Elder Delgado is coming home!!! He has spent the last two weeks getting his affairs in order as a missionary to complete/fulfill his mission and get ready to come home. He has given 110% to serving the Lord these last 2 years. He has been faithfully dedicating and devoting his life and time to serving the Lord and preaching His Gospel, bringing many unto Christ. He has been a fantastic missionary. The Lord is truly pleased with him. We love you.
He arrives this Thursday, December 9th. I believe his plane is due to arrive after 2:20pm (Salt Lake City Airport). He will be giving his Welcome Home talk on Sunday Dec. 12th @ 11am in his Ward Buidling. Contact his parents or any family member in Utah if you have any concerns or questions.
Dear Family:
I am having a great time here in Georgia as usual! I truly am grateful for all the wonderful experiences that Heavenly Father has given to me while I have been in his service full time.
I have met some of the best people in the world while here and have created friendships that will last a lifetime!
I don't have to much to say with what has happened this week. We are pushing forward with those we are teaching and striving to find some new people. With our branch mission plan it is ridiculous how much work we have on our hands. Balancing it all has become quite the challenge. Thankfully we have a wonderful branch mission leader who helps us a ton! He is crazy at times and he knows it... but serious genius!
As for the letter about school from franny... it must have never gotten to me. Cause i was waiting for it and nothing came. As for visiting francys after christmas... I would love to but we will have to see where life takes me. I went to get going as fast as I can. I am hoping by January to have a job that will be steady and consistent. We will see.
Mama Y Papa, te doy gracias por todo tu apollo y preparacion. estoy tan agradecido que tengo padres que tienen un testimonio tan fuerte del evangelio. este semana tuve una cena con un hombre que escogio dejar a ir a la iglesia y se convertio en un evangelista. Me hizo muy triste a ver cuanto el penso sabia del evangelio. todo su testimonio era acerca de evidencia de hombre y no evidencia de dios. Yo se con todo mi corazon que este es el unico verdadero camino que ha proporcionado nuestro Padre Celestial.
The mission continues forward. I have wonderful experiences with those that I live with they have become some of my best friends. I intend on visiting Elder Blair's parents in Idaho some time soon and look forward to it. there is so much to do it is crazy to think about how fast time goes.
I will be sending some things home soon enough. I will send with the money I have and if it becomes a problem I will let you know. I think i have plenty to make it though... besides... I am sure the smiths would store some things for me if i need too. haha.
Anyways... have a great week. keep me up to date on everything. I love you all!
oh and francys... you sound like president Uchtdorf's talk on slowing down. funny!
Hey Everyone!
How is everyone doing? I am doing wonderful here in Cumorah! I love being in this area so much! It has been so fulfilling and really been a motivation to continually improve. This week was full of blessing from the lord as we worked hard. The greatest blessing being that we were able to participate in the baptism of a man who has now joined his family in the church.
That is right! Antonio is officially baptized! It was so powerful! His wife had no clue at all that he was the one being baptized until he came out dressed in white! I never that you could start crying that fast! haha. It was beautiful. You could see the love Antonio has for his wife knowing that this would mean the world to her.
He is great and full of the spirit! You could see so much joy in his face yesterday and it was an honor to see him and his family together. We sang some wonderful hymns and there was a special musical number sung by antonio and the herrera family. "Families can be together forever" It was moving to see them sing and feel the spirit. You just look at them and know that they will be sealed in one year. I look forward to that day!
Along with that we have had some wonderful people begin to investigate the church. One man being from Cuba. He is very religious and came to church for the first time last week. It was awesome to see how much he loved it. He has studied the bible a ton and he knows his stuff! The best part about it though... is that he agrees with all of our doctrines and has been learning about us for quite some time now!
We feel that he will come along quickly. He is also wanting us to meet his family and to help them all come closer to god. We are praying that sometime in November he will be ready for baptism! Pray for us!
So... We got transfer calls last night. My heart dropped when I recieved a call from President King... I thought for sure i was going to be moved for my last six weeks! Fortunately, he told me that I would be staying in the cumorah branch to be the district leader and to train one last time. I was so relieved! haha.
Although it is tough to think that I won't have some of the responsibilities I loved so much. I know that this is the right thing to do. I look forward to it! Honestly, I just wanted to stay here in roswell more than anything! The lord knew my heart and my desires and blessed me for my last transfer. It is odd to think that I will have another companion again. I thought for sure Elder Collette was the last one!
