Elder Graham LaBass - Oaxaca Mexico Mission 2025-2027

 What's up guys, how's it going??? Gotta make this one quick because I don't know how long we gonna have power for. Our power had been out for over 24 hours because of that crazy cartel stuff happening. It's crazy cuz a very big portion of the cartel just so happens to live in Xochistlan soooo... yeah. We were in church on Sunday and we received a message that we had to leave immediately and go to our house and not leave cuz the cartel was going to start shooting anyone in the streets.  We are on lock down for like 3 days cuz there are like 3 burning buses right outside of our house lol. We good. Anyways, this week was great, couple highlights:  - We were in a very powerful lesson with a divorced mom and her daughter talking about the Holy Ghost at the church when my comp tried to say that the "espiritu santo, lo va a quitar de sus calcetines!" That does NOT work in spanish. hahahahha - We always drop this line at the end of every contact and ask if there is a...

 This week was incredible! Sorry, don't have a lot of time jejejeje.  This week went by so fast! Transfers are in a week and I'm praying I can go and see more of Oaxaca! One day we were knocking doors in this community and I saw a door and for no reason looked at my comp and said, "I like this door, let's touch it." Turns out that person had been praying to God, asking if God loves her. 20 minutes later we knocked on her door because some elder "liked her door"  . The Lord works though mysterious people I guess.  This week we were supposed to have like 15 people at church and we ended up with 2... still super grateful that they came and are progressing. Also I learned that drinking and partying is a "tradition passed down from ancestors."   I love this place.  I love it so much here but it is so hard. It's very true what they say, nothing worth it is easy. Me and my comp have a quote we love, "this is also my favorite sweater" (sa...

  Whats up guys, que dice la buena vida.       This week was a lot of fun! Being a district monkey is great cuz I go on cambios all the time with other missionaries. There wasn't a lot of work done in our area (cuz no one was there for like 3 days) but nonetheless we ballin.      Turns out that the cartel (who quite literally lives in Xochistlan) very much respects the missionaries and God which is awesome, because now their kids aren't cooked. In my zone leaders area they are working with the kids of a few cartel-couples whose kids would have been cooked but the gospel of Jesus Christ blesses all of God's children... so now they go to church instead of selling weapons         My area is the smallest area in the mission. By now I know by name like 80% of all the people who live in my area lol. Because of this we've been putting a huge emphasis on families and inactive members. Ive been able to talk to every single inactive...

 Hola! Bendiciones! Buenos/as días-noches! All that... What's going on guys, this week was pretty dope. I'm like 2 weeks behind and don't have any time at all so in the words of Elder Parkinson, "let's get into it."  Our ward is amazing. This zone is known for baptizing a lot of young families and kids as I have become accustomed to. In one of our meetings with our leaders they basically told us to keep baptising kids and they will keep them active. That is so sick because there's a lot of people who need callings, and the more ministering there is to do, the more people can minister. Idk, we've been focusing on strengthening our ward this month because I love brother Albert (ward mission leader) but he has no idea how to work and doesn't wanna have meetings too lol. So, we've been ministering to him and helping him fulfill his calling while teaching him how to host meetings and what he needs to do.  One of our friends named Max got baptized! N...