December 27

It was good to talk to everyone yesterday!!

We went ice skating at this out door skating rink with this
convert family that we baptised the 18 yr old girl like a month
ago, Bante, y elder Castillo and elder Winder. I out skated them
all, it was in town and it was free, I dont know if there was a
promotion or what.
The baptism was neat and I got to confirm Nelly. I was nervous
that I couldn’t’ do it well, but I got the espiritu santo so its
all good. I don’t know what is going to happen this week, the
weekend is going to be crazy for us for new years and waiting to
hear the changes and everything so ya.

Down here they have firecrackers on steroids and people are always
lighting them off in the nights and on Christmas eve night we couldn’t
sleep well cuz the locos were lighting them off all night. It is not a
bar across the street its a deposito where they drop off their 40oz
booz bottles and get refills and I’m pretty sure they vend more than
just booz, but they don”t play the drums so much these days.
but ya have fun,
be good and do what you all should
bye

December 13

Happy Birthday Heston, this is the shout out from Mexico!!! not quite as cool as Jake in stake conference maybe but here it is..And im super glad to hear that those fat cat tickets that I had worked so hard for have been put to use, one time I had to drink a pitcher of pop the fastest and almost threw up for a free bowling pass...Use them wisely and with great haste if they´re going to expire.. haha
Why don’t you send me a copy of jakes talk about preparing for the mission, I would like to read it. I would hope he follows what he spoke and be a hacedor de la palabra y no tan solamant a hearer, (james 1:5)

Maybe someone can go to fat cats and sell hot chocolate during this winter, its where the moneys at, ole Willey´s got it all wrong, da money is in the hot chocalate, not da shmall bails. (Inside Joke!!!)

We did splits this week with the zone leaders, Bante stayed in our area and one went with him and I with the other. It was fun to do something different, see new things, ride the bikes around town and such and there’s going to be more within our district cuz Bante is district leader.
The 23 president Call and Hna are going to come to Victoria and we’re going to have our Christmas dinner, I’m excited for that. I don’t know which day I’ll call home, cuz were planning on baptizing te 25 and if we do, were going to call home the 24 or 26 so that we don’t have to worry about it the same day we got to prepare for baptisms.

Well I had lost 20lbs in the first change, I don’t know where I’m at now, I eat enough and I’ve been trying to work out but its ruff.
love you all have fun and be good

December 6

Yes we were able to watch the Christmas devotional, and guess who I saw on the big screen? our beloved ward member, mormon tabernacle choir member, daughter wayne and carolyn jipson, Melanie Wilcox!!!! can you believe that? like 3 times I saw her....one of my buddies from our generation Elder Willmore was at the meeting with us and told me his ex girlfriend was playing a musical instrument and he saw her hahah small world. With conference and this thing, the stuff the church broadcasts, the members all go to the stake center to watch the broadcast.


One night we got done with a appt. and we were gong to say hi to someone when all of a sudden we hear running and turn to see a man running at us and then stopped and he was moaning wait wait wait... disculpen disculpen and was almost crying and puffing. It was a guy we taught the week before and haven’t seen since and he was saying that he wants to be like us and change and kept repeating ´´ando borracho, ando borracho´´ but he was saying alot of things but couldn’t really get it out cuz he felt bad cuz he was andando borracho... so we were calming him down and walked back to his house which was almost 100yds away and passed by the next day and he was drunk again and didn’t want to talk to us cuz he feels bad and ashamed,

Things were pretty good this week, our ward mission leader is pushing the work with the bishop and the members mas. Pres. de estaca came by last week to tell all the members that they need to work more with the missionaries and he´s pushing it too... the members seem to be more enthusiastic about helping us so that’s great.
We had a guy stop us one night to tell us he wants us to pass by his house, but he´s not around much, he´s always working so he told us if hes not home his wife is so we could pass by sometime. He didn’t know his address and pointed us in the direction and said the color of the house is baaige.... so we searched a few times, made some contacts trying to find him and then Saturday a cita fell and our respalda fell so we started searching for him, we asked a guy in one of the streets we selected and he said he thinks he knows the guy were looking for and he lives in the house down the street, so we passed by, no one was home and it was a house completely different then the color we thought...but the neighbors house fit the description so we contacted and out came a lady in her late 20´s maybe early 30´s she´s divorced and we taught her. We invited her to go to the church the next morning and she accepted it without hesitation so the next morning we passed by and she was getting her 5 yr and 3 yr old ready and we were a little behind schedule and she was worrying about that and ended up paying for us the micro and when we were fighting her about paying she kept saying that she made us late lalalala ... long story short, it was awesome that by small means, by following one path it lead to finding a different person who at this point appears very ready to come unto Christ through receiving the restored gospel..

And with Jake, I’m pretty sure that maybe I have hit 4 or 5 ducks in my whole career haha but not any more haha I never was all that hot out there in the lake, but its cuz I never had the beneli out there, you have to use benelis that have camoflauge, yep that’s my excuse. and if you should start reading the book of mormon and read like 3 times before you graduate so you’ll be ready for the mission.
Well love you all work hard and remember your lord
bye

Baptisms of Ericka, family Vecinos, Miguel Angel DeLeon Carbajal

Elder Bante in front of a neighboring church-they use the same picture of Christ.

Jorge Enrique, 15 year old nephew of Sara, he was OK to be confirmed if everyone in attendance closed their eyes!

Sam and Elder Rivera their former district leader.

Thanksgiving!

Well it is great to hear about West Weber and home. I had an orange for my Thanksgiving dinner. Yep me and Elder Cook both ate one orange a piece, it was a celebration. Elder Bante went to Tampico for another training thing and I was with Elder Cook and his new comp Elder Hernandez for two days. It was fun. It was fun to joke about our marvelous Thanksgiving dinner we had at his appt. hahah. la verdad I really don’t eat dinner at nights cuz the lunch is at 2 and I always eat alot there and sometimes I have problems sleeping if I eat at night.

Enrique is changing alot, he can’t wait when we come by now, hes´reading the BOM more and more and has told his family he wants to be a prophet. His changing has really worked on his mom and now she´s been seeing him and wants the change in her life and has mentioned she wants to be baptized before the new year.

