Meeting Elder Bednar was unforgettable!

September 3, 2018

Que Honda perros!?

 I love you all! Hope life is gooood. This mission is going great right now, I just hit a year in the field last Wednesday the 29th (my mom´s birthday) so I had to buy a cake to celebrate my mom’s b-day and my 1-year mark in the mission! This week I also had a once of a life time experience, Elder David A. Bednar came to Saltillo to talk to my mission! It was amazing, the Spirit was so strong, and it was such a revelatory experience!

Thursday night we headed down to Nueva Rosita because I had to interview a sixteen-year-old kid for his baptism! He was a really cool kid, and he had a strong desire to be baptized and everything! He had a super strong Spirit to him. It was really cool to talk to him for a bit!

                Later Thursday night we held our district meeting and we talked about the 4 talks that Elder Bednar asked us to read and study! We had been studying these talks for around 2 months so that we could prepare for this conference, and we had a really great discussion as a district which really got us hyped up for Friday!

                We were told our bus was going to leave Friday morning at 3:00 AM, so we took a quick nap. The other elders in the zone left a little bit earlier, so anyways Elder León and Elder Cohelo and my companion and I arrived at the bus station at 2:50 AM when we were informed by the guy at the front desk that our bus to Saltillo had left at 2:40 AM. He then informed us that the next bus to Saltillo was going to leave at 10:10 AM which definitely wasn’t going to work because we had to be had the stake center in Saltillo at 9:00 AM… At this point the four of us were kinda freaking out because we were either going to have to take an expensive six-hour taxi to Saltillo or miss the Elder Bednar conference.

            I then asked the front desk worker where the bus was at thinking that maybe we could take a bus to Sabinas or even Monclova. He told me that the bus had most likely already left Sabinas, so we would have to go to Monclova which is like 2 hours away from Nueva Rosita… So, I asked him if he could call the bus driver and see where he was at.  When he called, the bus driver said that they were just pulling into Sabinas, so I asked the front desk guy if the bus could wait in Sabinas and he said that he didn’t think so, but he agreed to ask anyways. To our luck, the bus driver said he would wait 10 minutes! So, we ran and jumped into a taxi because Sabinas is like a solid 15 or 20 minutes from Nueva Rosita.

                I asked the taxi driver how long it was going to take to get us to Sabinas and he said it would take us 15 minutes…. So, I told him to do it in 10 minutes and he just looked at me and nodded his head and then just stepped on it and ran a red light haha! Then as I said a prayer in my heart pleading with the Lord that we would make it to Sabinas in time to grab our bus.  The taxi driver proceeded to run every stop light as he was going well over 100 mph! It was honestly the most insane taxi ride of my life haha, we got to Sabinas in just under 10 minutes. Then I asked the taxi driver how much it was going to cost us, he said he wanted $350 pesos, which is quite a bit for a taxi out here. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t just trying to take advantage of me because I’m White, so I told him I would give him $200 pesos, however, then he started to get all aggressive and started to complain because of all the red lights that he ran and what not because he took a huge risk with the cops! So, I just payed him his $350 pesos so we didn’t miss our bus haha, however, there basically aren’t even cops out here in Mexico so if you ask me, his argument was invalid haha.

                We were able to get a little bit of sleep on the bus ride to Saltillo after the exhilaration wore off from the taxi ride lol. However, it was difficult because we were all really excited for the conference and a little bit hungry because we were fasting!

    Friday morning, we got to the stake center in Saltillo around 8 o´clock and we started to get organized for the group picture before Elder Bednar arrived. Then a little while later, Elder Bednar and his wife showed up along with Elder Pino and his wife! We took some quick pictures, and then we headed into the chapel.

                This conference was just for the Mexico Saltillo mission, and every missionary was fasting and each and every one of us had studied and prepared for this experience for months. The Spirit was so strong as we all sat in the chapel waiting for Elder Bednar to walk in. Then as he walked into the chapel, the Spirit jumped to a whole new level.

                When Elder Bednar got up to talk he explained to us that he wasn’t going to give a talk, we were just going to have a discussion to him about the things we learned as we had studied his talks over these past couple of months. It was so cool, we had a Prophet that holds all of the restored priesthood keys talk to us for around 3 hours or so. It was insane, the Spirit was so strong, almost every person in the room, including myself, had tear in their eyes. It was a revelatory experience that I will remember for a life time. He gave us so much advice and It made me rethink the way I look at life and the priesthood and missionary work too!

                I can´t describe the Spirit I felt in that room because words would never do it justice. However, I will always remember the things the Spirit taught me last Friday morning. Elder Bednar has been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for 14 years, however, he stated that he had never had an experience with missionaries, like the experience we all shared last Friday morning. As we closed up the meeting with his testimony and the testimony of his wife, the Pinos, and President and Sister Cahoon, we were able to go and shake the hands of each and every one of them. As I looked Elder Bednar in the eyes and shook his hand he said he loved me! I will never forget this day!

¨Dear Missionaries,

When we drove into the parking lot yesterday and saw all of you together for the first and likely the last time during our mission, all in one place, it was a very emotional sight for us. How we love you, believe in you, and trust you.

We were almost all, completely repented, prepared, fasting and filled with desire to learn through His prophet, revelator and seer. We pulled things from him and he did things he has never done in his 14 years as an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he got into the van, he said “What was that?” He began to recount to me his experience with President Eyring at BYU Idaho and I told him we had shown that to all of you. He said you mean, “I have been the victim of my own teaching?” I responded yes, we pulled out of you things you normally wouldn’t say or do by our preparation and faith to learn from the Holy Ghost through you.¨

-President Cahoon 

                After Elder Bednar left, we all ate lunch and I got to see all of the day one Saltillo boys, along with both of my trainers, whom are just about to finish their missions. It was so cool to talk with a bunch of old Friends! I also met a bunch of really coool guys in the mission too!

                We got back to Nueva Rosita late Friday night, and we ended up just staying the night with Elder Damuni and Elder Smith because I had to do another interview for another kid that got baptized in Rosita. Saturday afternoon after lunch we headed back to Muzquiz to invite people to church!

                We had a really good fast and testimony meeting, I recently made a goal to share my testimony each and every fast Sunday. I don’t regret making that goal at all, I love sharing my testimony! I lowkey look forward to fast and testimony meeting now haha and I have to give talks in Sacrament meeting so often so I lowkey like those too! Haha never thought I would say that!

   Sunday night we had a huge FHE with over 30 people it was a huge success! We held to FHE in this colony called the 28 which is the most ghetto part of Muzquiz and tbh it is kind of a scary place haha. We worked in the 28 a couple of times this past week so that we could invite people to the FHE. We had a couple of interesting experiences with some heavy tattooed guys that were smoking something and sniffing gasolina, however, we were protected and didn’t run into any problems. We actually even talked to this drug lord that just to run the 28 back in the day he was telling us about all the bad stuff he did and what not, it was crazy.

                Today for p-day we just chilled here in Muzquiz and got a quick lift in and what not! My parents sent me some more times to Slim in the package they sent last week, so now the surgeon will need to get to work again haha!

                Sorry for the super long letter haha I haven’t really written much for the last couple of weeks, so I decided I would just write a bunch today!

Much love,

Elder Ceb

1. Mexico Saltillo Mission Featuring Elder Bednar

2. Day one Saltillo boys

3. My dad/trainer Elder Cruz

4. My mom/trainer Elder Carreon