Hundreds waiting for the gospel!

Que onda!? What’s gooood!?

Quick shout out to the boys back home for getting their mission calls! My boy Mali is going to Orlando Florida speaking English, Truman is going to Belgium/Netherlands speaking Spanish and Dutch, AK is going to Chile speaking Spanish, and my boy Ski going to Lisbon Portugal speaking Portuguese!! 

This week went really good, we had tons of success and saw a bunch of more miracles!  We are really starting to see everything come together here in Palau; there is no doubt in my mind that there are hundreds of people here just waiting to accept the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and be baptized.

This week we set 2 more baptism dates, so we have 4 baptism dates at the moment, and we are planning on setting more dates this week! Right now, we have Celeste and Melisa set on date for this Saturday and we have Breseida and Alberto (from Barroteron) on date for the upcoming Saturday the 28th. 

Melisa and Celeste are super ready to be baptized; it has been amazing to watch them both progress. It has been so cool to see the love that they have developed for the Book of Mormon over these past two weeks! They are both 20-year-old college students, and they have both been bringing all of their pamphlets and Books of Mormon to school each day to share with all of their friends! 

The family we have been teaching in Barroteron has been doing really well. We set a baptism date with Breseida (a 20-year-old college student) and her brother Alberto (a 15-year-old boy). They both have been really excited about all of the lessons and we are excited to teach them again this week. We are also planning on setting a date with their sister Linda (who is 18) and also their Mom! 

The members in Barroteron have been helping a lot, we received a couple of references this past week and one sister told us that she has "lots of friends that want to be baptized and she is going to set up a appointments for us". There is honestly nothing more efficient then working with members! One of the references we got was a young mother that recently lost her baby. We went and talked with her and she really opened up and told us everything as she cried... It was amazing to see the light in her eyes as we explained part of the plan of salvation as we bore our testimonies! 

We had this lady call us on Tuesday and she said she was waiting for us by the church. We went and talked to her and it turns out she was an old investigator that lives in Esperanzas which is like 30 min north of Palau.  She stated that her boyfriend gave her a diamond ring but they broke up and she wanted to donate it to the church.  We aren't allowed to take stuff like that hahah so we told her she could come on Sunday and give it to the Branch President! Then as we continued talking with her…she said that she wanted to be baptized last December in the river, however, the missionaries said the water was too cold and they were also giving her a hard time because she said she doesn’t want to take a picture when she gets baptized. So, I explained to her that we could have a small baptism for her in the river just with us and the Branch President, oh and I said we wouldn’t take any pictures! So, if everything goes good we should be able to baptize her within the next week or two! She is a really great lady, she had been having trouble sleeping in her house so she asked me to come bless her house. So, Wednesday morning on the way to Barroteron we stopped by and visited her and then blessed her house! 

Today was a pretty chill p-day we just kind of hung out with Elders Sabey and Smith and then ate some wayyy good chicken #protein. 

Hope everyone is doing good back home! 

Much love,

Elder Ceb

1. Love being with my boy Elder Vaquero again

2. We helped Moraima organize some of her students' work because she is a teacher.. and then we ate some tacos!

3. Yes! Getting so dark!

4. I'm pretty sure this pic is a tradition now here in Palau! 

Couldn't be more happy!

Que onda? What’s goood! We had another successful week out her in Palau and I really couldn’t be more happy with the mish at the moment! I never really write much about the people we work with so I figured I would finally throw in some more details haha. 

This past Sunday we had one of our investigators Teresa come to church again, so this week we are going to put a fecha for this next Saturday the 21st after we talk with her parents. She has been progressing really well and she has been enjoying all three hours of church! Her parents haven't come to church with us; however, they are really glad that she has been coming with us to church.