Last Tuesday we were contacting in the night and came across a guy and he didn’t want anything to do with us and said he had to leave and then we asked him if we could do anything for him and he wanted us to come in and pray for his friend that got injured during the week...that was the worst move he could have made, he set him self up for a trap. That’s about what it is, sometimes people set themselves up for traps for misioneros like sitting outside or replying back buenas dias when we say it to them ..ahaha - but after Bante said a prayer I stood up and sat on his couch and started preaching to him without allowing him to say no and we ended up giving the lesson to him and we’re going to go back to check out his reading. I love doing random stuff like the time we were waiting for the bus and I wasn’t thinking and just started playing soccer with random ninos and now everytime we walk by they want me to play with them.
Well have fun love you all.
Bye

November 22

So this is how it goes....our changes are that we don’t have changes. But my comp is going to be District leader so I guess you could call me the assistant regional manger district leader...haha.,, We just had 3 baptisms this weekend, Ericka is 18 and her family was baptized 9 de Octubre con nuestra familia Sara y Rosario, but Ericka wasn’t baptized, her and her family have had all the lessons and they live on the other side of barrio 5 that wasn’t originally our area until Elder Castillo se fue... so we started this week to teach her and told her to be baptized and she first was hesitant and her reason was literally cuz she´s afraid of water. But she’s a member now. The family is vecinos and amigos del obispo and he baptized her. I baptized Miguel Angel De Leon Carbajal, he´s 11. The mom has been a member for some time and was menos activo but been going to church for two months now and she´s wanted to have her boy baptized so we taught him all the lessons in two visits and baptized him. In the mission kids like him are called niños magicos. And Jorge Enrique is 15 and is nieto de Sara, our family that we´ve adopted as our own. He´s really shy and timid with people he doesn’t know and told us only 5 people could be at his baptism and when he complained that all the people at the church would see him be confirmed Bante le dijó that all the people will have to close their eyes for the prayer so they won’t see anything ahahah. We almost lost hope with him, but he pulled through. He´s changed a lot, he talks more now and is happier.

Well love you all have fun and be good.

November 15

We had zone conference on Friday so I just barely got a hundred
dear elders from home, mostly copies of Tucker’s mission in the
MTC I am glad that he made it to our land! I got some ward
missionary updates, that was the best, thank Stephanie Storey
for that. It was great to hear about the others in the field, Chase
Austin Loren and Paul.

The life has been a lot better. We had a good district meeting last
week sobre two discursos de Elder Bednar about the Fè and we´ve
been changing some things to be more faithful and demonstrating
the faith and what not. Then Friday we had zone conference and
saw President and Sister Call and I got my money back for the
water bill I had to pay a month ago and things seem to be going great.

Ya, I’ve kind of missed the concept of going skiing, but it
is still pretty nice not to worry about being cold, in the nights it
gets chilly and I have to use blankets. The sun starts to go down at
six here and by 6:30 it is dark. That is good for Levi being the ward
mission leader. I would want to be that when I get home. Hopefully
he works a bit better there than what goes down here. We have
Juan Perro who always tells us that they are working hard and
have this new system to work in the ward and there are members
willing to work with us and what not but en verdad we haven’t
seen much of his talk happen.

Sister Call said that they´re going to have mission dinners in
Tampico for Navidad. and this is the last week of this transfer,
Elder Bante or I will be leaving. I met Elder Goff from Nevada
somewhere by Mesquite, he said that you talked with his
family or something like that.. he´s pretty cool. Well have fun
be good love you all thanks
for writing me
bye

Another Great Week!

Ya things do seem to go by quicker every week. We have this week
and one more until the exchanges. More than likely one of us is
going to go and one is going to stay. It would be nice to change
and start fresh in an area but I don’t want to leave some of the
people like our little grandma Sara and her family, I want to see
them all change. Its a toss up, I´m really not worried about it
I´m down fo whateva, I got my berreta and bought a new sweater.
It’s been pretty cold in the mornings and chills down a little in
the nights. Some days are worse than others but overall its still
hot during the day.

I kind of really stick out like a sore thumb. And I´m pretty famous
by now, particularly in this one street. Something to know is that
there´s always kids in the streets running around and in this one
street, at one end the kids call me John Cena so I make the hand
gestures of John Cena and the kids eat it up. At the other
end of the street the kids call me English teacher cuz when we wait
for their parents to come out of the house they ask me to teach them.
Thursday nights some ward members get to together and play
volleyball and missionaries can go if they bring investigators, so
we usually try. But this week we showed up with some earlier and
played thoccer before volleyball started and I dominated on them.
I beat them at their own game and afterwards my comp told me
that I´m a train. where we play is a small cement basketball court
and under the hoops is the soccer goal, its how they roll down here,
cement basketball court, soccer field, volleyball court all in one.

Our third comp got special transfers to Tampico until he receives his
gringo comp.

We have a pretty cool reference that we’re looking forward to.
We were on a micro one day that we´ve never had to go to the
comida and noticed that an Hermana in the ward was on and
began talking with her when out of no where a lady next to us
que tiene 30 anos mas o menos con un bebe that looked about
1 and a half old began slunching over and she started having a
seizure. The bus driver stopped and asked what was happening
and after 1 min he began his course through the city while the
lady was still having a seizure and people looked at her
and then went back to sitting and talking. No body was helping the
situation but the Hermana and us. Bante took the baby that was
screaming his lungs out and the Hermana was telling what to
do to help her help the woman. It was crazy. then after a while
of her having the attacks she stopped and was limp and dang
near was acting dead had it not been for stomach moving gasping
for air. Then the driver finally decided to stop and we searched for
identifications numbers and called the ambulance but only after
10 to 15 minutes of a baby screaming and woman having a seizure.
After a while she came to conscious but was lost you could see it
in her eyes and she could move more than her head. We gave her
a blessing and after a little while began coming back together in her
head and the by the time the ambulance showed up she was able
to walk and climb in and they took her and the baby. It was crazy
and it really upset us that no one else on the bus was
worried about it and the bus driver kept driving and some chavos in
the back were laughing. The Lord put the Hermana and us in the
position for that to happen that she could live. But it felt good to
use the priesthood in a time when it was needed and to be ready to
serve.

