Hey guys!!! I first off want to tell you all thanks so much for the love and support from this last week. Really im so grateful for all the support and experiences and everything. Just strengthens my testimony of the family and yea we are sick. You guys are the best and really cant even say how grateful i am.

grammy sent me how was sarahs experience for her birthday and it made me super happy to hear she had a great experience and that you guys could all get your swimming on. Im also super proud that you guys could do your relay!!! I know thats hard... i remember ragnar...its tough but dont feel bad about time mom!! you did it!! The same result as everyone else you accomplished it!! woo!! Thats so awesome and yea enjoy your summer while you can because the next summer will be pretty busy ;) 

Anyways Im glad you could enjoy that video i reccomended. But yea this week went better. First of all this week we went so hard with the Figaroa Family to get them to church and we committed them and everything and just taught with power. Their problem is that the mom named Vivianna has a stomach problem and she is facing an operation soon and cant be seated for a long time. Me and my companion were outside waiting for them to arrive and they were going to arrivfe 15 minutes before the sacrament meeting started but they were late and we thought they blew us off again so i was all hey comp lets say a prayer so there outside i offered a prayer asking that they would arrive and literally as SOON AS i said amen and opened our eyes i heard "HEY HERMANOS ELDERS" and they pulled up right next to us. haha wow the Lord answered that prayer quick. Then after the bishop gave her a priesthood blessing and it went really well!! I hope they can progress and i think we are gonna try and put the baptismal date this week.

oh and i should probably mention that we had transfers last night and im staying with Elder Castro for another cycle as ZL!! so we are pumped to go hard in the paint. 

This week we also went ot Juárez for a training meeting with Prez Derbzzzz for some instruction and today we give our zone meeting today for Casas Grandes. Lets see what else cool happened this week.. oh i was asked by the stake to translate Stake conference for the people who only speak english in september so im pretty excited about that!! haha super cool. And other cool thing is this week we had a bunch of fruit and we had like lime juice on it and chili powder and its soo goood like watermelon or melon or pineapple or whatever.. haha or mango so that was great. haha sorry but just a bunch of cool random stuff. 

Last thing is that these weeks i have really lost the fear of testifying like full force. Like i never want to offend everyone in their beliefs but ive learned to testify boldy and with the spirit and respecting others. But this week teh Lord gave me lots of chances to testify with my heart that this is the Church of Jesus Christ. This is the truth. We hold the priesthood authority of God. Christ recognizes this church. Me and my companion went about like Alma and Amulek this week and we left lessons edified. This week we taught a bunch of university college kids and the majority were atheists and just wanted to argue but we didnt succumb to them and left our testimonies and left them silent and i declared that they cant take away what ive felt and seen. 

As i reflect on this past year im infintely grateful for this mission. I knew the church was good before but i never took it like full on 100% seriously. Obviusly i wasnt a bad kid but now ive changed and if theres two things ive learned its to love everyone no matter what. the Apostle paul says that love is the fufillment of the law. and two. I need to rely on the Lord. I read an excerpt that the grandparents sent me that we need to stay close to Christ. AND THE IMPORTANCE OF FAMILIES. I feel like im the same Josh and different...like improved...i think? Who knows but im great and i got 11 months left but im giving it all because they say the second year passes faster than the first..

TEAM MEDEIROS!!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!! hard in the paint ye ye ye

This is Isaias...he accompanies us

One year and I'm so so tired but it's k

WOWOOWOWOOW. haha sounds like you all had quite the interesting week there!! Well mom for sure but haha tahts good. thats so cool!!! wow NYC! the big time!!! hahaha yea mom of course id love to go with you!!! that would be way fun. 

Sounds like the kids like the mission impossible movie!! And andrew is busy as usual haha sounds like me as i was finishing up high school hahahaaa. Hey andrew how was that sour candy? haha sounds rediculous. but yea this week we had some crazy lightning storms as well!! I love hearing from the kids by the way!!!! haha it makes me happy. Im glad sarah could relate me with one of the scriptures in the ant man. hahahhaha que bueno. And tell jenna im for sure wanna play that game when i get back haha. 

and hey also good luck with relay!!! I hope that goes well for you guys. Yea you guys deserve a rest next year that way we can spend time together when i get home! haha We need for sure go back to boston someday!!! and maui hehehehe. 