I have enjoyed serving with him a ton and have seen his great spirit. He will make a great leader and example to those around us. It is odd to think that he got moved but I have a feeling he will be with Elder Sieverts. They will make a great pair of Zone Leaders and I look forward to serving around them for these next few weeks.
So it is official. I will be coming home in a little over 6 weeks. I hope you are all preparing! haha. I will probably need a gym membership! oh, and as far as school goes...There are tons of Elders already applying and registering for school. I dont know if I will have the opportunity to go this first semester back. Hopefully I'll be able to find a solid job in the mean time. I hope your pulling some strings sister!
Anyways... I love you all! take care! oh... and Juliette! congratulations on your baptism! I love you so much! love uncle Erick! I hope to hear from you all!
Much Love,
Elder Erick Delgado
LAST TRANSFER- Nov. 1, 2010
Hello Family,
Well, this is my last transfer. There was a ton of changes that occurred during the transfer meeting. I have lots of mixed feelings about what took place but i'm trying to lay aside my pride and trust that all will work out. I now have a new companion. Elder Stephen Bentley from Chicago, Illinois. He is a Brazilian visa waiter and we are having a little contest to see who will leave Georgia first.
The highlight of this week was definately yesterday though! Jerry Embriz blessed the sacrament for the first time and Camil Vivas passed it. Victor Montalvo was confirmed and recieved the aaronic priesthood. Some wonderful people came to church and it was wonderful and inspiring hearing the Morote family gives talks.
Thank you all for all of your support. I love you so much and I am grateful for all the wonderful news that you share with me each week. Love you all! take care
Much Love,
Elder Erick Delgado
Retention, Reactivation, Referrals, Nov. 8, 2010
Hello Everybody!
So this week was bomb! We had some great success with the focuses of missionary work that we have. Not to long ago we put toghether a branch mission plan between the 4 elders we have in the apartment. It focuses on 3 "R's". Retention, Reactivation, Referrals.
We have been working on it for a couple of weeks now and we are seeing some sweet results.
This week we were able to give 2 baptismal dates due to the help of members in reffering us to their friends. They have been investigating for quite some time but are such a wonderful family. The plan is to have a wedding and a baptism on December 4th. Please pray for them. The names are Isabel and Rafael.
We were also able to see another recent convert (Antonio Montalvo) bless the sacrament for the first time this sunday! Man is it sweet to see recent converts progress in the gospel! Along with that we have some other great work going on with the recent converts around. We teach all of the new member lessons here and you can see the difference of how well someone understands once they have been given the gift of the holy ghost! Epic!
Oh and to top it all off... We had two less active families come to church! this one woman named Kenia is awesome! she is a wonderful person with 2 kids and she had not been to church ever since i have been here. Well, we started focusing on her this past week in hopes of seeing her change her heart in wanting to come to church. It paid off and We got to see her there! It reminded me of the first time I got to see someone reactivated! the joy is just as great as seeing a baptism!
Oh yeah... so get this... Elder Romy Lakip. I met him in the MTC. He was in my district and we became good friends while there. Well, It just so happens that his family is from Atlanta and I have been over to his home and eaten with his family multiple times while serving. They are Great! This week though... Elder Lakip returned home and I had the opportunity to see him and chat for a bit. It was so cool and wierd to think that he was just Romy instead of Elder Lakip. haha.
As for me and going home... well, I dont know how well I will adjust. I have heard of all the other Elders Registering for school and picking classes. So I don't know what to think. anyways... that is my life. Cross that bridge when i get to it I guess.
Hello Everyone!
how is everybody doing? I was stoked to hear about the birth of my new nephew roark! That is a cool name! I really enjoy it... I just am left here kind of guessing how to pronounce it though. haha. oh well. still looks sweet! I am also glad to hear that Bianca is doing well. I was worried for her. Pregnancies are so interesting. so much happens... you just never know! not to worry anyone! haha.
Anyways... I am having a blast here in Roswell! This has been a wonderful month! We will have another baptism this next upcoming week on the 24th for a man named Antonio. He is so wonderful! He is a part-member situation with his wife and kids being members of a year. In fact, his wife's baptism was last year on the 24th of October!
We are going to be having like a suprise baptismal service! His wife has no clue that he is being baptized this week. Only that he wants to be baptized before the end of the year! haha. It was his idea and we are going to put it all together. It is amazing to hear about the change that has occurred in his life. The lord truly prepares people.
