I'm a bald person. October 18, 2014

I'm a bald person! 

So I mean, in Spanish when people tell you that you are bald, they say that you are 'pelon' (pay-loan), and I have heard that a lot this week. So I mean, it’s either because my companion cut my hair to short, or all of Mexico is trying to remind me of some unpaid debt.. Okay bad joke, I know, but it just kind of came to my mind when I wrote how to pronounce 'pelon'. I should do improve.. or maybe not. I wouldn't be very funny. ANYWAY, getting on to why I am bald.. So my companion kind of knows how to cut hair, and so like a month ago, I asked him to cut my hair and he did a pretty good job, but last Saturday night I asked him to cut it, and his hand slipped at one point. And he was using the little buzzer machine thing, so the damage was done, and the consequences followed. It’s really weird, because I forget that my hair is super short but then I walk by a mirror or see my reflection and something and I am reminded. But it’s getting better now.

Actually when president saw my hair, instead of shaking my hand like he usually does, he saluted me, called me lieutenant and walked away haha. 

Anyway, that's my weird beginning paragraph for this letter. This week went pretty well with all of the new missionaries getting to the mission and stuff. I got to be official translator, and so it was fun. We have one of the new missionaries living with us now. He and his trainer were assigned to work in the same ward as us. Hopefully we will see more progress as far as missionary work goes in the ward. It’s fun living with more missionaries though. 

This week we have started working with a newer investigator and when we went to see him, at first it was really weird. Like he was kind of trying to brush us off and didn't want to listen to us anymore, but we just started teaching him anyway, and during the lesson as we read in the Book of Mormon, he stopped us and told us that as we read, we had answered one of the questions that he has always had that no one has answered for him. He recognized that we were guided to be able to do so because he didn't tell us that he had doubts or anything and it ended up being a really great lesson.

 It’s interesting to see how the Spirit works with all of us. How it works in such a way that we may not understand that we are being led. I am not very good at explaining these kinds of things, but I know that we definitely would not be able to do this work without the Lord´s help. He is guiding us to people that have been prepared to receive the gospel, and He helps us to know how to help them. It’s truly a remarkable experience to be here as a missionary. I know the church is true, and that we are led by living prophets of God. The Book of Mormon is proof of it all, and the Holy Ghost bears witness of it. 

I love you guys and hope you are all doing well. I´ll talk to you next week!

Here is a picture of bald Elder Rios with one of the missionaries who just ended his mission. The picture was the day after my companion cut my hair. Its a bit longer now.  

Birthday Cake... Turned 21 in Mexico! =}

Sat Oct 11, 2014 Birthday Cake...Turned 21 in Mexico! =}

So, its transfer weekend guys! Which means that on Monday they are going to start moving around missionaries to different areas, some missionaries go home, and some new missionaries arrive to the mission! I am really excited for this one because I get to see the new missionaries get here. I really like seeing how nervous/excited all the new missionaries are. I mean, I am pretty sure I already mentioned it but it makes me think of when I just barely got here to the mission. So yeah, its pretty great. Monday and Tuesday will be pretty busy for us, cause we run around doing all the behind the scenes stuff to make sure the meetings go as planned and stuff. Oh and I get to spend Tuesday as the 'official translator' for the american missionaries that arrive and that's fun.

So this week has been a pretty good one. I turned 21 on Monday and President and Sister Morales bought me a birthday cake and everyone in the office sang happy birthday to me. It was a funny cake it said "Felicidades Elder 'ah bueno' ". I always answer 'ah bueno' whenever someone asks me to do something and so one of the Elders put it on the cake, and since then, all of the people in the office have started saying 'ah bueno' to everything. I´m pretty much a hipster. But not really. 

And something else that was kind of funny this week was that we have a Puerto Rican flag in our mission office now... So heres the story, my friend and zone leader, Elder Urbina, and I are the only two missionaries of Puerto Rican descent here in the mission. In the mission office we have a flag of each country of the missionaries that are here in the mission. So we have some of Nicaragua, Columbia, Mexico, England, and different places. Anyways, Elder Urbina started telling president that we needed a flag from Puerto Rico, to which president initially said no. But after some talking back and forth, he said that we could have a Puerto Rican flag but it had to be a little one because Puerto Rico isn´t its own country, and neither Elder Urbina or myself are fully Puerto Rican... So attached is the picture of the flag we won.. I´m pretty proud of it. 

We have been working to find some new investigators here in our area and its been going pretty well. We have a new one named Miguel. His brother is a member of the church in the United States and invited him to meet the missionaries. We have been teaching him for like two weeks now, and he is way cool. We weren't able to see him this week, so he called me the other day while we were in a meeting and he says ¨hey, when can I see you guys again?" So we set a date and time and he told me "okay, and I already read the part of the Book of Mormon that you left me, is there another part I can read?" I mean, not all of the investigators are like that. He is way cool. Right now we are going to focus on the day of rest with him. He has definitely been prepared to receive the gospel though and I am really excited to keep teaching him. I know that the Lord is going to put more people in our path and I hope that we can find some families that are looking for the gospel. I love you guys and I know I haven´t written as much but I mean, I think you´re all great. and stuff. 

Love you, hope to write you all next week. 

I´m going to send a picture of me and my companion, of my birthday cake, and the little Puerto Rican flag. 

Sept 27, 2014 Almost General Conference time!

