Elder Hirsch Mission Emails

  I don't have much time to write today, so I'll just write some tidbits and share my testimony! A story that I don't believe I ever shared:   This happened when I was in the Morelos ward and Elder Tadeo was my companion. We went to visit someone, but they weren't home so we decided to knock on some doors nearby. So we came to a house a few doors down and Elder Tadeo gave a very friendly "Buenas tardes!" after we knocked the door. The woman who answered turned out to be very open to taking a Book of Mormon and scheduling a time for us to visit her. Our first lesson with her was The Restoration, and she had lots of questions and doctrinal misunderstandings, but she was legitimately interested. Eventually we explained the authority by the laying on of hands, and that Joseph Smith received that authority in modern day. I showed her a photo of when Joseph received the Melchizedek...

    Two weeks ago I was moved over to the other ward in Apizaco, with a new companion and a new area. Elder Ortiz teaches with the spirit. He has a sincere desire to help the people, and he knows his purpose. He's also very helpful with my sub-par spanish.  We're both on our own now without a trainer for the first time and there have been some growing pains. We're learning to do some basic things that our trainers always did for us, but we've still made a lot of progress with the people in the area, and have frequently witnessed the hand of God in the work.   One thing I do know how to do is contact people. We almost always do the same thing when contacting people. It starts with a simple question, "Do you like to read?" Then, we briefly introduce the Book of Mormon and invite them to "borrow" a Book of Mormon and read 3 Nephi 11, and we note down their information to be in contact. Sometimes we knock doors, sometimes we contact in the park or street...