He is a wonderful father with two children. Just last month his oldest, who is a son, recieved the Aaronic priesthood and passes the sacrament each week. His wife is a great example of faith and enduring. His daughter is a wonderful young girl who loves the church activities. They will now have the opportunity to prepare to go to the temple as a family in one year. It is so exciting to think that this family will be eternal. I look forward to the day that takes place! I'm definately coming back for it!
As for other news, we had an interesting week with some things that we put together and with interviews. So this is the story... Well, our mission has been trying to understand what we can do to improve. However, we couldn't look at numbers because no one was counting numbers the same way. Yeah, I know... wierd. But it is a long story. Well, we brought up our concern that the mission needs to standardize the way of doing things before we can move forward. President just told us if we wanted to see that happen to do something about it. So this week... We did!
We got together to discuss what we wanted to occur and how to standardize the numbers in the zone. We agreed that the best base was to just have it come from Preach My Gospel. No one would be able to disagree with us then. I mean it is written by the church! We drew some things out and moved forward with a district leader council the next day.
All of our district leaders were on board! they had some wonderful input to help us finalize what we now count as our key indicators toward conversion. We spent a good chunk of money making some cards that summarized how to count numbers and a nightly planning check list. We then distributed these during interviews.
Well, It was well accepted for the most part in the zone. Some people were confused as to why we were doing this. As we explained the elements to it they began to realize that the numbers arent for us. It is for our investigators and for helping them. That even if our numbers dropped because of this we would not negatively effect our baptism rate.
It has now been put into full action. of course... we let president king know what we were doing. He seemed ok with it. haha. we than had a meeting with the stake presidency to inform them that the ward mission leaders should not be alarmed when the numbers drop. It is amazing how people freak out when numbers drop. ugh!
Well, the numbers came in on sunday and we dropped over all more than 50% of our numbers in the zone. It is expected to happen and we feel this will bless our zone. We dont know the full effects yet. What I am getting at though is this... That no matter what we do... numbers dont matter unless they are meaningful.
I hope that as members of the church we are not fudging our numbers to look good to those around us. I have seen it happen all my missionary service. I have seen it happen in Home teaching and Visiting teaching reports, and many other places. I pray that we realize we are accountible to only one, Our father in heaven, and as we do what is required of us... the rest falls into place.
I've realized that it is about the people. During my interview, I realized what little time I have with the question posed "what do you want to accomplish before you leave" I have many goals... and none to do with me personally. I am not sure where my change took place or how it happened... but i've learned turning outward is becoming as christ.
Hello Family!
So this has got to be one of the most memorable weeks of my mission. It was filled with many spiritual moments and wonderful people making the right decisions in their lives. This week we had the opportunity to participate in two baptismal services for 3 different people.
The first was for Jerry Embriz. He is amazing! He is probably the most well prepared person I have ever had the chance of teaching on my mission. It was so very special to see him progress and accept the gospel. He was baptized by a wonderful member named Bro. Subieta whose family was responsible for helping him come in contact with the church.
Although Jerry is only 17 years old his mother was extremely supportive of his decision. On friday was the first opportunity that we really had to meet her and to talk with her. We shared with her the importance of the decision that Jerry was making in his life and the blessings that would follow. She was happy to be there.
Well, here is a little story to go with the baptism... We have been planning his baptism for quite some time now and had a great baptismal service scheduled out for Jerry. We had many of the youth participating and giving the talks and prayers. Well, the only drawback was getting the program printed. We wanted it to be nice and set the standard for future baptisms in the branch. Seeing as how we recently got a branch mission leader.
We decided we would make the program. Well, we got more than what we bargained for. We ended up having to go to Kinko's to do the program and to use their computers... it cost .20 cents a minute! well, we thought that was to terrible so we decided to do it anyways. well... you wouldn't believe how fast minutes tick by! haha.
We got a wonderful program typed and it was epic legit! probably one of the best I've ever seen. haha. if i could say so myself. In the end the program went wonderful! the spirit was powerful and you could see how much it had worked on jerry's mother. AMAZING!
Saturday, We had the baptismal service for Marcel and Camil Vivas! Wow! was that wonderful or what! Elder Blair and I were honored to perform the baptisms and to be the ones who shared the gospel with them. I have come to love them so much and you could see how excited they were to make this step in their lives.