Well love you all, I just opened up some raman noodle soup
last night with peanut butter crackers and I loved it. Have fun
talk to you later!

Water again!

Yep tengo dos meses in mexico and 4 en la mison. My trainer Elder Bante only has around 11 meses but I´m thinking one of us is going to go this next transfer, 20 ish of November. We get along pretty well, Its just been ruff cuz we´ve had alot of appts fall through baptisms fall through and the investigators not doing their part. Our 3rd companion is suppose to train a a gringo but the batch that was suppose to arrive almost a month ago has been held back due to visa problems. We just got the call today that he´s going to be shipped off to Tampico hasta athe gringos show up. Ya things just seem down sometimes with the investigators that we think are good one´s and the appt falls or they´re doing crappy no sé.

¨But ya, Baptism with the priesthood authority is important... . ´Read 3 nefi 11:33-34 and see what it has to say about that. Speaking of which, last night in an appt. with this family we¨Ve worked alot with we were flipping through the scriptures for something and one of the girls that’s 17 with kid and married opened up to that and read that scripture instead of the alma scripture everyone else was on and we were like well ya that is very important but turn this other page. Then at the end of the lesson she told us she doesn’t know if she wants to be baptized and later she was suppose to say the prayer and after she said ´´father in heaven thank thee¨´ she burst out in tears bawling and couldn’t finish it. It was one of those moments we were pretty sure the spirit hit her.

This week was a roller coaster ride. We had some High´s and sufficient Lows. Ya I´m eating enough. I´m going to start working out again, I got into the habit of not doing it and one day I looked at a picture of my self before the mission on my camera and started coveting myself, I wonder if that is breaking the tenth commandment. We just got the water back Wednesday, we went a week with out it so now we can wash. I was thankful to have the water that’s not good to drink, but okay to shower in, okay to wash food in and ok if you mix drink packets in it to drink ahaha.
There´s 5 steps in the gospel of Jesus Christ and without one your not going to be happy with the end results. There´s a power within the Book of Mormon that changes people, I’ve already seen that with myself and the chosen investigators. But yeah Love you all, have fun and be good.

Oct. 25, 2010

Pues...Last monday President and Hermana Call came to our district
meeting and brought the package and the letter Levi sent when I was in the MTC. It felt like Christmas to see all the granola bars and smashed pop tarts and a real jar of peanut butter, all you can find down here are the size of those small nutella jars. Oh and those homeade cookies were awesome, I shared some with our members we rent from and my JW friend across the street. And it was nice to read Levi´s note sin embargo I think he tried to write in spanish cuz it aint english. haha . You know I love my family with all my heart, but it’s kind of nice to hear from other people also. You know mix things up, variety is the spice of life as Pres. Craig Allen Saunders says.

But ya President y Hermana Call are awesome. District meeting was
awesome and the next day president had interviews at the stake center. Hermana Call bought a bunch of us that were there pillows because all of ours are nasty yellow colors, and she bought me some creme stuff for my rash that I’ve had on my arm for a while. And I’ve talked with her a few more times this week cuz Elder Bante got stung on his knuckles by a wasp that is twice the size of the ones in Utah and the next day his hand swelled up and he couldn’t close his fist so I had talk with her and describe the situations to see what medicine and stuff he needed, but he’s ok now.

Thats great about Tucker, so is his comp a gringo, and if Mark took my Vince Neil outfit he better rock it hard!! haha
The week wasn’t any easier, but we did teach more so it felt better,
But we’ve got some good lessons in, basically all our baptisms dates and investigators fell, all. It was weird every person had a differnt reason and we´ll try to help them out but its like a huge sign to drop some and find new people that are ready to harvest.
oh and we didn’t pay the water bill a while back so they cut our water this week and we´ve had to walk to the other missionary house every morning to do the 3 S´s and return home at night to no water. But we paid the bill Friday and their suppose to put it in today.

Well all is well we´re carrying on, and working better togther and
stuff. I feel the language is getting a little better so all is fun.
We were graced with the opportunity to listen to the borrachos play
their drums across the street last night for the 5th week in a row
ahaha bye

A fast week!

Well hey there
This week seemed pretty fast, and not looking so promising, we had a
bunch of appt.s fall through, appts that were with some of our key
investigators we´ve been working with. It was frustrating but we move
onward ever onward.
The other companionship split last week and the mexican companero is
going to be a trainer and is waiting for his Gringo verde to show up
and has been with us the past week. we're in a threesome until his comp
makes it into Mexico. It's been hard with that concept as well as
having a threesome and then plus all his investigators and finding
someone in the ward to go on splits with him.

There´s a Jehova Witness guy that lives across the street from us that
has lived in the states a while ago and knows ingles pretty well that
always waves and talks to me when he see´s us or when we wait for the
bus and we´ve been friends the past 5 weeks, every morning he´ll wave
or yell "good morning brother¨ at me... he´s in his later 20´s of
age, about like Brock and started to tell me this past weekend about
girl problems he has and then the next morning we went running with
him at 6:30. We taught him the first lesson at 11:30. It actually
went pretty well, we broke one oath of the Gadianton Robbers-J.W.
edition and we started the lesson with a prayer and ended it with him
saying the prayer according to the true steps of saying it. But what is
funny about that is when we were talking about prophets and stuff and
he wasn´t quite giving in to it he gave me a J.W. handbook called
¨Reasoning with the Scriptures¨ and it has definitions about whatever
topic and he showed me definitions of prophets and then above it was
information about prayer that says don't say prayers with others, all
over the place and we broke that for him. He showed interest in
the libro de mormon so we´ll see, it was interestiing since then we´ve
been discussing ways of combat the bible with him if he gives us grief
ahaha but ya

We´re alive, doing well and I got my haircut to day and I'm feeling fresh!

