 companions. Wow. Others only have like five. I'm now with and Elder Hernandez from Puebla, Mexico. He's only got 3 weeks in the field. Elder Padgett was just training him, but I get to finish with the next 9 weeks. So according to the mission, he's my "step-son". He seems really cool with a lot of desire and charisma (which is great when working with people obviously). So this should be good. I'm still here in Itzicuaro, Morelia. Elder Perez is going to Guadalajara. He only has 5 months in the mission but as well will be finishing up the training for another elder. I'm proud of him. He's a great missionary. I didn't talk much about him, but we got along well.
   I love you family! Thank you for the package! I LOVED reading Ramon's letter. Ramon, keep doing your best to keep the commandments. It brings such a peace and satisfaction! Thank you for writing me! I can't wait to visit Thatcher and Douglas after I finish the mission.
  I love Florida!
Love,
   Elder Mitch Poirier

Morelia

Tomas, Me and the Hermana.. She's the Stake President's wife. She and Tomas have a torta business (not a cake, it's a HUGE sandwich)

And people have all these stickers on their doors. The catholics. The christians put one that says "We accept everyone" or something. It's funny. And the Mormons have a sticker that says in spanish "Be happy. Be mormon." with a smiley face. Kind of silly

Morelia the Cathedral

Torta

Morelia at night

Elder Pathakis, Elder Petersen, Elder Perez and I