Two weeks to go

Hello everyone!

So the big news from this week is that Nallely got baptized!!!! It was so sweet. She didn't pass her interview until the evening of Friday night, so we had to arrange everything in a few short hours and baptize her the next day. It was so sweet. The ward all came together, and they helped us produce a sweet musical number of Peace in Christ, from mutual. It was so cool. My comp baptized her.

Then that Sunday, the sisters from the other ward had a baptism, and my comp did the baptism. It's cool to be able to take part in so many. We are having tons of success here in the zone, and in our area, and we're working really hard, and we're really happy.

Right now I'm writing from Cuautla, here visiting my old converts from Cocoyoc, Brisas, and Zapata, and it's just great. I love everyone so much. I'm gonna send a bunch of photos.

We're playing basketball every morning, and I'm getting a lot better. We're gonna have our mission-wide sports tournament next Monday, so we're stoked practicing in the mornings during our exercise time.

Aside from that I'm just preparing the last couple of things, trying to work hard in my last two weeks to do all I can and finish strong. It's incredible.

Other cool note is that Elder Bednar is going to visit our mission on the 25th, and then we have a special stake conference with him on the 26th, so I'm gonna receive tons of cool revelations from his talk literally like three days before I go home. It's going to be awesome.

I love you guys a ton. I hope y'all have a great week.

Elder William Jacob Long

Super good week!

Hey everybody!!!!

So this week we had the baptism of Elizabeth and Jesus, and it went super well!!!! I'm really excited. We have been working with them for several weeks, since I was with Elder Peralta. Their baptismal service was really spiritual. I baptized Elizabeth, and their close family friend, Brother Geronimo baptized Jesus. It was really cool. I played a special musical number of "Nearer My God to Thee" which was cool as well. They got confirmed on Sunday, and everything went perfectly. They have huge testimonies, and it's just awesome. They want to get sealed in the temple in a year!

Aside from that, we have a great investigator named Nayeli who should be getting baptized this week, and another investigator named Bryan who should get baptized next week. So please keep them in your prayers.

Today, with some other elders from the zone, we watched the movie "Ephraim's Rescue." It's a really good movie about the handcart companies, and I really liked it. It was really nice just relaxing and chilling with friends.

We worked really hard this last week, and we found several families that look really good. I love this work with all my heart. I love seeing people live the gospel. I'm going to miss it a lot.

Other highlight from this week is that I have some new dress shoes to wear to my final interview, and on the plane ride home. Same with a new belt. They look sweet!

Anyways, the photos I've included should be from the baptism. I love you all a ton.

Elder William Jacob Long

These past two weeks

Hey Everybody,

First off I'm sorry for not writing last week. I got permission to go down to one of my favorite and special areas, Tetela, to say goodbye to my converts there. I had special permission because my old comp and super close friend Elder Avalos finished his mission today, so we went up there together with Elder Chischillie. It was really cool. But the problem is that there was no public transport. The combis went on strike that day due to problems with the organized crime there, and we finished up super late. Everything went out of control. But things turned out okay, nothing happened, we just got back late. But I should have lots of great photos.

My new comp is named Elder Skinner. He's a great dude, from Morgan, Utah. He's funny, loves sports, and he's a super hard worker, which is awesome. I'll try to send y'all a photo with him.

This past week was solid. We are preparing two people to get baptized this weekend. Their names are Jesus and Elizabeth, so please keep them in your prayers. They are a young couple, and they are so good. Teaching them is a blast. Hopefully they get baptized soon.

Aside from them, we have some other really solid investigadors that are coming along, so I hope to send home photos of us in white. I'm trying to hang on, to do everything right, and just master the little details in my last couple of weeks here, and it's really gratifying. I feel like I'm progressing a ton, and that makes me happy.

My birthday was really chill. I guess im 21 now. It feels weird. We went out and worked like any other typical day, and then at night, my comp invited me out for a hamburger. It was really nice.

I also got my haircut today. I hadn't cut it in 8 weeks, and it was crazy long. But now it's short, and everything is all good.

So that's the big news as of right now, hope to send some cooler pics next time.

I love you guys a lot.

Elder William Jacob Long

helloooooooooooooooooooo

Hey everybody,

So I'm gonna keep this letter a little short.

Today's been a wild day because my comp is going home tomorrow, so we spent time today doing a going away party, and then visiting converts and we're finally just getting a chance to write.