This week we also had the privilege to teach a really cool family in Barroteran. We were walking down the street in Barroteran about two weeks ago looking for the address of a less active family when a lady told us to come and talk to her. As we started talking with her she stated that her mom was baptized into our church before she died. Her mom’s death was really hard on her and her daughters, and she also stated that the sister missionaries had been teaching them and she wanted us to come by and visit. We went and visited them and their whole family even her husband and son joined us to watch a quick video about the plan of salvation, after the video we made sure they clearly understood everything and then we bore our testimonies and the Spirit filled the room. This family definitely has a lot of potential so we are excited to continue working with them. 

About a week or two ago we were walking by the train tracks on the way to visit a family when an older gentleman invited us over to talk to him. We talked with him for a bit and set an apt. Later the next week, we went and taught him L1, and as we were teaching the Book of Mormon, his 20-year-old daughter Celeste came out side and was really intrigued by the Book of Mormon so I continued to explain what it was and then I gave her a Book of Mormon. We went back to visit her this past Tuesday and she had read her L1 pamphlet and had been reading the Book of Mormon, as we started to teach the lesson, her cousin Melisa walked over to ask her mom a question and she was also really intrigued at what we were teaching so we invited her to come and listen. We went back to visit them on Thursday and they were both really excited and had been reading the pamphlet from L3 and the Book of Mormon, and they both had lots of good questions. Honestly both of them were super ready to be baptized already! so at the end of the lesson I set a baptism date with both of them for the 8th this past Sunday and they both took it really well! However, we later realized that her bus to Saltillo actually left Saturday night and not Sunday night as she previously thought. So, we ended up changing the date to the 21st when she gets back from Saltillo! They are both really animated and we are really excited to continue preparing the both of them to be baptized! 

Yesterday we had a member offer to take us to Barroteron to visit some less active families, and when we got there we worked with another member from Barroteron too and he helped us find a couple of good families with family members who aren’t baptized (PF's).  We can’t spent much time in Barroteron due to how far it is from Palau, however, as we continue to work with the members there, we should be able to see a lot of success! 

Today for P-day we went for a good 5 hour hike up some mountains with Elder Sabey and Elder Smith! It was a good time haha. I’m glad I started doing leg day a couple of months ago to prepare me lol. 

Thanks for all the love and support, hope everything is going good back home!

Much love,

Elder Ceb

1. Convinced all the boys to buy some sandals! #trendsetter

2. Some good food after our FHE

3. Gotta love some tortillas de Harina. 

4. Gotta love a good 20 mile hike

5. FIT

6. On top of the world 

7. Hiking with the boys 

General Conference and powerful FHE's!

This week went really good! Gotta love General Conference weekend in the Mish, especially in Spanish! 

On the real though it was way cool to watch General Conference in Spanish! Especially because I understood all of it. So, I guess that means I’m fluent? It was also way cool to finally have the Layton UT temple announced. haha I almost jumped out of my seat as I yelled "esta es mi cuidad" haha it was funny because all of the members were like chill Utah has like 20 temples... but then when I explained that I actually live in Layton UT they all got hype! Oh, and btw gotta give Layton another quick shout out because Friday when I walked out of my house I saw my boy Bibi who owns our house wearing a Layton High shirt hahah so chilll. (His brother that lives in Utah sent it to him.)

We had the privilege to have a couple of really powerful FHE's this past week thanks to the projector that my mom sent last week! On Tuesday night our FHE fell through so we ended up stopping by the house of a different less active family. They had a little bit of a weird look on their face at first as they opened their door at 8 o'clock at night; however, as we were watching the Mormon message with their kids they had a huge smile on their faces and were eager to know when we could stop by again to share another short message. After we left that house we were passing by the house of another member who was outside talking with some of his workers so we projected a quick video of Christ on the side of a building and they all gathered around to watch and along with a couple other people who were passing by! We also had a really spiritual FHE this past Friday. We had a huge family all united together and by the end of the Mormon message half of the family was in tears because the videos made them think of some things they were going through. I’m really excited to keep on having short FHE's. There is honestly nothing more powerful then projecting Prophets and Apostles directly into these houses.

I also went on divisions with Elder Sabey on Friday and we went to the center of the city and just threw a bunch of different Mormon messages up on the wall so that was way hype hahah! 

