The Field is White

My Dear Family,

   So I'm glad mom and dad are enjoying a great Memorial Day weekend. That sounds like the great life-- reading, cleaning, eating, rain, boat, dogs, and church. How relaxing! And HOORAY for Cassie now entering summer and then soon beginning her SENIOR year. Whoa. And one month after she starts school, I GET HOME. Whoa. How quickly time has flown. But enough about time. We had a wonderful week this week! Really. It was so fun!  Elder Turnip and I are getting along great and doing a bunch of creative things. Plus we have really great investigators.

  1) Patricia is going to get baptized. She says she has just felt SUCH peace everyday and that she LOVES the Book of Mormon. All the hermanas in the ward are ready for her baptism this Saturday. Adad, her 21 year old son, is still a little unsure that he's ready for baptism. He says he believes this is all true, but he wants to really be sure about baptism. I just want to make sure if he does it, he does it for himself  and not for us or for his mom. Everytime we teach, he asks ME to say the closing prayer--even if he says it, he'll ask me to say another prayer right after. I guess he likes how I pray? There's one hermano named Ruben who is really prideful and serious. He wanted to come with us to a lesson with Patricia and Adad this week. He told them that he was going to bear his testimony, something that he never does because it's so powerful... Adad told us the next day, "Me cae gordo" or "I don't like him." Haha. Well this week Elder Turnip and I made molletes for some members and investigators in the church. Patricia and Adad came. The Hermano Ruben arrived after an hour for some reason, saw us, and asked me all offended, "Why didn't you invite me, Elder?" SORRY. It wasn't a ward activity! He stayed in the kitchen with us, but didn't eat or participate in the game we played (MAX, we played Mafia. Remember that from the Bahamas. Except we made the Mafia be the Gadianton Robbers and the citizens were Nephites. And the detective is the Chief Judge. It's a BLAST).

  2) Emma has been watching her granddaughter who has chicken pox all week in the other side of Morelia. So we hadn't been able to see her. But on Thursday we went all the way there to give a blessing to the 2 year old girl. She was scared of us because she thought we were doctors. Little kids don't like getting shots here. But she was totally calm during the blessing. It was beautiful. Afterwords she began playing and even talking, feeling a little better from the fever. Emma came to the activity we had with the molletes and to church on Sunday. We had 9 people in church on sunday!

  3) We have a bunch of other investigators as well, and a lot of them are progressing. It because we've been focusing on and praying to find FAMILIES. Full families. This week we found another 3 full families!! WHOA. So I look forward to sending you all a bunch of baptism photos. All this work is making me behind in my journal. I'm 12 days  behind. Ugh. OH. So this week some young men asked Elder Turnip, "Where are you from?" He said, "I'm from England." Then they asked, "Y como le gustan las mexicanas?" which means "And how do you like the mexican women?" He of course didn't get it and thought they had asked "Como le gusta mexico?" so he said, "Me gustan MUCHO." or "I really like them!" AHAHAHAHA everyone laughed and he didn't know why. I explained it to him and now he thinks it's SUPER funny too.

   I love it here in Itzicuaro. I feel like I'm having a lot more fun and really love the people. Everyday we try to find more people. The more we find, the more we're going to baptize. Plus if they're families, then they'll be a lot of baptisms as well. Our joy would be great with one, of course, but will be greater with many! I'm not here to plant seeds! MAX, cross that part out in Preach My Gospel about "No Effort is Wasted" in Chapter 9. That's for after the mission when you have to help yourself realize that you DID have a successful mission, but DURING the mission, you can't tell yourself that you're here to plant seeds! FIND AND DROP TO FIND MORE. The field is white family! BUT A TON OF THE FIELD IS NOT.

     Love,

Elder Mitchell Poirier!!

I love you all!