Although her husband is still in jail. She has recognized the blessings that have come from the gospel in her life. Recently, an outstanding member of the cumorah branch (who is a lawyer) took the case of her husband and will be representing him!
I can't express how amazing it was to see this baptism. It has been 3 and a half months since we first met and knew that they were elect. They will make such an impact in this world. They seem to be even more active than a lot of the members! haha.
I've been so blessed throughout my mission. I am humbled thinking that such moments do come. I'm touched by the stories of faith all of you share with me from back home. I look forward to the day that you all can meet the wonderful people that I have come to love so much! I am praying for you all and hope that your striving to share the gospel with those around you.
The confirmations were wonderful and many other things in the week. Sadly, I am out of time. Know that I love you all and I'm grateful for your prayers and support. Bianca, I'm praying for you and your family. I love you! Name him after me! haha.
Hello Family!
How is everyone doing? I am loving my time out here in Georgia. I can't believe how fast time goes. This week has been so eventful I dont even know if i can fit it all into one email!
This week it started off great with Marcel and Camil. As many of you know Marcel and Camil are from Venezuela and were found one day through knocking doors. This was about 3 months ago with Elder Blair. They have not missed church since! This week Elder Collette and I stopped by to say hi and share some things with them. We were inspired to go over the baptismal interview questions with them.
As we did so you could see how ready they were to make the covenant of baptism. We commited them to be baptized the next week. They will be getting baptized this coming week on the 9th! It was awesome and is great to see how excited they are! We have worked hard to help them and developed so much love for them. Marcel has asked that I perform her baptism. Elder Blair will perform the ordinance for Camil.
This week we will also have the opportunity to see Jerry Embritz enter into the waters of baptism. He will be baptized this friday and It will be great to see him make this step in his life. there is no doubt he was prepared to recieve the gospel at this time and that he is going to make such a powerful influence for good in this world. I am praying that he will choose to go and serve a full time mission and reap the blessing that come in the service of God.
Along with all that great news... Jesse Lee... our northpoint friend was baptized this saturday between the sessions of conference and priesthood. It was wonderful to see. He was so happy and so many people came to support him. Many members of his family came to show their support even though they are not of our faith. We did a waterside confirmation and you could feel the spirit testify that he is moving forward! He will be a great force for good as well!
It feels like so much in so little time! I am feeling so truly blessed. During conference I was able to recieve some wonderful guidance from the words spoken. I feel like many things were said just for me. haha. What a great blessing we have in our lives to have modern day prophets and apostles. I know they have been called of God.
We have also been blessed to teach this wonderful family named the salas family. Carlos is 18 and he has shown great interest in learning about the gospel. he has come to church two weeks in a row now and has a baptismal date for the 23rd of october. we are praying all will go well and that we can do our part in preparing him. Over all that has been my amazing week here in the promised land.
I love you all and I am grateful for your support. Sorry sister Franny! I totally got your package and loved it. We all enjoyed the big league chew together as an apartment! haha.
brought back some memories of being a kid! even though i still am one!
Thank you for everything.
Much Love,
Elder Erick Delgado
p.s. Elder Empey our bolivian visa waiter has gotten his visa and will be flying out today.
Hello Family!
How is everyone doing? By reading all the emails it sounds like some wonderful things are going on! I am so excited to hear about the new baby boy coming into the family! man that is going to be intense coming home and seeing a new born.
So we have had a lot go on this week. On monday we recieved a new companion. His name is Elder Empey from St. George. He is fresh out of the MTC and makes trainee number 6. We are not sure how long he will be with us, he will be heading to bolivia when he recieves his visa. Could be a couple of weeks though! haha.
As far as other exciting news goes... Marcel and her family are doing spectacular! They are such wonderful people who have put both feet into the gospel. They came to the baptism of Cynthia and expressed their excitement for their very own baptism some day! We are really pray for his husband right now. We do not want him to be deported. His name is Zenith Vivas and any extra prayers would be greatly appreciated!
This week we also had training given to us as leaders of the mission. We had a two day training seminar. It was not near as intense as the first 4 day seminar, but it was definately uplifting! haha. I love to be trained by President King. We had some great experiences. Now the tricky part is training the zone. We are thinking of a zone conference but we aren't sure.
so, this week we had a great experience! I don't know if I have ever told you all about a young women named Karina Salas. So this is her story. Elder Carnley and I were tracting last transfer looking for some elect. She answered the door and you could just feel that we needed to get into her door. Without us even asking she allowed us to come in and share with her. We had a great lesson and commited her to baptism.