Today we played some more volleyball and I hit a solid Chest and Back Workout in the Gym too, so quick shout out to Arnold and Cory G! 

Thanks for all the love and support,

Much love,

Elder Ceb

1. Carne asada!

2. Carne Asada crew

3. Hype

4. The projector my mom sent me!

5. Layton, Utah on the way up!

6.  FHE!

7. Papa nachos with the Day One Saltillo Boy Elder Sabey!

8. LIT

9. Lit planner for a lit new transfer

10. Some p-day volleyball. 

Led by the spirit!

Que Onda? What’s gooood! 

We out here in Palau for another 6 weeks! Haha! We had changes today and everything is staying just about the same here in our district so that's way chill because I’ve got my Day One Saltillo boys Elder Sabey and Elder Reed out here again and I get another change with my companion Elder Villaruaz, who is way chill!

This week we found 16 investigators before Friday so we decided to go out to Musquiez and help them find some people because they only had 3 investigators at the moment. It went really good, Elder Sabey and I were able to find 14 investigators in about 2 1/2 hours on Friday morning! I honestly have such a strong testimony of talking with everybody and listening to the Spirit. Elder Sabey and I were walking down the street when I saw an older lady sitting on her porch. I got the prompting that I should go and contact her, however, usually older people fall into bucket 3 (which means they can’t really progress) so I hesitated for a second, but when I felt the prompting again, I decided to contact her. Right as I walked up to her porch she invited us in and proceeded to tell us that she is a member, however, only two of her 8 kids are members. She stated that she sees the missionaries pass by almost every day but they never visit her so she was just so happy. I offered to pray for her and her family, and after the prayer her daughter in law who was listening invited us in to eat a tortilla and we ended up teaching her and her 3 kids! Her husband is a member so we set up an appointment with them at a time when he could be there so they can teach them all together! Then as we left the house I told the grandma that we would be back on Tuesday to teach her family and you should have seen the joy in her face, it definitely made my week! 

Shout out to my mom real quick for the package! We have been having a lot of FHEs with the members here so I had my mom send me a pocket-sized projector to bring our FHEs to the next level! She also sent 6 boxes of girl scout cookies, with tons of chocolate and other treats from the U.S. so that was wayyyyy chill! She also sent some of my old ties that are kind of fat so now the Surgeon has a lot of work to do haha! I had her throw in a couple of America themed things for my boy Villarauz. Oh and my mom sent him an Ab wheel so he is way stoked because we always hit abz together! 

Haha sorry my email is kind of short this week we don’t have much time because we are going to have a Carne Asada in Rosita tonight since we met our goal to baptize 14 as a zone this past month! 

Thanks for all the love and support, 

Much love, 

Elder Cebollero

1. Gringas with my boy Villarauz!

2. Breakfast with my day one Saltillo boy Sabey!

3. Working in Barroteran!

4. Packages my mom sent! 

5. So much good stuff from home! 

6. P-day lunch with the boys after a quick lift and some volleyball

7. P-day with the boys! 

Zone Conference, and two baptisms!

Que onda? This week was crazy hahah so much going on between Zone Conference, district conference, and Two baptisms! We ended up training back and forth in busses between Sabinas, Rosita, and Palau for over six hours this past weekend! 

Anyways, this week went great! Elder Villaruaz and I had the privilege to bring two souls unto Christ this week through the waters of baptism so that was really cool, it was great to watch a Grandmother take on this journey together with her Niece. We were supposed to baptize her mom too, however, she got really sick, so she hasn’t been able to move out, so keep Erika in your prayers. So, this week since we had our District conference we confirmed them Sunday after the conference and President Cahoon and Sister Cahoon even came and watched me confirm Maria so that was a little scary haha, but it went really good! 