Hey guys, so I´m pretty excited for General Conference. I mean, I just want to make sure  you guys know that. 

This week has been pretty alright. I ate little ceasers for the first time in almost nineteen months. I don´t really know how to say this but... I´m pretty sure my pizzas came out better than the one we ate... I mean, I´m just sayin´. It was a good little flashback moment. This week we have focused a bit more on contacting. My companion is really good at it. Like really good. No one tells him no, haha. I don´t know how he does it, so I am trying to learn more from him in that aspect. I mean, I´m not bad at contacting but I haven´t quite learned to do it as natural as he does. So yeah, I´m working on that so that the people don´t give me the "what do you want?" stare when we randomly start talking to them haha. 

Anyway, this week went pretty good. We are teaching two people, they are father and daughter. They are pretty cool investigators. The daughter accepted the invitation to be baptized this week, and we are working with the dad also so that he can be baptized. We are hoping that in October we can have their baptism. They really are awesome though. They both have understood really well what we have taught them and have the desire to keep learning. I am certain that they are two of the many people that the Lord has prepared to receive the gospel. 

During my personal study this week I just had another one of those "the gospel is true" moments. I was reading in Ezekiel, and as I was reading I just found a scripture that I really needed. Later in the same chapter I was awestruck when I found that the Lord talked about how the gospel would be preached and how many people would respond to his call. The scriptures contain the word of God. They are powerful and true. The moment that we start applying the teaching that are taught therein is when we recognize the divine guidance that is received through the sacred writings of God´s chosen servants. He has always called prophets, and He continues to call prophets. I have no doubt of that fact, and I know that Thomas S. Monson is a prophet of the Lord. The Holy Ghost has testified it to me, and I testify the same to all of you. 

I love you guys and I hope you are well.

Love, Elder Kyle Andrew Rios

Ezekiel 34:11-16

Transfers Sept 6, 2014 working in the Mission office

Hey guys, so I hope all is going well! Sorry I wasn´t able to write on Monday, I was a bit busy but for the next little while I will be writing on Saturdays. That's pretty sweet right? Anyway, so I will try to give you a quick recap of whats going on but I don´t really know what I am going to say. So Monday I got transferred, I am in Villahermosa now, which is one of the hottest parts of the mission. I have liked it though. There's also a lot more stuff here in Villahermosa, its the only real city that I have been in during my mission. Well, I guess Acayucan was kind of a city. A very little baby city, but a city nonetheless. 

My last week with Elder Narvaez was pretty fun. I mean, we spent the week trying to do some paperwork to get some people married, but we didn´t get it in time. Hopefully this week they will be married and be able to get baptized. I´m gonna miss working with Elder Narvaez though, he was really good to work with. Here in Villahermosa I am with Elder Becerra, he is my new companion. This week has been pretty fun, and its been super busy. I have been trying to learn some new stuff, but now it looks like I have it all figured out. On Monday all the new missionaries got to the mission so we were helping them out with getting acquainted with the mission and all its rules and such. When the American missionaries got here they slept in our house and they just looked super nervous... I am pretty sure I was exactly the same when I got here ha-ha. Everything is just so new and the people seem to talk super fast and stuff. I remember just being confused when I got here. I just didn´t even know what to think. 

Hey, playing translator isn't as easy as it sounds. Well it doesn't sound easy. But, anyway, on Tuesday we had another meeting for the new missionaries and I spent the meeting translating everything into English. You really have to think about some of the stuff because you can´t just translate it all word for word, you have to do it in a way that makes sense. Anyway, when the president got up to talk he was like "thank you Elder Rios for the official translation" and yeah then the same thing happened in a different meeting. Its just pretty funny. Its been fun to get to work closer to the president, its really been cool to get to know him better and stuff to. 

Anyway, love you guys, talk to you next week. 

August 25th

So, weird thought, the sister missionaries that started their missions at the same time as me are pretty much done with their missions now.... Tha'ts really strange. I mean it doesn't seem like that long ago that I was in the MTC. And, yeah, time is just flying by. Its weirding me out. I only have like four transfers left. Just strange stuff. Anyway, this week has been good, Elder Narvaez and I have been super busy here. We have a huge area as it is and on top of our area we are still teaching the investigators from my first area, the one that got closed. So yeah, its been pretty great. We have a few investigators that are pretty close to getting baptized but.... we got to get some people married. That means we are going to spend the week trying to get legal documents and stuff so that the couple can get baptized on Saturday. Its pretty awesome though. Its been way fun with my new companion, he is really funny, so there's not many boring moments here. 

Anyway, in other news I, uhm, bought  a king sized hammock. Its in the process of getting made, but I am pretty excited about that. I like hammocks, even though some elders and I nearly broke one last week... theres a video and everything but its too long to send in an email. Its hilarious though. We were kind of using it as a swing and then the thing holding it up just snapped...  I fell onto the mattress that was conveniently placed under the hammock and yeah, I'll show the video sometime. 

Getting onto the more spiritual note, I have been thinking a lot this week about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the gospel this week. I've been analyzing how easy it was for me to accept these truths because I have learned them since I was young and its been easy for me, but for our investigators its not like that. They are learning new things and changing life long traditions but its truly worth it to follow Christ. Once the Spirit touches their heart, the desire to change and repent is made manifest. I know that the Church was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith and I know that Christ lives and leads His church today. It is a blessing to be a missionary. 

Love you guys. 

Love Elder Rios