It's been really trying recently. Really really trying. I think we've gone through the hardest transfer cycle ever. But having an incredible comp has made all of the difference, and I'm going to miss him a ton.

I don't know my new comp too well, but he's going to be my last. His name is Elder Skinner, and he's from a town named Morgan, Utah. From what I've heard, he's a really good guy, hard worker, and that will be really fun, because I like working with people who like to work. So I'm excited for that.

One of the funny moments from this week is that my comp's aunt came up from Argentina to pick him up. So they are gonna head out on Wednesday morning. But she came out to surprise him at our church services yesterday. He was really happy, and they took several photos.

Yesterday we had a fun activity. We did a district meeting bonfire, and we roasted hotdogs. It was really cool. I'm happy because lots of my friends from this zone are staying, so seeing them this last transfer will be really good.

So that is my big news from this week. Next week I'll send photos of my new comp.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

Killing It in Ameca

Hello everybody,

This week was filled with tons of great misadventures and lots of good hard work, and was really refreshing.

I think the highlight was Friday. On Friday morning we got to go to our mission home, because our mission president invited us over for hamburgers because we passed our zone goal. It was fun because we got to relax, play some pingpong, and just hang out with our mission president and his wife, who are just absolutely amazing people. We took advantage of the time together as a zone to sit down, have a good heart to heart talk with everyone about last month, and to set our new goals for this month- really good moment. I'm really happy, because we have some great elders and sisters here, that are working super hard.

Aside from that, on Sunday we did divisions to go to all three wards in our area, so I got to sit through two complete church services, which was like a super spiritual overload filled with revelations, meeting new people, taking the sacrament, and just experiencing the beauty of Sunday worship. Big highlight for me as well.

Aside from that, the mission office purchased my return plane tickets, so that's interesting. I guess that means I'm really old now. But they're waiting for the church travel department to send them, so I haven't received it yet. But I will be flying out on August 29th, so save the date.

Today we woke up early to head down to Chalco and turn in all of the baptism documents, the baptism overalls, and lots of other stuff that we've used in the past week. Then we booked it back up here to Ameca to play soccer with the zone for like four hours hahahaha we played for so long. Then we ate some good burgers.

All in all, I would say it's been a really good week. This next week is my companion's last week before he goes home. So he's excited, and working harder than ever. hes such an inspiration for me.

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy the photos, they're from the activity we did in our president's house.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

This week

Hey Everybody,

Once again, thanks for taking the time to read this letter.

This letter comes from a really distinct place; I'm writing from downtown Cuautla, from one of my favorite old cyber cafes from one of my favorite areas, Zapata. Mt comp is headed home in two weeks, so we got permission to take this p-day to head down to Cuautla and visit some of his old converts, and it's just been the most fun day ever. 

Aside from that, we had a crazy good week this week. We baptized two wonderful people, and we smashed our zone goal for baptisms this month, and frankly, we destroyed the record that has stood for like six years in this zone. So sweet.

We have an awesome zone. Even though we're not the best missionaries, we set prayerful goals as a zone, and worked hard, and we baptized 28 people this month (the record was 23 people in a six week span, and we beat it in four), and were absolutely stoked. 

We baptized two awesome people, Dalia Mendoza, and her nephew Miguel. Their baptism was really fun because we did it together with the sister missionaries who are in the other ward in our building, and they also baptized two people, so it was a big service and just really spiritual. I played the hymn "¿Donde hallo el solaz?" (Where Can I Turn for Peace?) on the uke in a special musical number, which was also really fun.

Dalia and Miguel are the first members in their family. We contacted them in their store about two months ago, and they have progressed incredibly. Now we're going to try to baptize the other family members. Their confirmation was really special as well, and I feel so humbled to be a part of it.

I have attached photos from the last couple of leadership meetings, the last two baptismal services that my comp and I have had, and photos of our shenanigans on divisions and just having lots of fun.

Anyways, those are all of the highlights from this week, I love you guys a lot, and y'all have a great week.

Elder William Jacob Long

My week

Hey everybody,

Things have been going really well here.

I'll give some details from my week, because it was a huge roller coaster. I think it was probably one of the most stressful weeks of my mission easily.

