"An Example for Me as a Missionary and for All of Us"

04/20/2015 - Week #19

Well first I want to start with sorry but I cannot post any pictures this week. I started to put them on and realized that they had somehow been erased... I lost 20 pictures this week too...darn! 

Elder Jarrett is a neat guy. He likes music a lot so he has a guitar and a ton of Christian music that I have never heard before. Apparently he is super afraid of heights and I was going to send a picture of how funny he looked trying to cross some of the planks for the train tracks. One of them is like 3 feet apart and he was so scared! It took him ten minutes in total to cross and when he was almost done this guy comes holding a bike on his shoulder and just walks across in two seconds haha. He had me take video of the whole thing but at least it wasn't lost!

Elder Jarrett came in and then the very next day we stayed home because he had a fever. I was so bored I started playing chess by myself and then resorted to inviting Max to come over. He couldn't come until way late so I still had to be bored. I found out that day that I have an ingrown toenail too and its not on the front of the nail its on the back side closer to my foot. It didn't hurt until today because we did a lot of walking back and forth trying to get things done. 

We went to la tienda de Hermana Palacios on Friday and she ended up giving us Raspados like 3x the size of the normal ones we get so neither of us finished ours. Luckily we always leave before we finish so she didn't know haha. We also had lunch In Puerto Arista this week so my companion was super excited because I guess he has only seen the beach 2 other times in his life!

Now that its getting hotter, water is evaporating like crazy and its overcast every other day or two here and always threatens to rain. it might sprinkle a little bit but it has only rained when we were sleeping so we haven't enjoyed it yet. 

One of the only things that we eat all the time here that I don't like I found out is ground up Sardines mixed with some kind of condiments... I still don't like it haha.

I want to finish off with putting something on here about a member who has really inspired me for this mission and the years to come after it. Her name is Delores and I may have mentioned her before but i want to talk about her again. She is at least 80 years old, practically blind, and wants nothing more than to go to church on Sunday and read the Book of Mormon. She cannot go to church because no taxis pass by her house and she doesn't have enough strength to hold onto a tricycle because she would have to go without her wheelchair. She also is missing a leg so she cannot walk. This week my new companion and I went to her and visited with her a little then started to read the Book of Mormon with her. I wanted to start reading the whole thing with her so she can at least enjoy hearing what the Book has written for us. After seeing her desire to go to Church and not being able to makes me think about all the times I didn't want to go to church or I felt a little crummy and didn't go. After teaching her all this time I am going to try my best to not miss church after my mission for anything but a really good reason. She is an example for me as a missionary and for all of us and it makes me so happy that she at least is having the sacrament brought to her on Sundays.

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

1. Bought a hammock and figured out where we can hang it

2. Watching my companion try and cross the bridge!

3. Being able to sleep through my companions horrendous coughing every night.

4. Getting a play by play from my dad at Gun training.

5. Watching the video of my companion trying to cross the bridge and laughing twice as hard every time we watch it!

I Am Officially a Missionary!

04/13/2015 - Week # 18

Ok so I was a missionary the whole time but now I am not in training anymore! The last 18 weeks of my Mission have all included some sort of training and today I am done with it until I get to train someone else! This week has been full of awesome and a little bit of disappointment. For starters transfers are super crazy. Its one of those transfers where a ton of people move and then the next one only a few changes happen. My companion is going to the Glory of Mision Tuxtla Gutierrez. A place that actually gets a little chilly. Its called San Cristobal. He won't be leaving until tomorrow morning so I get one more day with my Padre! Tomorrow will come my companion and his name is Elder Jarrett! (Ironic right) He is also blonde and very much American so hopefully we don't get taken pictures of too much! Haha! My District Leader Elder Schmidtlein is going to train so Elder Martinex is gone to Tapachula. Those are the only changes in our MiniZona haha. 

Last week was very great! We got our water fixed! The lady who owns our apartment (who is 72) showed up in the morning with a worker. The guy opened the only working faucet we have which we had been using to fill buckets so we could shower, flush the toilets, etc... and a ton of dirt and rocks came out. Then he tried to put it back on for 5 minutes and with all the water pressure he had an impossible time! He sprayed me, my companion, himself, and the Lady who owns our house a great deal of times and all the while the Señora was just laughing her head off. Every time he would get a little bit of traction on the faucet it would start spraying out the opening in a huge stream! My comp and I were laughing so hard! That same night I went and played volleyball with the members! It was so fun and I was soaked in sweat for the next 3 hours even though I only played for 30 minutes! I guess we aren't aloud to play sports without permission from the mission President... oops! We found 7 Investigators in one day and many of them were Escogidos (chosen or prepared). Saturday was the perfect day of work! We worked our tails off trying to get investigators to come to church and finish off our contacting goals.