Anyways truthfully this week was really hard. Haha im absolutely dead physically we worked so hard to find new people and really gave it our all but the results werent obvious on sunday. The Figaroa family didnt go to church...or anyone for that matter.. bleh that kind of stinks. We put a baptismal date on Jonathan!! but we had to pass him to another ward because he lives out of our area... so yea that wasnt to fun. bleh haha. but nevertheless we gained a friend who we are never gonna forget. Really hot this week and yea. 

This week i have been doing a lot of fighting like leaving an example always being happy and humble and helpful. the triple h. hahahaha but yea i really enjoyed my studys this week. Im rereading the book of mormon and i just started Alma and im reading Jesus the Christ again and im about halfways done! So yea thats super good. hahaha This morning a super rich member gave us a sick american breakfast and im nice and full. haha

But yea with Jonahthan we taught him the word of wisdom and now he is leaving cigarettes behind and yea. But we are fighting! We go to Juarez this week for some meetings for leadership and we got transfers in a week and we will see what happens!!

I really loved the words to this hymn from this week. 

1. Abide with me! fast falls the eventide;
The darkness deepens. Lord, with me abide!
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me!

3. I need thy presence ev'ry passing hour.
What but thy grace can foil the tempter's pow'r?
Who, like thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Thru cloud and sunshine, Lord, abide with me!

good stuff and its true. Sorry this week was a little bleh compared to others but ALL IS WELL ALL IS WELL!! TRUE TO THE FAITH AND HARD IN THE PAINT!!!! TEAM MEDEIROS!!!LOVE YOU ALL!

 My comp's b-day...everyone gave him the goods and cake!

What's up chillins'

JENNA!!

How was Zermatt?its sounded like a lot of fun lucky. I wish i was there too!! Less than a year and ill be home to play!! haha We can play smash bros ok? And i will teach you spanish. HAve fun in mission impossible!

LOVE, Elder Joshua Medeiros #TeamMedeiros

Yea official hump day! isnt that somethin? the truth is i got nothing planned...its actually the same day as my comps birthday and we are probs gonna work. haha. hahaha thats crazy cause i still feel new and what not but whatever ahha im not anymore. I got some solid experience now kind of hahhaaha. Anyways well im glad you were all able to get the anniversary up and going. Sounds like it was pretty crazy...haha like alot of planning...like wow.. haha that sounded crazy. like wow. haha im glad it was fun and the family was able to get together even though its crazy its always sweet. Nothing better!! 

And mom keep it up with the calling.. its hard but they are so fufilling! And good luck with your relay comin up! i miss running super often.. oh well haha!

Anyways here are two highlights from the week..or a few haha

Jonathan was able to come to church again this week! On tuesday we meet with him and i think we are gonna put a baptismal date with him as well. We are also working with the figaroa family. We hit them with everything we had this week. We visited this family of 5 with members and taught with power and were THAT close to go to church but they had to leave...hahah we were SOOOO close. 

We also had the baptism of a kid named Osmin that we taught and we reactivated his mom so that was super cool!! a nice experience. We had interviews with President on friday as well. haha it was really fast cause basically he had interviews with everyone cause he wanted to clean the missioin so i walked in and he was like "ok sins" and i was like none. haha then diligence and i said 100% and then we talked about my assignment as ZL a little bit and yea haha that was it. 

But as im heading into the second half of my mission this whole week i did a huge self evalution(by the way i got your packages!! THANK YOU! PERFECT!!! haha new garments feel so good lol and sour patch) and the letter mom wrote me made me start to think as well. So this whole week in my studies and my actions i was thinking alot and i just felt immensely grateful for this opportunity to serve and what its done for and to me. On friday it rained SUPER HARD and we were walking then it started and we had to run and it was sick and then we found cover and watched the lightning for a little and i just had this sick feeling and i was like.."Im in mexico preaching the everlasting gospel in a different language. I am a servant and disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ. " it was super cool!! Then today i read a scriputre in Acts 5 when Peter and John were persecuted that says

38 And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nought:

 39 But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it;

 41 ¶And they departed from the presence of the council,rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shamefor his name.

 42 And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

So yea!!! that was my week!! KEEP IT UP FAMILY!!!! GO HARD IN THE PAINT!!!

LOVE YOU ALL!!

Outside the family history center in Nuevo Casas Grandes

It rained super hard and we found some patos...ha ha, ducks!

Osmin's baptism and some ward members

Baptisms!

Well... i hope the internet works better this week.. youre right its been pretty annoying. I get all your emails the week after. i dont get it.. who knows..but im glad the kids had a good time in their camps!!! Haha i remember those..i hope they had a good time. And yea DAD WITH THE SPUDMAN!! yeeee!! haha thats awesome. Im glad you were able to knock out the swimming part!!