Starting on Tuesday, we did some divisions with some elders from our zone. I was working with a brand new district leader, a really great guy named Elder Gonzalez. We had some great lessons and worked really hard, and we had a really productive moment with some good investigators that need to get married. We're arranging everything so that they can get married and baptized this week.

On Thursday we did divisions with the district leader here in Ameca so he could do two baptism interviews for two of our investigators, a young guy named Josue, and a single mother named Sonia. They both passed their interviews and we were super pumped.

On Saturday, we had everything prepared to do an awesome baptismal service for them, but Josue didn't show up. We went to his house and searched for him and he didn't show up. It was such a disappointment. But Sonia did show up, and she got baptized, and confirmed on Sunday which was so sweet.

On Sunday we did divisions. We have two other wards in our area, so my comp went with the ward mission leader from there to see their services and the investigators, and I stayed here in Ameca to work with our WML and our investigators. I gave a twenty minute talk as well on the Holy Ghost. And we had Sonia's confirmation. Everything was so sick, until I was giving my talk, when some guy showed up looking for Sonia, and pulled her out of the services. She said it was a work problem, but I'm almost absolutely sure it was her abusive ex-boyfriend.

It's hard. It's an uphill battle in every moment. But the joy that we feel, and the spirit that we enjoy, and the help we give to others, just makes it all so worth it. I love my mission, and I love you guys a lot. I hope you have a great week.

Elder William Jacob Long

My week!

Hey everybody,

I apologize ahead of time for a way too short email. But i want to share a really special experience that i had yesterday.

First of all, we had a great day yesterday. We finally got the majority of our investigators to church, and it seems like we're gonna finally get them progressing and get their baptisms under way, which I'm absolutely stoked about.

We had stake conference, which is really cool, because I'm in the same stake where i started my mission forever ago, Amecameca. So in stake conference, I got to see all my old friends and members from Huehuecalco, which was so awesome. But the best part was that I got to see my very first convert. Her name is Mitzi Clamaco Duran, and she was there. I talked to her for like a solid ten minutes, and it was incredible. She told me that she's still active, she's in her second year of seminary, and she's gone through some callings. It was such a humbling experience, and I am so grateful.

That was probably the best and biggest news I have from this week,

I love you guys a lot,

Elder William Jacob Long

Another transfer cycle in the books

Hey everybody,

So this week went super fast. It was the last week of the transfer, and we worked hard, and we had a lot of fun.

The good news is that my comp and I won't have changes, we're staying here!!! And the majority of the elders and the sisters in the zone wont have transfers. So we're pumped to work hard. its my comps last transfer, and he wants to work super hard, so we're gonna give it our all and see what we can do.

The week was full of miracles. We found some really great new investigators, and the family of 8 that we found two weeks ago, finally came to church. It was so awesome. We have another investigator who is progressing a ton, and another who I think will be baptized soon, so keep them in your prayers!!!!

I got to do divisions with one of the district leaders in our zone. His name is Elder Thomas and he's really sick. He likes playing the uke a lot, so we had tons of fun talking and sharing tips and tricks. One of his investigators got baptized in Saturday which was a big miracle.

Aside from that, our ward did an awesome Mother's Day party (three weeks late but that's chill). We ate hamburgers and played group games and it was really great. We brought several investigators, including the family of 8 (it's the Mendoza family so that you guys can include them in your prayers).

That's this week, still no memory card adapter so no photos I'm sorry.

I love you all a lot!

Elder William Jacob Long

This week!

Hey everybody!

I don't really have too much to say. We had a great week, we worked really hard, and everything was going really well. But not one of our investigators showed up to church, so all the plans we had fell through. But that´s okay I guess.

I still haven't had a chance to buy an adapter. I have tons of photos to send but no good way to send them.

This week I've been doing a lot of study of the Book of Mormon, and yesterday and this morning I read Alma 32 and 33, which is one of the most incredible parts. It's Alma's famous talk to the apostate zoramites about faith, and Amulek's talk about the atonement. It helped me reflect a lot about how I respond to adversity, and it was really uplifting.

So we're doing well. We're getting over the afflictions and working hard, and statistically, we've had the best transfer cycle of my mission. And we learned a lot.

On Sunday, we had a meeting with one of the stake presidencies from our zone, and it was an incredible meeting. We made lots of plans to work more effectively with the wards, and we're really motivated because of that.

Anyways, that's the news from my week.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

this week in ameca!