Mexico News

Dear Family,
   I'm glad to hear you're all doing well. I'm waiting patiently for Eva's opinion of this Nick. How fun that this is the LAST week of school for Cassie. She's going to be a senior. How did time fly so quickly?! As well, I'm glad that the weather is really nice in Florida. Yes, sunshine and then afternoon storms are really nice. Here in Itzicuaro it's not humid at all. It's getting close to rain season though. I hope those shoes get here quickly, mom. I hope that they kind of look like penny loafers, or it'll be like asking for pancakes and getting waffles. Same, but different. But I'll appreciate it nonetheless. Lilli wanted to know a little more about the pudding at the tree idea. Well here in Mexico they don't sell instant pudding mix, so I bought cake mix instead. We made the batter with Jorge, Lucia, and Georgina and then took it out to a tree, taking turns throwing spoonfuls. "This is one is for my brother who stole my girlfriend!" (Max....) or "This one is for my sister who doesn't write me!" (Don't worry, that one Elder Turnip said). I say Elder Turnip because of Jaz from Angus. ahah. I don't say it to him though. "Jaz, sometimes I think you're half girl, half turnip." Georgina especially loved it. "This is for my parents who don't take me to the carnival!" "This is for my teacher who didn't accept my homework" etc. The point was to help them see that all the times we've felt hurt or stressed, we can give it all to the Lord and He'll lift the burden from our shoulders. His yoke is easy, and His burden is light (Mateo 11). If we do His will, life is a lot easier.
  This week we found FOUR new families! That's great! And I'm super excited to tell you that Elder Willett is now my zone leader!!! We had changes last night, but we two are still here. Elder Willett!! WOOHOO! So I'll get to call him without it being against the rules!
  I've got to go! Our laundry is done and we're going to go to Centro today. I'll be on the lookout for those silver bracelets you want, mom. 
Love,
 Elder Poirier the first. 

ECT...

Hey Family!

  It was so good to see you this weekend on skype! SO motivating! I can't believe I only have about four months left! That's going to FLY by. I hope Max enjoyed the video I made! I told Nana that you had a girlfriend! She probably asked you about her. It's that first she asked ME. Um Nana, I'm a missionary! I can't have a girlfriend. She says she wants me to find a sweet mexican senorita. haha. I mostly loved seeing Bentley. Or how when I called out "McGraw!" He turned the other direction attently! Haha. typical.

  This week my companion and I got sick after eating at the ward Mother's Day activity. We both vomited. Gross. I HATE vomiting. I hope that was the LAST time I vomit on the mission! It went up my nose! GROSS. But I feel way better now.

  So my companion and I are teaching a few WONDERFUL people. There's Emma, who is in 1 Nefi 15 and loves church and everything she's learning. Yesterday we helped her realize that she doesn't have to know EVERYTHING before getting baptized. She's got to show her faith and do it because she feels God is answering her prayers. She says that if that's the case, she wants to get baptized! We're planning the baptism for May 26th. There's Patricia and her son Adad who is 21 and about to be a dadahaha. Ironic, right? His girlfriend is pregnant, but it's making him think really seriously about what he wants in his future, how he is going to make a happy family. Patricia has just been feeling such peace since we began coming. She's incredibly happy. The Spirit is so strong in their house every time we go. I love them a lot. They're going to give me recipes to include in my pie shop/diner. There's Jorge and Lucia and their daughter Georgina. They need to get married, but because of the bad experience of her last marriage, Lucia doesn't want to do it. They both have been coming to the church every Sunday for a month, they read, they pray. They love this. So we need to teach the Atonement and help her heal her wounds from the past, and set the future straight. Guess what! We're going to throw pudding at a tree with them! Remember how we did that, Cassie and Max? It's going to help her get over the past. It should be really fun. Little Georgina is 9. When she shakes my hand, I pretend it electrocutes me. She thinks it's great. Those are the best investigators we have!

  Elder Turner says "alright! put your willies on!" because it rained. Read that with an english accent and look up what "willies" means.

  Yesterday an hermana gave us chocolate. HOME. MADE. Chocolate. It was INCREDIBLY delicious. I asked her to write the recipe. I'm hoping that she'll actually follow through. I want to make chocolate at home! How cool!

   I love you family!

Love,

   Elder Poirier

WHAT.A.WEEK.

Dear Family,

  WHAT. A. WEEK. Elder Hernandez had special changes on Tuesday. I got a new companion named Elder William Turner from England!!!!!! SO COOL. I'm training him! He had been in the MTC two months and waiting in Washington state for his visa for another two months. Finally he is here and I'M HIS COMPANION. He's famous in this mission. Everyone has known an English missionary was coming, and so EVERYONE has wanted to be the one to train him. Lucky me! We went out to work Tuesday, and then at 2AM I had to go to Guadalajara for the Leadership Conference that lasted until Thursday late at night. So we are still getting to know each other. He's a weird guy.. PER-fect(English accent). I talk to him in an English accent and he sometimes talks to me in an American accent. So great! He kind of doesn't like Harry Potter though..