And yea keep it up with the sabbath day!! poco a poco is how we say it here haha :) and mom careful with the yankee stuff...haha 

But youre right the weeks are just absolutely flying right now!! 

And as far as the camera goes.. yea i defs need a new one and theres no service center here or a store.. so yea.. with wifi thatd be fine.. what ever works for you! Right now im just using my companions. And with the ruins.. those are in Casas Grandes and we are in Nuevo Casas Grandes... we dont have time anyways.. :(its hard.. i wish we could... but oh well.. once i get my new camera i wanna take more pics of casas grandes and hte clouds and everything haha its gorgeous and way different than Juarez. Also ..maybe could you look for a book called Understanding the Book of Mormon..byt Grant hardy..sounds interesting.. :D

Not gonna lie ive been getting a huge love for the scriptures... i know its hard for the kids but really it serves for so much. They are so cool and comforting and they yea. Keep it up!!

Anyways a couple cool experiences. So with Jonathan its going well! Im sure i told you last week he is having a lot of problems right now like economic and everything. Tuesday we invited him to eat with us and he was super thankful that he had a good meal and got to know some members then we taught him the Restoration of the Gospel in the chapel with the paintings and it was super powerful. Then he went to church on sunday!! We are gonna try and put a baptismal date with him this week as well!

We also found someone named Joakim. We thought he was a investigador but he got baptized when he was a kid then became catholic. He was super closed at first but as we talked to him he began to open up and he told us he wanted to quit drinking and so we taught hte word of wisdom and it was a powerful lesson. He desires to quit and change his family and we gave him a blessing and we came back on thursday and he hadnt drinken and he went to church by himself on sunday!! super cool!!

and of course it was the baptism of Diana and Valeria that got knocked forward a week. It was no problem because they were super ready anyways haha and we got to confirm them. its going well!! Just working hard even though the area is really small but we are leaving a good example as leaders!! 

Learning new words everyday and yea!!! ALSO IF YOU CAN WATCH THE TALK CALLED LORD I BELIEVE BY ELDER HOLLAND and MOUNTAINS TO ASCEND by PRESIDENT EYRING. You will love them. So powerful.

anyways thats all for this week!! I hope you enjoyed the pics yee ye ye ye ye ye yeeee GOODS!! HARD IN THE PAINT!! TEAM MEDEIROS!

July 20th he he he

ANDREW!!!!

hey man whts up!? So happy to hear that the trip to Peru was good!!! that sounds amazing and a lot like the misión ;) haha prepárate. It will help you so much and im glad it was a great spiritual experience for you. Never forget it. It will strengthen your testimony. I hope you hip gets better!! The priesthood is so real!! So happy for you and thats so cool you got to do the sacrament in spanish. was it hard? bahaha love you man!! 

Sarah!!! SARCH

Heyyoooo whats good mah sista.  love ya. So excited 

Wow!! crazy well im excited for your link drawing :DBut SICK. I love the misión space center!! its so fun hahaha its super supa super supa cool. TELL ME ABOUT LIFE!! love ya!!!

Jennawennajenna!!!!

Im good these days!! Thanks for asking! Its really hot but its ok. I love the missionary work! Im glad Andrew is back too. Keep playing piano!!! and guess what i had beans yesterdayy ;) haha

Love you!!

HELLO!! Well yea as you said in a year ill be home. Isnt that crazy?? well i mean yea i guess the countdown officially starts but im loving this área so far. This new assignment has given me new life and im feeling great. Of course im not forgetting what i did In Tierra Nueva..i mean i lgrew so much there but im doing good. Im so happy to hear the Ward had a baptism!!! Support him. It really helps sosososo much. Well im glad to hear everything is good at home. I hope things are slowing down now and you can enjoy and relax. Grandma told me youre gonna have your vacation coming up!!

Well i had some cool experiences this week!! But first ill answer some of your questions. The ruins... yea i doubt we can go to the ruins...its not really fair but its fine. haha p days we basically do nothing. Like this morning we ran and the cleaned and yea. Soooo.. haha idk ill see what i can do. i actually need a new camera because the lens doesnt work...so im gonna see what i can do. haha. Ill try to get some pottery though!! haha

And for letters you send it to the el paso address!!!

And every companion...including mtc... ok..i have the dates in the house.. but ill try to remember..

