Elder Paddock's Adventures in Omaha: Many Mighty Miracles

Hey! Happy Dia de las Brujas!! (Its called Day of the Witches in Mexico)

This week has been absolutely AMAZING! Let me start out by telling you some fun facts I've learned these past two weeks!

There's a giant gold statue of some super buff guy flexing right outside the MTC. Everytime I see it I think of Mitch Hutch and just laugh a little :)

the classy giant statue
The Cheetos here are soooo much better than American cheetos! They've got some kind of zing to them that just makes them so much better!

Mexican cheeto goodness from heaven
We literally have some kind of mystery meat, beans, rice (or noodles), and tortillas every day for lunch along with some weird Mexican desert. Some times the lunch is really good... and some days I just look forward to Pizza night on Tuesdays. It's all you can eat though so thats nice! I'm pretty sure they're just trying to fatten us up so the chairs we sit in all day don't hurt as much.

lunch everyday
Sick companions/Districts aren't nearly as much fun as healthy ones. Elder Meidell and pretty much the rest of our District (Except me!) have been sick all week. Elder Meidell has had some nasty kind of head gross-ness so he's been kind of ornery these past few days.
Every couple of minutes in Mexico city, someone sets off a firework! We've been trying to figure it out by talking to the Missionaries from here and we've narrowed it down to two reasons: The Catholic church celbrates a different Sain everyday with fireworks throughout the day, or People write their sins on pieces of paper and attach them to fireworks as a sort of Repentance type thing... We got used to it our second week here so its really fun to watch all the new kids jump when one goes off :)
We pray like 40 times a day here! Its great!
Spanish Hymns are so much more beautiful, even though a lot of the Hispanics I've been singing them with are tone-deaf... Super quick story: For Sacrament meeting last week, a group of all the District leaders in our Zone, Elder Meidell and I (ZL's) and a few other people guys who are just talented, got together and sang "Señor Te Necisito" (I need thee every hour) and it actually sounded pretty good!

This week has had some really awesome experiences too! I've learned sooo much and I want to share 4 of these experiences with you :)

Like I said earlier, my compañero has been pretty sick this week so Saturday night I asked him if he wanted a blessing. He said he'd love one, so when we got back to the classroom to study for 3 hours after dinner, I had the opportunity to give him one. I'd never done it before so I was kind of nervous, but since Saturday night, his health has improved rapidly and He's back to his normal, ready-to-go self! I love seeing the Priesthood of God work in people's lives!

Next experience was actually the day before that, so last Friday. I was really struggling with Spanish and getting really frustrated that I wasn't able to say what I wanted to say and I KNEW that those were not the feelings that would help me improve in any aspect of missionary work. So I knelt down and prayed harder than I ever remember praying in my life and asked my loving Father in Heaven to help me through this and to help me feel peace. IMMEDIATELY I felt his love surround me and I knew everything would work out if Ikept my head up and my faith strong and got back to work learning. IMMEDIATELY I knew that He was wathcing over me and that He cares about me and everyone else on this Earth. IMMEDIATELY! Such an amazing feeling and I hope and pray I never forget it.

Next experience involved being frustrated with Spanish as well... Its kind of a re-occurring problem these past two weeks. I was in class learning how to teach a lesson and our teacher only knows a few words in English, so he was just rattling off Spanish and I had no idea what was going on. I was understanding nothing. So again, I said a little prayer to help me know how to understand better and how I can change whatever I'm doing wrong so I can learn faster. IMMEDIATELY I remembered something Elder Meidell told me. He told me I needed to stop translating everything into English in my head... but being the stubborn person I am, I told him there's no way that would work. But there I was in that lesson, having no idea what was going on and I decided to humble myself a little and try it. As soon as I began to listen with my hear and not with my mind, the entire lesson began to make sense and I understood almost everything! Sometimes I hate when my companion is always right, but I'm incredibly grateful for that prompting from the Spirit.

My last super neat experience was actually just in these last two days. Tuesday night after we taught one our "investigadors" (who was actually the teacher I previously mentioned) I asked him what I can do so that I can know what to say in the lessons to help the investigator understand things more and be able to apply in to them. He told me he'd think about it and get back to me the next day. Yesterday he in class, right before it was our turn to teach him again, he told me to read in Preach My Gospel on page 185 under the paragraph titled "Listen". The whole paragraph was exactly what I needed to help me help the investigators! It talked about how if I just sit back and pay close attention to what they're saying and not worry about what I'm supposed to say next, that through the Holy Ghost, I will know exactly what to say. I tried this with our lesson with "Raul" and everything worked soooo much better! Suddenly I knew twice as much Spanish as I had in previous lessons and was able to teach probably more than half the lesson (compared to the 2-3 sentences I've said in the past) and we were able to teach as a companionship and apply it to Raul's needs.

I know that without a shadow of a doubt that our loving Heavenly Father hears and answers prayers. I know that he cares about each and every one of His children on the Earth. I'm so thankful for the opportunity to share this happy message as a missionary° I love all of you and I know that without you, I wouldn't be where I am today, having the time of my life and sharing the message of theGospel that's brought me so mcuh peace and joy and happiness into my life each and every single day.

I love you! and I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Lots of Love,

Elder Zack

The native speaking roomates we had, Elder Cabaña and Elder Palmas.
They were only here for 2 weeks since they already know the language.
There's three rooms in our dorm. Me and Elder Meidel,
Elder Ogan and Bergeven, and the two native speakers.