New Area and General Conference October 6th

Hola,

This week has been full of new experiences for me. First off, the new area. We are opening a new area called Cinco de Mayo 2. (It's like a party everyday. XD ) It has been a kind of hard experience though, especially since we don't have a cell phone, which sometimes happens with a new area. There were missionaries here a while ago, so what we have been doing this past week has been visiting some of the addresses in the area book. I've heard that this area can be pretty difficult, but so far the people have been pretty open to us, and we already have some lessons set up for this next week. I've heard the best thing you can do in this kind of situation is to ignore everything that other people say about how the people don't accept the missionaries or whatever, and trust that the Lord has prepared people for you. And so far we have found some people that I feel the Lord has been preparing. My companion is named Elder Olivos. He was born in Mexico, but has lived most of his life in Texas, so he speaks both languages fluently. He has about a year and a half in the mission, and has opened an area before, so he knows pretty much how we should do it. Surprisingly enough he is not the district leader. Recently they have been making the zones and districts smaller, so we only have one other companionship in our district, the district leader, Elder Jimenez, and Elder Connor. They are in Cinco de Mayo 1, so we have eaten with them pretty much everyday so far. (I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but the areas are named for the ward that they are in, so, for example, we work in the ward Cinco de Mayo, which has two areas in it. I hope that makes things clearer, now and in the future.) 

This was also my first General Conference in the mission. I've heard that there is no Conference like one when you are a missionary, and the one this time did not disappoint. I really felt that they were focusing in on the fundamental truths of the gospel this time, like faith in Christ, and the importance of the prophets. It's really interesting, because these same kinds of fundamentals are what we teach to the investigators in the mission field. I guess it shows how important it is to review the teachings of the gospel so that we can have a firm testimony. I also got the feeling that we are going to be facing an increase of opposition in the nearing future. Still, I did really enjoy the messages that were shared, and I look forward to getting the Liahona for November to read them over again.

That's about it for me this week. If I missed any questions you have, let me know, and I'll talk to you next week. I love you. 

Love, 

Elder Samuel Long