Mission Life is Sweet

That´s great about Tucker, he´s going to do great, I think I left the mtc a little over confident with my communication abilities cuz when I got here I knew nothing that the mexican folks were mumbling, because they mumble, in the mtc you learn proper, clear spanish and that’s not how people talk. But he´ll do great, Its a shock at first but what do you expect going into a new country. I´ve heard better things about Tucker’s mission than I´ve heard of mine and the area I´m in, I guess its cooler there in temperature than mine, but things have cooled down a bit, or I’m just getting used to it, probably both, it only seems like 110 degrees lately.

This week went by fast, we´re getting in a lot of work which is good. We had to shove all of lesson 4 "the commandments" in for Sara and Rosario in 3 lessons I do believe so they could be baptized this week. The other companionship in the ward had two baptisms as well, a couple that they´ve been working with for like 3 months so we had 4 in the barrio. It was so nice to see our first fruits that we planted to be harvested. Sara and Rosario are part of the first family that we found my first day here, Sara is awesome and has absorbed and followed everything we´ve taught the past few weeks...I grew extra love for her when I put 2 and 2 together and figured out she´s old and has the same name as my great grandmother so yeah. I baptized Sara and Bante did Rosario. The rest of that family that has been listening to the discussions we´re planning on working with alot this next change, ya ive been here for a whole change and am no longer new, still green but aint new. haha the day of the baptism after lunch some old woman hollered at us cuz her 19 yr old grandaughter that has 3 childeren was suffering some pain in her body for the past two hours and wanted us to do something. We gave her a blessing and left with her still crying and came back little while later and she was asleep, so we figured she was ok, were going to come back and kick Gaudalupe Maria out of their house and bring them unto christ.

Were working a lot better and doing good and were together for another transfer so its good were doing better. And I probably wont see any mail or package til the next transfer unless I get called to Tampico for and interview in the next 6 weeks so one or the other. Oh here we go, the dinky sewing kit I brought has come n handy for a pair of pants and a tie, I was never taught how to use it (disclaimer from mother-my son would not sit down for a minute to try!) but I´ve seen the Vet sew up a few cow´s before so I just followed his example, a pair of pants, a cows stomach, I figured the strategy of doing so is about the same, and its worked so I’m happy.

I had a dream that I entered a fight tournament back home and I seen alot of kids from high school wrestling and the tournament was at UVU and I fought Mike Tyson and knocked him out in 8 seconds so I advanced the next round, and I was worried about making weight and then when I saw the brackets I was feeling sick because the tournament was every weekend until championships at the end of the month and I knew the week I would be in Mexico so I was going to have to quit the tournament ahaha crazy dreams in the mission!! Love you bye

Welcome to Mexico! The baptism of Claudio Aldair Charles Lara, and meeting in the mission home.

Sam and his MTC instructors

Time los tres Gringocomapneros were juntos

Well I´m an official legal immigrant in the Country of Mexico.. Tuesday we got up at 5 and ran out the door without food to the bus station cuz my comp was going to a learning thing for the week in Tampico and all except a few of the missionaries of my generation went to Tampico and finished the documents to legalize us to be here. The visas we recieved to get here were only like six month ones and so with this past Tuesday we have more time to be here amongst the lamanitas. After we got the papers done the assitants took us to Little Caesars and I dont think I have ever been as excited to feast on the 5 dollar pizzas in my life, with un buen de coke. It was great and then we came back and Elder Cook and I were teamed up with another Gringo that has one change more than us, Elder Gonsalves(he´s tall skinny and white, his grandpa or someone is part portugese and thats why his name seems mexican) and long story short we had a good ole` time. We walked alot, talked alot in English and some how pulled it off what I think on top... one day we walked nonstop for a menos two hours up and down hills in Elder Cooks area because between not being able to find his appts. and come to find out they really didnt have appts in the first place... it was fun. But it's good that our comps came back Friday night so we can really get back to work.. this week seemed slow cuz between traveling places and then the conference and what not.
I just got a dear elder and a card from mom that Maisie and Valorie wrote on. When my comp returned from Tamp. Friday night, it was nice to hear from the 3. I especially loved hearing about Austins first week in Peru, in jail.hahaha thats awesome.

And Ya seeing that we as missionaries are priesthood holders..they didn´t find it expedient that we watch the relief society session.. But ya I really enjoyed all of conference. They had a special room for the Gringos in the stake center to watch the sessions in English, it was great. Ya conference reaffirmed some beliefs i have about video games being a waste of time, and I loved to hear that talk about the bloated cow that died and see those pictures... someone commented about how the guy said that she thought ´"you stupid cow" and I had to assure him that that kind of remark is very subtle compared to what is a general reply when something like that happens. It was great to listen and sing in English and absorb all of that that our leaders had to say. We needed a few our investigators to hear Dallin H Oaks spell it out the importance of the priesthood and personal prayer, i loved it.

During the Time los tres Gringocomapneros were juntos we taught mostly my investigators cuz I was the only one with appts pretty much and we have a really old lady name Josefina that reminds me of Great Grandma Sara, she cant read or see all too great, and has enjoyed listening to "la palabra de Dios" and after one appt that we committed her to pray about jose smith the next appt she told us that she got in a fight with her son thats all against mormonism and she said she wants to hear us cuz she had a spiritual experience and all her life she has pushed away this kind of stuff but now she´s accepting, we´ll see what happens.. We have this frito family weve been seeing like once a week, but the 19 yr old kid started reading the book of mormon randomly cuz he´s never been in on the lessons. He started from the begining with the introduction and testimonies and started following the precepts and changing without thinking about it, he´s read up to like nefi ch4 ish and said nefi cut off labans head and he´s eased up on drinking cuz he´s usually like laban and is kind of scared or something haha

Well things are alright, the new month started and we recieve money for food. We have a baptism this Saturday with Sara, the grandma of our first family, she´s been going to church every Sunday and is pretty determined to be baptized, she´s loved everything about us coming over and gong to church and conference and everything. and last night we put the fecha for her daughter thats closest to being able to be baptized, but for the end of the month. but ya its fun
So whats the info on Brock the 30 yr old and let me know when Tuck gets off.
Love you all