Hey everybody,

We had an incredible week! We worked so hard and just had tons of success. But at the same time it was kind of frustrating.

We found 13 new investigators, all of which accepted baptism. Out of the 13, 5 came to church, and four of the five look really incredible. Super solid. We have tons of work, and it's just an awesome blessing.

The sad news is that we were going to baptize an investigator named Fatima. She was all ready, but the night before her baptism, her little sister ran away from home. So her family has been out searching for her for like two days, and she couldn't get baptized. It was really sad, but I think we're gonna work hard with her this week, and get everything done to baptize her this weekend. Pray for her!!!

We played basketball today, which was fun, because I got to see a ton of my old friends. Then we went with some friends in the zone to get some burgers, that were super good. All in all, it was a great pday.

Anyways that's been my week. I'm sorry, no photos again, I've tried but I haven't found an adapter, but I'll get one soon.

I love you guys a ton!

Elder William Jacob Long

this week!

Hey everybody!

I know I say the same things every single week, and I bet my letters get boring, so I'm really grateful for the time you guys take to read them!! I love y'all a ton.

This week was really fun. We found tons of new investigators, but lots of them didn't get to church. We had found 7 new investigators, and none of them came. So that was sad. But we have tons of work, and we keep finding tons of people. We're also planning a baptism for this weekend, so we're really excited.

The most interesting story from this week was we were street contacting an elderly man and his wife when his wife just out of nowhere collapsed and started suffering from complications due to her diabetes. We ended up calling an ambulance, and they're doing better now, but it was really strange. She just randomly collapsed in a contact. So weird.

Well that's my cool story. I hope you guys all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Long

PS another no go with photos, the SD card reader is broken here. I think I'm gonna try to get an adapter for next week.

Another week gone

Hey everybody,

This week was really awesome. It's crazy just how fast time flies. I just did the math, and I realized I only have 16 weeks left to be a full-time missionary. That's way too little hahahahaha.

I realize I didn't get a full letter sent last week, I'm sorry, we had like no time to write. But anyways, my new comp is elder Peralta. He is from Resistencia, Argentina. He likes soccer and street racing (he street raced a ton before the mission) and he's really awesome. We get along a ton. He's in his last two transfers, and I'm in my last three, so we both have a ton of time and experience and we are working super hard so we can finish up with a ton of success.

I really like my new area. I'm back in the town Amecameca, right next door to where i started my mission. I run into families from the ward Huehuecalco all the time here in the stake center. It's so awesome. I hope to finish my mission here.

I guess I don't really have too many cool or funny stories from this week. We worked our butts off. I bought some new shoes today. We played basketball with some elders from all over the mission. It was a blast.

We have an investigator that was progressing a lot, but she didn't pass her interview because she relapsed and started smoking again. But she's working hard to drop it, and she goes to all the church activities, so please pray a lot for her. Her name is Ariana.

Anyways, I love you guys a lot, and I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder Long

PS sorry no pics, the SD reader on this computer doesn't work. I'll send pics next week.

This week gone by

Hey everyone,

So many stories to tell, and not enough time hahaha. I'll try to make everything quick.

So I got the news yesterday from the assistants that I'm going to have changes. I'm going back to Amecameca, right next to where I started my mission. And I'm going with one of my old friends, a cool guy from Argentina named Elder Perralta. I'm so stoked, but sad to leave my area.

So we started off the week throwing a volleyball tournament with a family of future investigators. The tournament went so well, and they really opened up to us. They threw a party for their dad, and they invited us over on Saturday. So we went, ate food and talked to them, and I brought my uke. After playing several songs for them, we all sang them the hymn Nearer My God to Thee and the spirit was so strong. It was such an incredible moment. The missionaries here are going to have tons of success with them, I'm sure they're going to get baptized this transfer.

So we had two baptisms planned for Friday, and two for Saturday, but all of them fell through. It was so heartbreaking, especially the two that were going to get baptized on Friday. It's a mom named Soledad, and her daughter, Emily. They passed their interviews and everything, but they told us they wanted to wait just a bit more. So we went home that night super sad kicking the rocks and everything, and the next day we had moved on and we were focused on the work, when during lunch, I got a phone call from Soledad. She told me that they had received a spiritual impression, and that they wanted to get baptized that night. We freaked out. So we scrambled and made all the arrangements, and they got baptized, and confirmed Sunday in church. It was so incredible. I played the uke in the baptism and sang with Elder Cabrera, and my old friend Elder McDowell.