We had one baptism too which was awesome because our Investigator Braulio has been waiting for baptism his whole life and gave the sweetest testimony after he finally got his greatest desire in his whole life! He also showed up 3 hours early and nobody was there and the baptismal font hadn't even been filled yet! Sunday came and after all our hard work we didn't end up getting enough investigators in Sacrament meeting so we didn't fulfill the Normals of Excellence. My comp and I were bummed but we are still really happy with how hard we worked for our last week together!

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

1. Braulio showing up 3 hours early for his Baptism

2. I ate some tacos Sunday Night and they were made from the Head of  a Pig! They were so good!!!

3. The man who came to fix our water and probably wasted more than he helped us get.

4.My training being over.

5. I got a Letter from Bishop Meyer and My little Brother Jarett that also had a plan of salvation kit in it!!!

Day at the Ruins 

Just another week in Paradise!

04/06/2015 - Week #17

I want to start off by saying that I will not be posting any pictures this week due to the fact that our usual roaming place to use computers has been closed for this day until further notice, and we have had to resort to a different computer plaza that is much slower which would make uploading pictures virtually impossible!

I hope that all of you if not most of you had the opportunity to watch Conference this week! I would also ask Shayla who will be posting this to add a link to watch the sessions of conference. Something I like to say to my investigators is how can you say that The Book of Mormon isn't true without reading it! Its like saying that my companion would probably steal your left shoe if you let him without even shaking his hand first! My point is you cannot say that what these spiritual men and women say is not true without at least watching part of it first! I challenge whoever has not seen them to watch these sessions because it could very well hold something that you have been waiting to hear your whole life! 

Now back to last week on P-day! The town mall has just opened a Burger King so naturally My comp and I went to check it out! It tasted almost exactly like Burger King in the USA, which reminds me how unspecial Burger King really is haha. I also found a place that sells Root Beer! Its not Dr. Pepper but it will do until I find it again. Earlier during the week we came home and started planning. All of a sudden he yells Triste Cuate! Which means like Sad friend but sounds and translates much better in Spanish. He stood up as a Scorpion a little bigger than the size of a credit card ran out of the room where we hang our towels and iron our shirts. I pulled out my knife to kill it but then I realized how fast those suckers are from the Man Vs. Wild educational show ( even if its fake you still learn stuff guys). After that I went and grabbed the house machete and killed it with that. Much Safer! I guess I am going to try to post a picture of the Scorpion if I remember haha!

We showed up to a lesson with an investigator who has had some issues with accepting a baptismal date. He started off the lesson with telling us that "Me voy a bautizar" which means Glory Glory Hallelujah! Oh wait, it means I'm going to be baptized haha. That means we will have possibly 3 baptisms this weekend!!!! Another great thing that happened is I got sick... I had been fine all morning and after we completed language study I decided to eat a bag of chokis which is the Mexican version of Chips ahoy. There is only 6 in the bag but I got a huge stomach ache afterwards. After struggling to work for about half the day I called my President and he gave us the day off and gave my Companion permission to go to the Pharmacy without me to get some medication. Don't worry though because I watched a movie and he went with a member.

That same night we found our water start to dwindle then disappear. We had no water and no way to get it! Or so we thought. We had Max come over( who has the hots for Megan Preston, Shayla´s best friend...wink wink...) He helped my companion lift an 8 gallon bucket of water from the house below us onto our patio which I used to take a shower and then my companion with a second bucket. I actually don't mind a bucket shower believe it or not! We still don't have water and have no signs of getting it back for a while...

I still dont have a money card because my zone leaders forgot to bring it to the last zone meeting. I guess I am lucky that my zone has rebelled because we are having another zone meeting tomorrow in the morning. I also figured out how my release date could possibly be changed. Normally I would be leaving at 6.30 am on Thanksgiving Morning of 2016. However the First Presidency could change my release date to Wednesday the day before! This ensures that I will only miss one Thanksgiving while on my mission! That is all I have for now! 

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

1. President Uchtdorf "accidentally" speaking German in conference then apologizing to President Monson.

2. Max decided to pour the water we had in our biggest bucket all over the bathroom floor! He was attempting to fill up the other buckets all the way but they definitely didn't need 8 gallons worth! 