First baptism

We had a Elder De Hoya, of the 70 come in and talk to us, him and his wife and pres Call and wife. It was mostly in spanish, the quourom of 70 is spanish and Hna. Call did her best to hablar la idioma. it was fun. There´s 3 of us from my mtc district in our zone, Elder Willmore, Elder Cook, and I so i got to see them. Elder Cook is in our District so I talk to him at least once a week at meetings.
Ya, we finally had our baptisms on Tuesday and they were confirmed yesterday. I baptized an 11 yr old boy Claudio Aldair Charles Lara and my compa baptized the prima que tiene 9 anos... it was great haha I wish you all could have seen it... I kind of thrusted him with the left hand and then had to scoop him out and dang near baptized myself in the process!! It was great. His name was almost harder to remember than the baptismal prayer and is almost the same amount of words. The two kids live with their grandma and she decided a little while ago she wanted them baptized so got a hold of the missionaries who were before us in the area and they started teaching and we got to reap the harvest... We have 4 fechas for the oct. 9. 3 from our first family we found and taught the first day we arrived and 1 other we´ve taught a few times.
When you serve a mission you end up meeting all kinds of people, one really old lady we´ve taught told us when we taught the first lesson that she remembers what happened to the apostles of Jesus... That those bad people that drive around shot every last one of the Apostles after la muerte de Jesucristo.. Another visit she told us she believes everything we say.. She´s about to the point were she´s losing it, poor Maria de Jesus....We taught a normal guy and a 92 yr old guy a few weeks ago, it was hillarious. we would teach and the old guy would ramble off something the whole time, like ´"cuando tenía 40 anos, tuvé un maestro...me enseñó cada cosa sobre Jesucristo´"....Alright Paco,....Great insights haha
idk, we got to do something about transportation, it costs too much money.. you could ship me my truck with the next package , it would be great help down here!!!

From Tuesday to i think Saturday Elder Cook and I are going to be comps cuz his comp and mine are going to Tampico for something haahah a two gringos that have 3 or 4 weeks in the field toghether!!! its going to be fun.. fun to see how it works out and to be comps again for a few days hahaha we have alot of citas for those days in my area tooo haha How is Tucker, and Austin and Chase and whoever else. Maybe you could get me the email of Tucker since he´s my family idk thanks for the love, bye

No hurricane

So you asked about the hurricane, I'm closer to Monterey than Veracruz, but ya its been raining alot lately. like alot. every day. its really wet.
Things are okay, I´m pretty used to Mexico. We get alot of first lessons in and sometimes the time that they say to come back they're not there or sometimes the tv is on and you can hear people in the house and they don't come out.
We´ve been on huge rations lately,, weve spent alot of money on investigators for buses and what not to get them to church and stuff and have had to use our food money for that stuff. It's all worth it in the end if end up bringing people to Christ.

I haven't eaten chips and salsa once, it would be nice. Most of the meals are rice, beans, maybe meat mixture if were lucky or potatoes on a plate and then a stack of tortillas and put the stuff in the tortillas in little buritos or roll up the tortillas and eat it weird, i dont know its about the same every day. Usually they have salsa which to them is like tobasco sauce , not any chunks of tomato, its either red or green sauce about as spicy as Betos or the taco venders in town and looks about the same and if the food looks funny I just cover it in the sauce so I don't taste anything but the hot sauce and I figure its so dang hot that it kills the bugs or whatever it is that make s you sick. Occasionally I'll have a coke to kill the bad stuff too. You just learn to eat as much as possible at the meals cuz theres not much at night to eat. i have 'A' bowl of cereal and cut up banana every morning then the comida at 2 and maybe an apple when were back at the house at night.

I'm baptizing an 11yr old tomorrow night, why Tuesday? I dont know the dad is weird. Their family is inactive the dad is a return missionary but really inactive. The kid lives with his grandma and she decided a while ago she wants her grandkids baptized and so the missionaries in the area before us worked with them, and we have as well since we´ve been here but now we get to reap the harvest.

Our investigators that have been the best, we´ve figured out a little better their concerns, we have 2 fechas for Oct 2... but one hasn't been to church so idk.
But ya, things are busy, its just another day in Mexico.
We live above a the business of a member in the upstairs of the building. It's a busy main road out in front with a beer station across the streets. Some nights things are loud over there but its just another day in the neighborgood. and there is a guy that lives next to the beer station that lived in the states for a while and knows english, not great but good and he likes to talk to me in english. Then the beer owner yells at us no entendi entendi hable en espanol.... haha
well have fun, good luck with football Heston and Jake, tear er' up
Love all

Well hi

Ya, I´m in Mexico. Sometimes I forget and don´t believe it too, THAT IS, until we talk with someone and I don't understand the conversation, ride on one of buses, when i´m the only white person around and someone hollers ´´Gringo blah blah blah something´´ at me, when i think it seems about right to have a Mtn. Dew or some real food like some steak and double mashed potatos, or when its 150 degrees outside. so yep, i´m in Mexico. but its alright, i like it down here i like the food Mama Galletas make us and if I don´t then I cover it in hot sauce and then all I have to worry about is my mouth catching on fire. haha

Happy to hear the news from home, it all seems so foreign to this life.Too bad I´m not around for all the highschooler´s drama ahahaa i can´t believe your kids are all grown up big teenagers now! and The dog dont got nobody to follow around the neighborhood that is why he don't roam freely ´na moh´ haha. As much hatred as I had towards him, All the ugly nasty mutts down here would make me appreciate to see ole Walker otra vez.

We have a few ward members that are awesome, we don´t know many ahora but the one´s we know are great, and have helped out with driving our investigators to and from church, activities, etc. We have two progressing families with 5+ in each, I´m not so sure on the numbers, one of them has some kids one is 8 and the others are younger, they love us its fun when we go over there, we showed them the Testaments movie last time and they all loved it. Ward members kids and Investigator's kids like to talk to us and I never know what they say so I just smile and say sí. We get alot of first leccions in but few people on the return even though it is a scheduled day that they can make it, a lot of times they have ´´something going on´´.