MTC

Elder Cannon from Augst 6th to 20th. Elders Engerberson and St John from the 21st to the 14th of september. Elder Mora (Lebaron) from sep 15th to Dec 9th. Elder Castleton (Tierra Nueva 2) from the 10th of dec to the 19th of jan. Elder Quiñones from the 19th to the 13th of april. Elder Romero from april 14th to the 26th. Elder Fabian from the 2nd of May to the 16h of june. Elder Martínez from the 17th of june to the 6th of July and Elder Castro (Alamedas) from the 7th of jly until...who knows... haha

Well yea so the two Young women are named Dianna and Valeria and they are going to be baptized the 30th of July!!!! wooo!! So excited!! haha its awesome because their dad is a recent convert and hey is going strong and yea and their daughters are eating it up and so yea we will be having that baptism soon. Theyve gone to church for the last two weeks and its going good. 

We have one member here who is SUPER supportive. his name is Isaías and he lives alone but hes a stud and supportive and our homie. We eat with him and do visits.

Well other than the baptismal dates we had this week we had some cool stories. We did a BUNCH of contacting this week just talking to anyone and anything. Well we did divisions with one of the DLs this week and i went to Estación with Elder Riding!! Hes from Payson! We were talking in the house and we randomly realized we were born in the same hospital just months apart. Thats super cool. anyways so we were walking and we saw an old lady trying to plant a tree in her front yard. We immediatley went to help and it was hard...hahaha it was like digging into pure cement and it took the both of us like 15 minutes..idk what she was thinking..then she told us to put our backs into it but in a much more vulgar way then we invited her to church and she said no hahahahahahhaha so that was funny.

But yesterday with my companion we were walking through the park and we saw a guy sitting aalone on the bench. We sat next to him and his name is johnathan and he started to tell us how he is having a really hard time right now. He is from another state to be with his girlfriend and its not working and hes living in the firestation right now and wants to quit smoking. We assured him that God has a plan for each and everyone of us and i read him a passage from the Book of Mormon that says if we put our faith in good we will be lifted up in the last day. I gave it to him and he was super grateful. We made him laugh and he said that it was the first time he had laughed in a long time. haha we are gonna teach him this week!! we will see how it goes. The Lord loves everyone of His children and looks after and cares for them. He thought i was from Argentina too haha he says i dont speak spanish like an american so points for me!! hahahaha

Well thats all!!! Thanks for the prayers!!!! TEAM MEDEIROS!!!

Elder Go Hard in the Paint Joshua Chad Medeiros.

Casas Grandesssssss

WELLL hi. What is up my chillins. life is crzy rn. hahahaha. But first of all so glad again to hear all is going well there in the ol Valley. hahaha Dad keep it up with the concerts!! i miss going to those and im jealous you get to see Rush but its all good. haha when i get home we will go to some concerts. for sure. And mom congrats on the trek photos!!!! Haha so gald you got those done and now you can breathe haha. you deserve it. You guys are awesome!! Keep it up!! And grammy sent me some photos of andrew in Peru. He sure is getting the girls hahahhaha. 

Anyways this week has been absolutely crazy!! Love being zone leader. Well up until now. haha. My new companion is Elder Castro and im in the ward of Alamedas. Its awesome! We live in a tiny little house in the backyard of a super rich member and the house is perfect. The area is SUPER SUPER small compared to Tierra Nueva. Like ive already seen it all. haha But its good. The attendance to the church is the same as Tierra Nueva maybe like 170 mas o menos. but its good stuff. My companion is super excited and we are doing all we can right now to find news. We have 22 missionaries in our zone here in Dublán. Every night the DL´s report to me and we do a lot of administrative stuff but i see President a lot more often now. Ive still not seen ruins but casa grandes is just a cozy little town and its super different compared to Juarez Its way prettier and its green and the skies are gorg (mom you would approve) and its rained like 4 days of the week.

But yea ill just hit on some quick highlights of the week. My first day we visited one of the Recent converts of the area and his daughters were visting them and he was all TEACH THEM TO PRAY and we were like lol ok and we taught lesson 1 and they are super prepared. they went to church yesterday and now they are going to mutual this week and we are gonna put a baptismal date with them this week too!! SICK. 

On thursday and friday i had two meetings with President and the other zone leaders. We took the bus up to Juarez again and we had a meeting on thursday that was specfically and exclusively for us as leaders and it was sick. President is so smart and funny. I was super motivated after. they talked about fear and lining our vision with God and how fear is only an illusion then he showed a michael jordan top 10 clip that got me pumped an dmiss basketball hahahah then a clip of the big bang theory of Raj to show fear haha it was funny. Then we stayed in the hotel and had another the next morning. 