3. President Eyring saying You will all stand and sing We thank the Oh God for  a Prophet after there were a few people who did not sustain President Monson during the Saturday Afternoon session.( they shouted no when opposition was asked for)

4. Getting interviewed with President George and him going on talking about things that aren't important to my Mission and realizing it after 5 minutes! i enjoyed it though because I learned something I didn't know before about how we treat those we have lost!

5. That I used a machete to kill this scorpion ( it was my first one ok and for all I knew it could kill me or make me loose a limb!)
 

Alacran ór scorpion 

General Conference Links:

Saturday Morning Session
Saturday Afternoon Session
Sunday Morning Session
Sunday Afternoon Session
General Priesthood Session

War of the Birds and Walking Dead‏

03/30/2015 - Week #16

We have had a really exciting week I guess you could say. It all started on Friday when we were on the way to Cabeza de Toro for our lunch appointment. There is a bridge on the way there and there was also a protest. Cars were lined up for a mile leading to this bridge and our taxi passed all of them until we couldn't drive anymore. We had to get out and walk the rest of the way and it took about 30 minutes extra. The protesters weren't letting walking people go through either! It made us both feel like the walking dead because of all the stopped cars that we had to weave through to get back to our route to Lunch!

I lost my voice this last week and It stank because I couldn't help my companion even though I am not much of a help really! Its back and I am once again failing at teaching haha, oK its not that bad but still.

I guess our zone this transfer has some rebellious Missionaries because we have had 3 zone meetings and are having another one this Friday!! Uh oh!!!

I am finally getting my money Card this week! I have been a missionary for almost 3 months here and have had to have my companion give me my money every month but Friday will end that!

A burger king just opened up in Tonola so we might go there tonight or some other time! There should also be a Dominos pizza opening too and we are pretty excited!

I heard from an investigator that there is a Motocross track in Tuxtla and I really want to ask my Mission President but I already know its going to be a no haha.

We are getting fed something called Mole and when its savory I really enjoy it but when its sweet I cant really stand it! Imagine enchiladas but sweet instead of spicy and awesome! Maybe I will get used to it who knows!

We had divisions this week and Elder Scmidtlein came here. He told me a story of his first area where this cat kept breaking into their house! He told me it was so bad that he bought a machete just to kill this cat. The cat won because he came home and it had pooped on his bed and peed on one of his shirts. Now hes here with his brand new machete haha.

Sunday was really awesome! We got a call from our zone leaders telling us to be at our church an hour early. We got there and waited like 20 minutes and then a truck arrived full of stuff the missionaries of this district have been asking for for a really long time! We got to go to each house and deliver all of these things and I felt like Santa Claus who is coming to my apartment this year I just know it!

I am really really really excited to watch conference this week and hear from the leaders of the Church! Mostly because I want to hear something like the missionary age change or of equal coolness like more temples! Elder Schmidtlein and I are also going to watch it in English in the Air conditioned office so it will be awesome!

Lastly, I want to explain the title of this email! So ever since I got here there have been Pigeons hanging around my house. We let them build a nest because we figured why not! Well when it had a baby it smelled so bad that we were done with it haha. We waited till the baby could fly and then shooed them out of the nest and I destroyed it. Well ever since they have tried to return and so when I see or hear them walking on our roof in the patio out back, which has chain link fence and then roof over the top by about 6 inches, I usually hit them in the butt with a broom but now I really like to fill a bowl of water and splash it on them! They still don't learn so I want to buy a sling shot in the near future!

5 Fun Moments of the Week:

1. Semana Santa is a Mexican Catholic traditional Holiday and so because It starts this week we are forbidden to do anything touristic. Its a really weird celebration and I would rather not explain anything about it.

2. We got a mirror in the package of goodies and I tried to use it to get an early warning when the birds were landing on the patio!

3. Today we were supposed to meet Max Fresa for Frapozol. He was late but another member found us there and bought us drinks instead and when Max got there we were too full to have another one!

4. Now that we are close to transfers everyone asks about it and I keep telling people that I am going to get my mission changed and I will go Chicago Spanish speaking hahahaha.

5. When we go on divisions we like to make up excuses as to why the normal missionary isn't with me. This week I told people that Elder Patricio had died or hit me during the night and got sent to the other branch to be straightened out by Elder Martinez! Nobody believed me for some reason...