As I stated in my first paragraph we spent a lot of time traveling this week so to make it a little bit easier to get to Sabinas before the zone conference on Friday and Saturday President let Elder Villaruaz and I and the Elders form Musquies, Elder Smith and Elder Sabey, stay the night in Rosita with Elder Reed and Elder Villatoro so that was hype haha! Thursday night in Rosita we ordered a bunch of pizza and bought some mountain dew! Then we finished the night off with root beer floats and church movies! 

On Friday for the Zone Conference we played some volleyball and then watched the movie Coco while we took turns interviewing with President! My interview went really good and after my interview President asked me for the Book of Gainz so he can get on that Grind hahah he is honestly the sickest Mission Pres! 

Today for P-day All the Elders from Rosita and Musquies came down to Palau to play some volleyball and then we ate some lunch with the Christian family! Then Elder Villarauz and I went and got some more free haircuts! Don’t worry it still looks pretty good even though it was free haha! 

Much love,

Elder Ceb

1. Maria and Camila at their baptism

2. Some good food with the squad!

3. Maria and Camila at the baptism. 

4. Love my boy Elder Villatoro 

5. SO hype

6. More hype

7. The most hype 

8. Still hype lol. 

9. We are legends. 

10. Good food with the squad round 2. 

A solid week of miracles in Palau!

Que onda? The mish is going by way too fast hahah!  I can’t believe I’m already out here writing in Palau for the 5th time! 

This past week went really good.  We were able to find a solid set of 23 new investigators, set another baptism date for the 17^th and we also had 11 investigators come to church! Things are really coming together here, thanks to much praying and fasting, we have had the opportunity to not only meet our goal of 10 investigators in church but exceed it.

This past week was also full of miracles, I feel like I have been really obedient throughout all of my mission, however, right now we are focusing on all of the little things as my companion and I study the white handbook daily, I would definitely say striving to be exactly obedient is what is bringing us the opportunity to see these miracles. Last week I mentioned one of our investigators Erika who came to church last week for the first time with her mom Maria who is another one of our investigators. Anyways, we went and visited Erika and had a really great first lesson and she excepted a baptismal date for this past Saturday the 10th. We had given her a Book of Mormon when she came to church and she had already read 3 Nephi 11 and she really wanted to be baptized and she even had a testimony about the Book of Mormon and everything because whenever she starts to read her boyfriend stops fighting with her and she is able to feel the peace that we had talked about! However, after she shared that experience we realized that she wasn’t married, and she was living with her boyfriend, so we bore our testimonies about marriage and a couple of other things and set another appointment to go back on Thursday. She was really really ready to be baptized and everything honestly like the perfect investigator.  She even gave up drinking coffee and coke after the first time she came to church without us saying anything. (Btw don’t worry haha we explained to her that coke isn’t necessarily against the word of wisdom, so she can still drink some Mexican coke which btw is like 10 times better than the coke in the US.) Anyways, we continued to pray and pray and pray during the days leading up to our next appointment with Erika so that she would still be able to be baptized despite her problems with the law of chastity. Then we went and visited her on Friday and taught the law of chastity and explained that she would need to get married or separate from her boyfriend, and without hesitating she explained that she would leave him in order to be baptized despite the fact that this is going to be hard on her and her kids. We talked with her a little bit more and she said she would need a couple of days to move out and so we ended up moving her baptism date to the 17th. Which brings me to the next miracle, Sunday when we were at church we finally had the opportunity to talk with Erika’s Mom, Maria, and we were able to set a baptism date with her for this next Saturday the 17th so she can be baptized with her daughter! We also have another appointment with Erika tomorrow so we are going to work to set a baptism date with her daughter who is 11 years old, so all three of them can be baptized together! 

We have also been able to see so many other miracles daily as we have been doing the Lord’s work. It is honestly insane how many people we have progressing at the moment here in Palau! We still have a lot of work to do though so Keep Elder Villaruaz and I and our investigators in your prayers please! 

This past week I also had the opportunity to go on exchanges with one of the day one Saltillo boys Elder Reed! It was way hype we found like 10 Investigators and they were all way coool. We also got invited to eat some pancakes in the morning before he headed back to Nueva Rosita! 