I got my haircut today, I think it looks alright, she was razoring my neck and cut me and waited to the end to tell me, like I didn't feel it. One of my shirts now has a nasty stain on it But yeah all is well down here, I cant wait to hear conference to go in the special room for the gringos and listen to it in English. We´re working every day, I´m glad my comp is good. , Sometimes things feel like an eternity and sometimes it seems like I blinked my eyes and i just got off the airplane. But yea, take care and talk with you next week. Love

First P-Day

This is crazy!! haha its crazy hot hard and fun. Senior sol pounds on you all day. its hot!!
Todos sit out on the side walks, roads, sidewalks, or porch depending on what they have but hay siempre someone sitting out especially after seven at night when it cools down just a little bit so they basically set themselves up for missionaries! First contact, first night, pretty close to our house, we came across a grandma,Sera, a mom,Neli, and few kids and started talking and teaching the first lesson, then the mom´s sister,Maria,and Maria´s husband Martin showed up half way through and by the end you just know they were feeling it, even the kids were intently listening to it, it was awesome. We gave them a Libro de Mormon and a folleta and the mom, Neli prayed at the end. The next visit another one of the sisters, Fransesca, came and She talked alot and had a concerened look the whole time and all I could pick up was a few words and i thought she was contending with Elder Bante the whole time, then it started raining so we went inside and talked a while they were tearing up a bit, it was another powerful lesson and at the end we gave a book to each of the sisters so they could read it. We invited them to come to stake conference Saturday cuz Neli works sundays. Despues I asked my comp if they kept the commitments and what was going on with this fransesca what her concerns were and he said no because Fransesca stole the book from Neli to read it cuz she´s been wanting to find a change in her life and after hearing that we taught them before wanted to read the book. He was laughing at me cuz it was going completely opposite of what I thought it was!! And he said Neli told him that she´s always thought the missionaries were handsome but they never stopped and talked with them.
They came to stake conference session with us saturday night all 8 or nine of them however many there is, and enjoyed it. Then sunday session The grandma Sera was there with two kids, We were so excited for them. We have another lesson tonight with them all.
After we ate at the ward misson leaders house and had hamburgers, first time i had eaten something besides tortillas, bannanas and apples in a week. Then we went contacting and came across a wome who first denied us then Bante kept askin stuff and she let us in and we were there like an hour and she wants us back to know more.
We´ve had quite a few lessons and totalled up i think we have 13 investigadores this week 8 progressin and the rest their 2nd appt is this week. Its crazy Elder Bante said his past areas have been rough that most people reject you at the door but for most part most people are open and down to listen to us and Bante does something to make them feel the spirit. I think most people wonder what the Gringos doing in mexico then end up listening to him and want more, i think, its funny.
Haha everyone stairs at me, its funny, yesterday alot of jovens and drunk guys were yelling gringo this gringo that and Bante just tells me there all bad words haha its fun.
Ya things are grody and not clean and i don't like it but have to do it and get over it, we work hard enough by the time we get home at night i don't care how grody the house and beds are I just sleep so its all good. The buses are crazy and everything is. There is no defensive driving in Mexico. The buses shoot the gaps in the road that you would think a car is driving recklous in america haha its fun.
This place is crazy dangerous with cetas crazy and fun, its awesome to get good messages in. Ward members we meet love us already and the niños all try to talk with me then when I can´t reply they get frustrated and run away, its funny. It´s all fun down here. We have 4 missionaries in the ward and our area is huge. Bante says its lots bigger then his past areas.

News from Mexico!

Hola para Mexico familia!!
Wow its different here. Of course you all could assume that, but its different than how different you think it should be! primero item of business, I've only ridin a few times now cuz our area is so big but I just wish all you could experience riding on the buses, its very interesting. Its a cross between how grandpa used to pull out of the fields with a load of hay crossed with a video game in real life and the air'boats skills. esta bien. It so fun riding them, the driver punches the gas hard, and whips around corners, literally does not wait for people to get on and off and just goes like a bat out of you know where... and its crammed packed with the people. Its funny i just laugh the whole time cuz its so scrappy. We have alot at home compared to this, basic things like drinkable running water, not mice, not cockRoaches, a clean house. So far the best way to describe it is simply scrappy. haha its fun. So dang hot too. Today is the first day i'm really out and about. The first day we got in at night, took some pics at some immigration place, ate dinner , did some get to know yous and off to bed. Next day was all orientation stuff, divied out compañeros and took the bus on a 4 hour trip to Victoria, the capital of the state. It was a good bus one of those big charter ones, but the ones that whip around town with no route are the fun ones. On the 4 hour bus ride i talked with some guy in mixed spanish-english we both spoke enough of one or the other to talk. he was going to montery, He said he was catolica and but had a mormon primo at first so i just decided to chat with him about whatever for the whole time on the ride to make him think missionaries are cool and not only out to get people(which we are haha) it took me most the time just talking with him about other stuff and then at the end I turned the topic into the gospel and how it could benefit him and gave him a libro de mormon that i had bought at the mtc, he accepted it and said he would read it to learn more about his cousins religion. I got his name and email and he's got my missionary one so I'm going to give it to the missionaries in Montery. my first missionary experience in the field!

Our jet to Tampico was small and clostrophobic, i think i got motion sickness after 9 weeks of mtc life not moving anywhere to going fast in an airplane killed me.
i just got fed by some familia in the barrio, i think we get fed every day at 2 oclock but don't know for sure its todavia my 2nd day or 3. Our house is scrappy as all get out, its above some business and the stairs to get there are more like ladders through a tunnel, we barely got our luggage up them last night. You know you can't expect a 5 star apartment in mexico, but ours is bad enought they might switch us somewhere else LOL its fun, i hate the ants that are everywhere and how grody the bathroom is but thats mexico, do what you can and what you cant get used to haha
My companero is a native from Ohaca, somewhere down south. Ya he doesn't speak much english but its good. I thought my skillz were ok til I got here and they speak so fast. I just have to laugh how much i can relate to Grandpas testimony about landing in Denmark, wonderin what the heck I got my self into and what language they taught me. everything is funny and fun. a big eye opener pero esta bien my comp is great he's helped me with alot. there is another companion ship that has helped us get familiar with the area and one of them is from colorado and has helped explain how things go
and wow its hot, my comp that lives in a differnt part of mexico thats hot says this area is really hot haha