Well, weeks went by and we were never able to get back in until one sunday night when we found her and her family together. We didnt really have the chance to teach much other than mingling with her family and allowing them to get to know us. We met her cousins and her younger brother that night.
Two weeks later on a wednesday we found Carlos (the 18 yr. old bro.) at home and he let us right in even though no one was home! Elder Collette and I taught him about the book of mormon and what we do. It felt great and it felt like things were coming together. Well, we set up a return appointment with him and came back one week later.
When we returned we found his whole family home! As we began teaching we found ourselves mingling with the family once more. This time Karina and her sister came (stefani). We ended up teaching those three (Karina, Carlos, Stefani) and it was awesome! Carlos had read all about why God allows suffering to occur. We talked about the plan of salvation and the importance of making covenants.
Throughout the lesson you could see how well they were recieving the teaching. They all agreed that they wanted to be baptized before we even asked them too! haha. It was way cool! They all agreed that this was something they wanted to know was true. After, they invited us to a birthday party for Karina's 2 yr old boy.
So we went to the birthday party for a bit and supported the family. You could see how much it meant to them! It was way neat. We invited them to church and although Karina and Stefani were both busy Carlos said he would be there! Sunday came around... and sure enough Carlos was there!
We taught him about the Holy Ghost and how to know the truth of what we had taught him. It was great! You could see how much he wanted to know and that he was willing to take the steps needed to know! We really feel that there is something great coming from all of this and any extra prayers they can have would be greatly appreciated. You wouldn't believe how tough of a life they have lived.
So to top off the great week we were ready to close. This past sunday was the linger longer at the north point ward. It is always called dessert and flirt! haha. I love to go and mingle with the ward. And of course get my dessert! The best part though... Jesse Lee passing his baptismal interview! He will be baptized in between the saturday afternoon session and priesthood session of conference! It is awesome to know that Jesse will be recieving this blessing in his life! He has been investigating for over a year!
Anyways... I love the work! It is going so well. I have truly been blessed to be in such a great area for the next little while of my mission. I love you all and thank you for your support and help. I hope to hear from you all soon.
So the transfer calls have come in. Elder Carnley will be leaving. We dont know where to just yet. I'll be sure to let you know though. I was super relieved to know that i was not leaving though. I think that i will officially end out my mission in the Cumorah/Northpoint area. Which is exciting! I do not want to leave.
This week was pretty crazy. A ton of stuff went down during the weekend. We had Dia De Naciones festival which was great but not so much on the missionary side of things. As far as a party goes though... It was a huge hit with the community. There was a good amount of non members and alot of food from many different countries.
We also had a stake conference. It was awesome because we got to hear from Elder Zwick and Elder Giddens from the seventy. They bring such a powerful spirit. I look forward to General conference coming up so soon. Anyways... There was a new Stake President called and a new counciler. It was interesting to see because this is the stake that I have come to love most out of all my other areas and it was good to see the inspiration that took place in calling new leadership. The spirit was great.
After the Stake conference we had a baptism for the milton ward (Elder Lee) at one. It was great to see Tracy become a member of the church and to see her excitement about the gospel. She comes from a jewish background so it is pretty amazing to think about!
At four we had a baptism in the Cumorah branch for Cynthia Tejada. It was great to see her make a covenant and really want this change in her life. She has a little daughter, I know that the gospel is going to make a huge difference in their lives. We will get to see her confirmation next week. If all goes according to plan, her father should confirm. Which will be great! seeing as how he is a convert himself!
Overall that is the highlights from this week. I am kinda nervous to see who my next companion will be. I really am praying I have a strong one for the last 3 months of my mission. I love you all! Thank you for all your prayers and support. I hope to hear from you all soon!
Much Love,
Elder Erick Delgado
Monday Sept. 20th, 2010
Hello Family!
So... How is everyone doing? So... this is going to be super short cause i am pressed on time cause the portugese elders got their visas and we are going to go say good bye to them for preperation day.
Anyways... the story is that we have officially started another transfer. Elder Collette has joined me. He is from Idaho. He is companion number 14. He is very cool. He is tall and white.
Cynthia was baptized and confirmed! Jesse lee will get his bap interview this week. Jerry will be getting his interview next week! All is well. Life is awesome! Love you all!