Oh, and for P-day we met up with Elder Sabey and Elder Smith again to play some more volleyball and I got to hit the gym for a little bit too!  #chestandback #arnold #gainz #coryGfitness 

Thanks for all the love and support, I love hearing from all of you back home, 

Much love, 

Elder Ceb

1. I love the Book of Mormon fam!

2. Gotta love some hotcakes! Shout out to Elder Reed! #Saltillodayones

3. Gainzzzz out here in Palau!

Six months in the Saltillo Mission!

So, I officially hit six months this past week so that’s Hype! It's Honestly so crazy how fast time goes by. Back in the day when I was in Frontera with Elder Carreon he used to always point at the planes flying by and ask how far away I thought they were... During this time, I only had about three months in the mission, so the answer was always about 21 months away because in 21 months I would be on a plane heading back to the 801 (Utah). Anyways, I was looking at a plane flying by the other day and I realized that these next 18 months are probably going to fly by...which means I need to work even harder, so I can baptize at least 1000 people out here in Saltillo! 

We had another good week here in Palau! After our District meeting on Tuesday, our DL Elder Viatorro came on divisions with us and it was hype haha! He is honestly one of my favorite Latinos lol. I love that guy haha.

Then Wednesday we went to Parroteran again which is always a good time. This week we found 18 investigators and had 6 people in church and set two more baptismal dates, however, we lost some baptismal dates though. One of our investigators, Samuel who is 14, has been reading the Book of Mormon and all of our pamphlets and he told us that he prayed, and he knew that all of it was true and that he wants to be baptized and everything! However, his parents won’t let him come to church with us. WE talked with them a couple of times and they won’t let him come to church because they go to a different Christian church every Sunday at the same time. It’s too bad that Samuel won’t be able to be baptized, however, we still have a lot of other investigators progressing so Elder Villarauz and I are still going to baptize out here in Palau. 

We also had the opportunity to have a miracle this Sunday as we were fasting! We were both fasting for the investigators that we have progressing at the moment, and also for the opportunity to find more people that can be baptized within these upcoming weeks. I was also fasting that we could have our investigators come to church. Anyways, one of our investigators named Maria came to church this Sunday for the 4th time. We were talking with her last Sunday and she said her daughter was a member. But, she didn’t know her daughter’s address, so we haven't been able to visit her. However, this past Sunday her daughter and granddaughters came to church with her and after sacrament meeting her daughter came up to us (who we thought was a member) and said that she really likes our church and then she asked what she needed to do to be baptized. We set an appointment with Maria's daughter and granddaughter for this Tuesday, so we can start preparing them to be baptized. We are also going to work this week to help Maria prepare to be baptized, she lives in Ranchereas which is kind of far away from Palau, so we have only been able to teach her on Sundays after sacrament meeting. However, this week she is going to be in Palau on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday so we are going to work with her this weekend. Every Wednesday we have been working in Barotteran and we pass through Ranchereas on the way home, so we are going to try and set an appointment for this Wednesday night.

This past week we ate dinner every single night haha and a couple of the nights we ate dinner twice rip. Don’t get me wrong the food is wayyyy good and its coool and all that our investigators keep inviting us to eat with them, however, this food is definitely not good for the body lol. It's all good though…I can just pull out the book of gainz and my golds gym in a suit case and get to work! Oh, and btw we have a free gym here in Palau but it’s kind of far from the house and it doesn’t open till 8... However, I can still go lift on P-day! I Went this morning and got a solid chest and back workout and all, but my bench press just isn’t the same as it used to be, so I’ll have to start doing more pushups haha! 

Oh, and the Surgeon hasn’t died or anything ha I think I’m going to do a couple of ties this next week! 

much love / Elder Ceb

1. Chillin in Palau

2. Pretty sure my investigator Seguio spray painted this back in the day!

3. Lupita

4. Villatoro, Reed and Villarauz

5. Bought my boys Elder Villarauz and Villartoro some ice cream!