My president is cool, they're taking care of us
and our visas that they got us in the country with is the new program they{re starting, they're like temporary visas for 6 months until the really permant missionary visas come through i guess thats what one of the lideres said.
but ya its mexico scrappy, yet cool and fun
we taught the niños at the house we ate at, they are members, one of them is getting baptized soon and my comp wanted us to practise the first lesson with them so we did. those kids are so friendly they were all over us and trying to talk with me i felt inferior to 9 yr olds saying ''no entiende?'' haha Yep i dont know much spanish yet haha i stick out like sore thumb everyone gazes at us its awesome! my comp told me I'm really tall, I'm defintly alot bigger than the average mexican, but it probably won{t be long until i sweat 50 lbs off here and shrivel up, haha its good. I really think God has helped me overcome the dirtiness a little bit cuz theres no way I could force myself to sleep in that nasty bed and shower in the nasty shower. I just wish you all could see it's soo scrappy haha I love it
p days will be on mondays, but pres wanted us newbs to email parents asap to assure you that were okay. soo anyways ya, have fun at home, I'm in mexico trying to handle things haah its great. We go to the temple every other transfer on pdays i think , unless our zone wins the most baptisms, then we get to go for a freeby with the pres and wife.
okay, bye love you all be good

Mexico!!!!!

Sammuel left this morning from the MTC to head to Mexico. His is the first group to get there on schedule for about 2 months now. He was able to call us from the Houston airport and was very excited to be able to head out. His group of 10 arrived at 7:00 pm in Tampico, Mexico.

Week 8 MTC

So Elder Jeffrey R Holland just spoke last night at the fireside, it was neat. They do the firesides in the gym but the gym courts have been closed for 6 weeks cuz they've been putting in the bleachers and during the firesides they've been broadcasting it into other buildings where we have to gather to watch it and they just opened up the gym for everyone to come in yesterday so we made sure we ran to the gym to get a seat in case if someone with higher authority in the church was speaking and sure enough Holland walked in, it was awesome. He gets extremely emotional and its cool.

Anyways we got flight plans Friday, but don't know for sure if we have visas. They give flight plans whether you have visas or not and if we don't get them by this Friday then they will delay the flight plans and figure out what they're going to do with us. I'm not for sure when i'll talk to if i get them but if they delay us then we'll call home and tell you. Our flight is at 7:50 am Monday morning, we meet at the travel office here at 4 so I might be sleeping till we reach Houston airport. Supposedly when it all works out I'll call from Houston cuz we'll be stuck there for 6 hours and then suppose to arrive in Tampico at 7:45 pm. we were so excited to get those plans but we don't really know if we'll be delayed until Friday. I love you all be good read the scriptures-bye

Week #7 MTC

So the big event that happpened this week was a little trip to Salt Lake. 5 of the 7 of our district, my comps and another companerismo got called Thursday afternoon to the travel office and they said come back tomorrow your leaving at 2 to go to the consolate, so we rode up on a bus to SLC. It was weird seeing things outside of here and riding in the bus at first was almost comparable to a roller coaster ride. There were 12 of us total that went. anyways we got pictures taken and filled out permismos or whatever it was to prepare to enter the country and if all goes well our visas should come in the next little while and when we get flight plans we get to call home for 5 min so let me know what number to call when I find that out, so dearelder me today cuz rumor was we should find out Friday but it could be before next week. Then while we were gone the other two got called for the same thing and just went this Monday, things are looking bright for us. I guess they were taking 12 random mexican missionaries at a time for this. The district that was 2 weeks older than us that were mexicans just got reassigned last week while we were going to the consolate and they all left by Monday so we're closer to getting into Mexico than they are. Apparently the most likely rumor why things have been ruff gettin in is Mexico has been undergoing a new proccess of processing visas and they're trying to pick it up now 0r something i'm not entireley sure but things just seem to feel and look more promising for us than those who've gone before.

Thats cool about Jessica going to Haiti, one of my teachers went down there like a month ago for two weeks and said how bad it was and just some of the problems people go through. I think I want to do that kind of stuff after the mission, not neccessarly Haiti but service stuff, it'd be cool way to serve your fellow beings. I think I'll probably live in a spanish country for a little while after my mission too or maybe Brazil I don't know.

I love you all, be good continue to read the scriptures im on pg80 since tyou told me about it bye

Week 6 MTC

Why grace-ias for the info, I like to hear about all that is going on. The fair IS fun, but it won't be as cool for you all with out any pigs to get in for free and to watch run around and stuff. I'm hoping to go to my mission temple when I'm in Mexico, I can't wait to go through a Spanish session and understand it all, that will be awesome. Wow look at all the blessings going on in our family with Saren and I out, Mom's heart was softened and Maisie got a new cellphone! and Jake got mine ahaha.... It's hard to think that your school year is starting, or I just haven't thought about it. It seems like a never-ending summer here, until I started realizing if our visa stuff works out we got 3 weeks-ish til I can walk down the streets of Mexico and start dunking some folks and save their souls.

AAAAAAAahzhhhhh it's not bad here but I feel like a caged pitbull that is ready to go eat it up! My Spanish isn't great, but I could be ready today to be emerged in 100% Espanol for two years, we all got a pretty strong base. I really am just constantly excited about every aspect of the work, from studying, speaking and teaching. I want to go plant some seeds and watch that sucker grow and save some people from satan’s chains. I want to see their eyes light up and feel the spirit I just want to do it. But till then I'll practice and prepare for it and keep studying the language and gospel, you can never be too prepared for the work, alot of times it doesn't seem like there's enough time to get everything done in one day I want it all and I want it now. But I'll bear with patience mine afflictions alma 27:17 and run with patience I guess Hebrew 12:1..... I just want to go get r done and do some good. ... I just can't express how much I want to progress as fast as possible and leave and start preaching the gospel. I almost don't want to do anything else, I'd definitely rather feast on the words of Christ than the food here I can tell you Hwhat.