We have been doing a lot of contacting this week and looking for people to teach. The funny thing that happened this week was we were going to a door and my companions pants got snagged on the car and his pants ripped super huge and his garments were hanging out and he was just like are you kidding me and i was trying not to laugh but it was good stuff. then that night i made a protein shake and it spinned and flew and got shake and jay robb powder all over me haha i deserved it.

Another cool experience was we contacting yesterday and we felt impressed to contact a woman who was walking fast. As we talked we found out she was looking for a phone to borrow to call her brother who was going into an operation the next day. Perfectly the phone she had was the same kind as ours so we could lend her our battery and she was able to talk to him. she told us she had been walking around for like an hour and a half then she said a pray and we came by. we found out she is a less active and we told her that God loves her and always listens and invited her to church again then she asked me to offer a prayer before we left. It was cool.

Well tonight we have the zone meeting im tried and nervous but its all good. TEAM MEDEIROS!! go hard in the paint

We like to make Jay Robb shakes and get yoked!

Mirror pics with Elder Smith

Final district pics. We ate at Peter Piper Pizza and it was super good!

CAMBIOS!!!

Hey!!! Whats going on my Friends.  I hope its all going chill. Hahaha I love hearing about home!! Im so glad you all had a good fourth of july!!! Sounded like  lot of fun. I wish i could have seen your performance dad!!! Im sure it was sick and totes hard in the paint. haha. And the video of the roll call?? I wanna see it!! haha I remember that video. I miss you guys!! hahahha.

And yea with parkers mission i Heard its really expensive. I hope they can get him out the door good. And I LOVE THE PICS OF ANDREW!! hahahah la iglesia de Jesucristo de los Santos de los Últimos Días. Awesomeness!! I hope he's loving it down there!! Do you guys not have communication with him? I hope its going well.

For package....i don't know....i can get a list of medicine i would like...food i mean you really do know what i liked... i loved those Little powder drink mixes.... chocolate milk and ramen packs are good.. hahha. Maybe some music... garments i like the big neck line and the t shirt kind... and i like the 50 50.

and I want you guys to know the mission made me realize honestly how awesome and cool you guys are. OF COURSE! Im going to be with you guys a lot when i get home. Please don't even worry about it.Im going to need you guys for sure.. in fact it says that in my patriarchal blessing.I know its sad... and it makes me sad too that time moves on. But thats the plan. Theres a scripture in 1 Peter 4 that says we should really be happy when these things come because it means we are participants of the afflictions and hardness of life of Christ. It will be good mom and dad. there are so much more memories to be made and it all happens in the time of the Lord. I admit i still have a hard time with that...its hard like you said but we just need to throw our anxiety on the Lord.

Anyways sorry about the internet these past couple weeks!!! I don't know whats been going on :( anyways. This week was good. We had Gaspar and Slyvia come to church after a long absence and basically the whole church lessons were about baptism baptism baptism hahahha so i hope that good and ingrained in their heads hahhahaha. But they are progressing. Mayra didn't go again this week.. :( we are thinking bout just baptizing her anyways cause she has the desire. But yea.

there was a TORRENT on the 4th!! We were getting home and it started raining super hard so i hurried and changed and climbed on the roof and just got soaked and then i saw some Fireworks in el paso haha. So that was pretty cool.

But yea the big news of this week is that we had transfers last night and i thought i was staying for sure but guess what IM GONE! after 8 months (almost a THIRD OF MY MISSION) here in Tierra Nueva I'm out to Casas Grandes!!! And as ZONE LEADER. Haha I'm nervous but SUPER excited!!! Haha my mouth dropped last night when they told me and i have a bunch of meetings this week so ill be sure to keep you all updated on that.

Well one funny thing was this week we found a park and they are just rundown terribly kept parks. I slid down the slide and almost ate it because its literally vertical (well almost) and i did the monkey bars...but i can stand and do it...like my head goes through the rungs haha. Got some videos of that.

Also this week i finished the book of mormon completely in spanish for the first time. I came across the scripture that dad sent me in the letter he wrote me the first night. In Moroni 8:16 it says

 Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority‍ from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out‍ all fear.

Just remember really nothing matters. No matter what happens. No matter worries or anxieties we have. No matter what we are scared of. Perfect love casts out all fear. God has that love for us. Christ does and our families.

Love you all1! TEAM MEDEIROS!!!

Elder Joshua Chad Medeiros