Week 16 - Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Call from Mexico

This week, Elder Contreras and I have been working pretty hard, but this whole week has been kind of slow.

There's a family of a mom and her two daughters, and i think they all work together so that the oldest daughter can get married to Elder Contreras. They are always calling us, trying to set up noches de hogar, and then they don't invite any nonmembers. They try to spend time with Elder Contreras alone, which I can't allow, and they do pretty much whatever he wants. It's actually super annoying, because they never leave us alone, and the members in the ward have gotten on his case about it. We keep trying to shut them down, but they only get stronger. We are trying to figure out how to deal with this. There's a member lady who gets on their case and ours about it, and she's kindof harsh and gossippy. In fact, the lady and her two daughters said that they'd go inactive if families keep talking about them like that. It's a delicate situation. We'll get it figured out. We're on the verge of calling the mission president about it. 

This Saturday, we went to a baptism in Tlatenchi.  Elder Contreras climbed the ladder up to the water tower and saw an owl.  It turns out the owl was a momma with a nest full of babies.  Elder Contreras, not wanting to be deterred, took out his belt and tried to scare them away. Bad Idea. They got super angry and tried to attack him. From there, he surrendered and climbed back down. I told him it was a bad Idea, but he said he was a better man for it.

For Christmas Eve, we spent an hour at church, and spent a lot of time with the L family. they're a super cool family that has recently come back into activity in the church. They were having a party while we called home. It was fun, but we've been super tired today because of it. And today, we had some Ameyal with orange sticks, and made a Christmas toast, with all our goals and desires. 'Till next August, we said. By then, we'll be home, able to have normal christmas again. With some kind of snow and family. 

Family: I loved getting to talk to you guys, and hearing all about your lives and opportunities. I'm glad you were all there, and It was a great experience. Don't miss me too much. I'll call again in five months.

Be sure to have the Scott family send me some emails, too -even just to say hi. It's always good to get some emails.

Love you, Feliz Navidad!

Week 15 - Happy Birthday, Mom!

December 18, 2017

This week has been pretty cool. 

Last monday, we went to the Stake Center to play some games, and Elder Contreras Sprained his ankle really bad, and it was really hard for him to walk. We actually had to show up late for the district meeting.

I accidentally broke off his tail trying to catch him.

Tuesday and Wednesday, we met with two families that are super accepting of the Gospel. 1st, the Cruz family, who we've been meeting with for a while, and the Juárez family. With the Cruz family, they are truly an escogido family. They are super willing to do anything for the church. We didn't know what was going to be the deal breaker -- Chastity, Word of Wisdom, Tithing; but there was nothing. They are totally chill with everything, and their Kids are super nice, and welcoming for everything. With the Juarez family, they have little money, but really love learning the Gospel. They have 3 kids, but only one problem. They aren't married. We're working really hard to get them to be so, and praying for them to have more success in their buisnesses. I I pray for them a lot.

Thursday, was mom's birthday. And for her birthday, I got...My first Baptism. It was a little girl Ivanna. She was just missing some Church attendance, and she finally got it! She was Baptized by Elder Contreras, In knee-high water, because our Font ran out before it was full. It was a really good day!

Ivanna's baptism on December 14, 2017

Friday, Both Elder Contreras and I were super sick with congestion at night and Post nasal drip in the day. We took the day off to sleep.

Saturday, we had recovered and we had the Ward Christmas party. Mexico Church parties are awesome. There were piñatas and music, and tons opf people and Investigators. We had a great time, and got a couple pictures with members and investigators.

Sunday, there was a Posada. A posada is a weird mexi-catholic tradition where you walk with a candle down a road, singing about the Virgin Mary, and you go to someones house to ask if there is space for all the people walking and singing. Then, you just have a party. Piñatas, candies, and Ponche, and mexican tradtional drink with every fruit imagineable all in one. It was cool, but I got candle wax all over my pants, and we weren't allowed to take pictures of the posada, or even talk, unless it was about the virgin. (Until the party)

Us with the Elder's Quorum president and his family

The Bishop and his family

It was a cool week! 

