Week 53: Good Bye to our President

 The last Zone Conference with Pres. and Sister Rodrigues

 Jeffrey and President Rodrigues

 Jeffrey holding up the sign I sent him.

The Velasquez Family 

Jeffrey with the amazing Assistants the the President...Elder Daines and Elder Rose.  Checking out Jeffrey's Blog in the offices.

Dear Family and Friends, 

I am currently writing this update from Saltillo here in the Mission offices! I would first like to give Elder Rose a big shout out. Last week, his comment about the weather in my area was right on point. If you want to experience what the heat is like where I live and walk around everyday, just hold up a blow dryer to your face for about 5 minutes and that will give you a good idea. 

Also, I wanted to share a part of Elder Rose's testimony that he shared with us a few weeks ago in the special conference I attended in Saltillo. I was impressed by the testimony of Elder Rose because he emphasized the importance of baptism and the true joy of the mission is being able to see your converts enter in the waters of baptism.  Then you know that they are going to receive the blessings that our Father in Heaven has in store for them. He testified that he has grown closer to our Savior and that his faith in Jesus Christ helps him every day to be a better person and continue working, even though he is heading into the last week of his mission. I will dearly miss these great elders, (many of whom were my zone leaders and assistants to the President) for their guidance, wisdom, and great examples.  

This will be a super interesting week! I arrived here in Saltillo yesterday by bus and am going to be here until Wednesday night! I am calling it my ¨spring break 2016 ¨ :)  I had to update my visa this morning because my visa was outdated. And my visa was outdated because I have now officially completed one year here in Mexico!!! I will be here to meet the new President, President Cahoon and to hear some advice and goals that he has to share with us. 

This past week went really well! I am very happy to report that the water came back to our apartment on Tuesday morning of last week so we only lost it for a few days. On Friday, I was able to participate in the last zone conference of President Rodriguez! It was such a special day! The President emphasized the importance of reading the scriptures and making it a daily habit. He explained the passage in the Bible when Jesus was tempted by Satan 3 times, and that Jesus explained that he could overcome whatever temptation through the Word of God. It was a super meeting and we were privileged to hear the last testimonies of the President and his family. 

I loved hearing the testimony of the President when he invited us to work as hard as we can and to truly search for the Savior in our daily lives. I felt inspired to commit myself to work as hard as I can for this last year of my mission here in Mexico. I have felt incredibly blessed to be able to complete one year and eagerly look forward to spending another year serving the people of Mexico. 

I know that the church truly was restored by the prophet Joseph Smith and that through the sacred promises we make with God we can return to live in his presence someday! Everyday we should try as hard as we can to be worthy to enter the temple and receive all of the blessings that our Father in Heaven offers us. I know that this work is true and I know I have loved the first half of my mission and will love even more the second half. 

All the best and have a great week! 

Elder Shipley