So that's my stories from this week. I know that there's more and that I'm forgetting stuff, but I don't have too much time. Anyways, I hope you guys have a sweet week.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

helloooooooooooooo

Hey guys,

Thanks for taking the time to read this email!!!!!

This week has been really fun but challenging. We worked so hard. So hard. And we're having tons of success. It's been so humbling. We had 8 investigators attend church on Sunday.

I guess a good spiritual story is that we found a family of three this week that are progressing a ton and should be getting baptized soon. Their names are Aaron, Soledad, and Emily and they're so nice and so great. We also have a family of four that is coming along really well. Teaching families is awesome.

Today we have a volleyball activity with an investigator and her team (she's a coach) and we're gonna use it to find tons of people so we're really stoked about this.

I don't think I have too many photos from this week, but I'll try to get some next week.

This is the last week of the transfer. I really hope I'll stay in the area. So we'll see what happens.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

This week

Hey everyone,

This week was really fun. I guess a brief summary is that we did some great divisions, we had some really incredible interviews with our mission president, we had just the most awesome time with general conference, and yesterday, after GC, we had a cool meeting with the Elders in the zone to talk about what we learned in GC and how to apply it. It has been such a productive week.

A spiritual experience: During General Conference, we heard tons of great talks about ministering with love and giving service. Right before the last talk, our stake executive secratery pulled us out and told us that the bishop was trying to call us. So we called him and he said that he needed our help to go immediately and give a blessing of health to a sick elderly sister. So we went out running, and crossed our area to the house of the sister, met up with our bishop, and we gave her a priesthood blessing. It was a really incredible spiritual experience, made more incredible by the messages we had heard about charity and love and service. Such a powerful experience.

So that's my story, I hope you guys have had a good week.

Love,

Elder William Jacob Long

This past week

Hey everyone,

Thanks like always for taking the time to read this letter.

This past week was really good. We did a lot of divisions, and worked really hard in the area. We are teaching a middle-aged couple, and they've gone to church twice now. We're hoping that we can help them receive an answer and join the church.

We had a really great lesson with this couple on Thursday. They have been struggling with reading the scriptures, so we decided to show them a really awesome video by the church called "el legado de las escrituras." It's a really powerful video that shares the sacrifices that people have made all over the globe so that we can have the holy scriptures and be able to study them. It was a really spiritual lesson, and now the hope is that they will be more frequent in their scripture study.

Well that's my news from this week. I'm happy and healthy and really enjoying the mission. I love you guys a ton.

Elder William Jacob Long

My week

Hey everybody!!!!

We had an interesting week. It's been a week of adjusting to my new comp, working hard, and trying to improve my charity (it's been my personal goal lately).

My new comp is named Elder Bahena. He's from Sonora and he's really interesting. He has about a year in the mission. He was my district leader for a while in Chalco, so it's good that I already know him well.

On Friday we had a meeting with president and some other elders, and it was really incredible. This next week we have a multizone conference which will be fun. We were going to have a baptism on Saturday, but our investigator didn't come to church so we're gonna have to set it back a week.

But I want to take the time to share a spiritual experience. About three weeks ago Elder Sanchez and I did some divisions with some elders. I went with a really great guy named Elder Coleman. While he and I were out working in my area, a less-active sister came up and told us that one of her neighbors wanted a priesthood blessing. Her neighbor is a member who hasn't been to church in a long time because she's really sick, and her only daughter stopped taking care of her. just straight up abandoned her. So we went to her house and gave her the blessing and sang her a hymn. It was a really humbling experience. The past Thursday, Elder Bahena and I were out talking to a sister asking her for references. She told us to visit a less-active sister who lived a couple of blocks up the road. We went, and we found ourselves in the same house with the same sister. It was really interesting seeing how the Lord moves us around. So we spent some time with her, shared a scripture with her, and sang a hymn, and then we left. We were thinking as we walked, and decided that we should inform the bishop immediately about her situation. So we talked to him, he sent the relief society president to visit her, and now she's receiving help from the ward to cover her medical bills, and the priests bring her the sacrament on Sundays. Really cool experience.

Anyways that's all for now! I love you guys a lot.

Elder William Jacob Long