I got all three of the packages you sent, and they made me really happy!  I love the calendar.  It's actually really nice, because I can write a lot of stuff in the squares.  The pictures made me miss Feridun a lot!

Week 12.5: "I'm 99% sure they robbed you because you're white."

(MOTHER'S NOTE:  I became aware of this little story two weeks after he emailed it to his dad, brother, and all of his friends.)

So, this is a story that, if you have any contact with my mother, you shouldn't tell her, because she'll freak, probably.

So we had arrived for the comida a half hour early, so we decided to sit and plan our day. We had been sitting there for five minutes, then two guys came up to us. I thought they were going to ask us about church, but instead, they pulled out a knife and stole our watches and money. We lost about 70 pesos plus two 100 peso watches. So yeah, we got robbed at Knifepoint. After this whole ordeal, I was pretty roughed up, and upset that there's nothing you can do about it. Elder Ortiz just said, 

"Honestly, I'm 99% sure they robbed you because you're white. They never would have just robbed me." 

So it was kinda a weird day. Just thought I'd tell you in case you thought that you wanted to be in mexico on Saturday, because you probably would have been robbed.

Apparently, we're the only ones for a long time that have been robbed, but, of course, it happened to me, in week 5.

I'm good though, don't worry. Just a fun experience that I thought youd want to hear about. 

¡Nos Vemos!

Week 14 - Divisions and Christmas

These ceramic skulls are called calaveres

So, this week I spent a lot of time in Cuerna. Monday, we spent a lot of time in centro, buying Little things, and going to the Tianguis there. I bought a jacket, because it gets cold in the morning, and at night. 

Tuesday, we had a visit with a family that's progressing really well. All the kids are 12 and under, and they're super cool. It makes me think about the Little kid I have back home, who always seemed super Young. To my sister: you're older than you seem.

Week 13 - Just a SOLID Week!

So, this week has been kind of uneventful, but very productive at the same time. We've been spending a lot more time Focusing our efforts. We have been working really efficiently this week. We have 9 péople with fecha bautismal, and our weeks are packed with investigators and lessons. We almost never have to plan time for finding because we have so many referrals from the Christmas Events, So we have a lot of contacting to do. We hardly have time to teach all the people sometimes. I know it won't always be this packed, but we're loving all the work. 

So, this change, I was a little nervous about getting a new companion. Elder Contreras is actually super cool. We are super focused, and we work very efficiently. He and I get along really well, and we work in similar ways. We both hate spending time doing nothing, we both play píano, and he's hyped by the thought of playing board games that are more difficult/fun than Sorry, Clue, or Monopoly. He's going to BYU, so there will be plenty of opportunities for game nights. I'm super excited for this change.   I think that Elder Contreras is exactly who I needed for my mission right now, and it feels good to work the missionary grind.  It feels good to be where I'm at.

We had to spend a lot of Saturday in Centro, because we didn't have enough time  to go home and do anything between our Christmas activities. So we went through the Tianguis in Morelos and picked out some cool stuff. We got some Ceramic Skulls, Magnets, and a dope Mayan-themed chess set. *shhh*  We've had a lot of fun with that one.

Also, sorry for no pictures. Computers here are trash sometimes.

Family: I'd probably expect a letter home in the next 2 weeks to 2 months. You never know with Mexico. If you want to send a package, put stickers of Jesus or The Virgin Mary on it. No one wants to steal from Jesus or the Virgin Mary.

I haven't seen a Christmas package yet.  For all I know, it's here. I just haven't been to the offices to pick it up.  We have district meetings there, though. Its the biggest perk of being in this zone!

Glad Trump was in Utah.  I see coverage of Trump all the time here, but I'm sure its a bit more negative here than there.  We play a game called "Trumpspotting" and the first person to spot Trump that day wins. It's actually quite fun.

If you could send me some covers or cases for my spanish Bible and Triple, that would be lovely. I don't want them getting destroyed in my bag.

That's all for now. I miss Christmas at home, but the time seems to go by pretty quick. I hit my 3 month point next week.

¡Gracias por Todos!