  The Conference was amazing! But not really because of what we learned there. The parts where we weren't in the conference were amazing. For example, when I got onto the bus at 2AM, Elder Willett was there! So we sat together and talked until 5AM when we took a 1 hour nap and woke up in Guadalajara. We talked about HOW he's baptizing SO MANY people. He told me that it's because he's 1) focused (obsessed) on finding full families. If someone rejects them saying "I'm catholic," he tells his companion that the person speaks another language. "I'm catholic" means "There's a wonderful family really close to here! Keep looking!" He's filled with the faith that there are many families waiting to get baptized. He prays specifically for families that don't have problems with the Sabbath Day or the law of Chastity. 2) He's so willing to drop people if they're not progressing. He says "the field is white already to harvest, BUT a LOT of the field is brown!" We have to look for all the white! We're here to harvest! Not to plant seeds!! If people aren't going to keep their commitments, they're not ready. We're not here to convince them. He's really happy! I want him to be my companion again! In the Conference, President told us to learn from Elder Willett, to figure out how he's doing this. I laughed because everyone got mad at us for talking the entire night on the bus. Sorry!

  Also, after Wednesday's conference they assigned Elder Willett and I to go to Libertad for the night (the conference would continue on Thursday). I LOVED being back in Libertad! I felt like I was in a dream. It felt so unreal. None of my converts were home of course... But we called Elder Horne and got permission to go back to Polanco for an hour to go visit Sigifredo and Tere! So that was wonderful! Sigifredo says he read the entire Book of Mormon, and THAT'S when he decided to get baptized! I loved being back in their home! Thursday morning we went and visited the Familia Reyes (Alberto passed away a few weeks ago). They were really sad, but hopefully the other daughters will now have a desire to really figure out how to be sealed as a family forever! Then the conference... then the bus ride home! I got to open a package! Thanks for the ties and goodies!

   Well, that's that! We're going to the zoo today! Enjoy the photos I'm going to send!

Love,

  Elder Mitch Poirier

Challenges and Baptisms

My Dear Wonderful Family!

  This week I'm sending photos! There are photos of the baptism of little Mauricio, of Ruben (the shorter of the two dressed in white) from this weekend, and of the zapote that I ate last week. Plus there's the photo of me and Elder Hernandez. He's entering into week 10 of training (out of 12). Photos! I love the photos Max sent last week. I want a firefighter sweater too! Where'd you get that?! Too bad it's WAY hot here. But if there can be one waiting for me in 5 months, I'd appreciate it mucho!

  Christian, I love and miss you all too! I hope that you and Dylan keep up the great work in school and your respective sports!

  Max, your companion seems really cool. Just do your best for the moment, he should be patient. How much time does he have in his mission? As for training, it's better than anything else in the mission. Better than being district leader, zone leader, or anything. So look forward to it.

   This week was a great challenge for me and my companion. We started the week really animated and excited, but quickly almost everything blew up in our faces. I learned 3 important things that I've struggled with my whole mission. 1) If a person is not "chosen" as they say, we need to drop them and find those who will keep their commitments, etc. Even though we love the people, we can't waste our time and all our efforts to force a person to do what they don't really want to do. We were wasting so much time with people who never wanted to actually go to church, read the Book of Mormon, or get baptized, because they kept telling us "si, si" and were really cool people, etc. NO. Waste. Of. Time. 2) I've got to be more direct in inviting people to get baptized. That is our purpose. Sometimes as missionaries we get a little nervous to talk about baptism because we don't want to rush the people or  freak them out. but no. We've got to bring it up in the FIRST visit and invite them to get baptized. Or else people won't get baptized. 3) I'm like Peter in the New Testament. I'm reading and studying about him and I just feel like he's so much like me. Very impulsive, slow to really learn, inquisitive, and with a great desire to do what is right. He once asked Christ what he was going to gain for having left EVERYTHING behind for Him. Christ responded that anyone who forsakes family, work, etc. for His cause will have eternal life. I'm fascinated by Peter and want to keep studying more (right now actually, that's how great my desire is, i just want to go read more! ahah)

  We decided to clean the plate of so many of our investigators. It's sad that once again I fell into that trap of "these people WILL progress if they just..." But Heavenly Father let us find 12 new investigators this week! Twelve more people who really seem anxious to learn from us. It is humbling that the Lord waited until Elder Hernandez and I got out of our desanimo and depression before letting us teach those people. We were feeling really down, and the Spirit wasn't with us. Heavenly Father wasn't going to let us teach them with the attitudes we had ahah. But we're okay now.

  Tomas (who sells the gigantic tortas) (a torta is a sandwich in mexico, a cake in Chile). gave me some great advice on Sunday that helped me pull myself up again. And plus, we baptized on Saturday. Ruben is really happy! The Hermano Francisco baptized him. Francisco is a convert from December who is SO faithful. They're going to be great friends.

  Family! I love you! I love you so much! Be safe! Have fun!

  

Love,

   Elder Mitch Poirier

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