I encourage you all to read the BOM every night, I remember I never 'loved' doing that but its so essential and I feel bad now I was mopey and dragging my feet to the gospel cuz now its like I just want to run to it and burry myself in it, it's so amazing. Just like Lehi's dream of the tree of life and wanting to share it with his family, You'all should want to share that fruit with whom you love and with everyone around, k? k! I love you all, be good, keep up the good work I'm proud my family is working towards eternal life keep it up!!! Bye bye now

Week 5 MTC

Hola my Family,

I can say that I'm blessed to have grown up the way I have, to be blessed with attributes I can bring to the table with the Lord. Things seem to come easy and it's because of being raised by my Grandfathers farm with so much family and great friends around and having both sides of my family so strong in the gospel and great examples of attributes I want to develop. I also know of a surety how both sides of the veil are working hand in hand with me. I think I can almost say there's not a day goes by I don't think that and maybe that’s what encourages and influences me to become better and don't let anything get me down, so I don't. People say how hard this is and what a struggle it is but I would be lying to say it's been rough for me and I think it basically comes down to I know what I'm doing is right, and because the Lord is on my side I can do it. I've never really felt overwhelmed with learning the language or struggle with aspects like others have and it basically goes down to those points. Well that’s all in case anyone was wondering, I guess part of my testimony.

The Temple was nice to go to last week, were planning on going to eat down in the cafeteria tonight after the session so were really lookin forward to that.

Elder Priests dad is a counselor or something here and is always around, Elder Priest handles it really well I really like him, His dad brought us a fan a few weeks ago and I've been blessed to be sitting right next to it and keep cool all day in that classroom. His father came in and taught us an in depth discussion about the apostasy it was amazing how much knowledge he has and how surreal it really was with events that went on that destroyed the organized church Christ established.

Well, see ya later

Week 4 MTC

Well hello to West Weber, its been a while. At 2 or 2:30 today it will be a month that I have been a missionary. Hopefully I only have a month left, and yes 'visa talk' runs like wildfire here, everyone worries about it. When we first showed up there were elders that had been here 14 or 15 weeks. A few are leaving this week they've been stuck for 12 or so. So ya basically as far as i hear its the Mexican Government that has been skimpy on lettin them go through or something, most other countries haven't been a problem. I had a friend from Ogden area that got re assigned to Salt Lake mission til his visa comes through. I'm not worried about it, there's too much right now to do to worry about.
Ya tucker and I are on the same feeding schedule, thats about it. I see him at least once a day his classroom is just down the hall.

I am in love with Heston and Cy's rodeo saga, if there's anything i would want from the outside of here it would be to live the saga with them, I hope they continue sounds like a lot of fun. They looked good dressed up for the big rodeo. (Heston-brother, and Cy-cousin, rode bulls last week at the pioneer days rodeo, they were on the front page news the next day as the 10 year-old rodeo legends:)

I made 5 bucks last night at dinner, an elder in my district mixed up some sauces and food he thought was nasty and i ate it, it wasn't too bad definitly worth the money and I can pretty much stomach anything so I'm down for that challenge.
I played soccer yesterday at gym, I'm pertty good and i caught some sun, not really burned but slightly pink haha

We've had a few emeritus 70's speak and someone who's like head of the missionary program and yea we're excited to return to the temple at 3 today. We just had a pretty big spiritual experience Saturday night as a district and are super excited for the Temple.


I like to hear from you all, dearelder is the best method. and don't neccesarily expect a huge reply back from me I only have so much time once a week to write back, nevertheless i do like hearing from "yall" and i got to follow the rules if I want to be like Captain Moroni, alma 48:17
.......so I love you all and be good

Week 3

Wow thanks for lining up the family party when i'm not there. Its good though, keep the family together. Maybe Levi can get a date with the rodeo queen this year tell him to take it up a notch from just a picture and hook it up, cuz Dave can't cause he's whooooped, and I'm on my mission. Do it for me son. Out of all the times of the year I think Pioneer Days and the Fair is the funnest, and i'm entirely jealous of Heston and Cy signing up for the rodeo. I wish someone did that for me. Why isn't Levi signed up is the real question. That is awesome let me know how that all works out. And I'm super glad Levi let you know if I need something, I need something, and I've been in dire need of a knife. Its been ruff without one. I definitely liked the pics of the Arise celebration, was Jake wearing my glasses I won at a welding competition? and was he and Jacee partners? By the way let her know that I could tell she's been the little Fremont dancer, she had a big old grin in all of them pics meanwhile the other girls were kind of lookin like they weren't so excited to be there.
Last week when I emailed you and mom replied with two sentences I was pretty bummed thats all I got. I sent a big email and a ten page letter that put a big blister on my finger and thats all I got? Its fine it took a while for you to write back, I really don't mind as long as you keep in touch. Its nice to hear from the outside world. We've joked, not being serious that its a lot like prison here, except we don't got TV. haha its really not - its hard to not be busy if that makes sense somethimes it doesn't seem like there is enough time for everything to get done, learn the language and all the gospel we need to teach. And it seems like nine weeks is a drag, but being here doing doesn't seem long enough to be prepared when you get out there. But I guess thats the whole concept of relying on the Lord then the message comes more from him then from us and thats how its suppose to be.
Saren sent me a letter I just got today before laundry. Our DL picked up mail before just in case if anyone wrote and what do you know i had one. She left her words of inspiration and what I should do here, I've been here long enough to figure them all out.
The Temple opens up this week and I think we get to start going next. It'll be nice, it can be another "big event" to look forward to during the week. But then idk how we're going to have time to get everything done on P day and write letters.
I'm planning on going out on the curb and wait for Tucker to pull in @ 1. I'll let you know how it works out.
Well i love you all time is running out, my scripture is ephesians 2:10-13 so I bid thee farewell

Week 2

That is exciting about Tucker coming next Wed. I cant wait to run into him here. One of my comp's cousin is in here too and we have the same feeding schedule so they usually talk each day. Its fun to run into people here, its a small world. I'm glad you told me about Tuck I was going to ask when he comes I couldn't remember. I'm going to go see if I can request to be his escort. I see Brock Ballif every now and then, another kid I played little league football up in North Ogden with, and a few other Elders I know from school.
It's really weird to think about life on the outside world of the MTC, it just seems normal and natural here. The food started out seeming great but as time's gone by it's lost its taste. It all seems the same just with a different name each day. It seems like we do the same thing day in and day out so anything out of the ordinary day is a huge event. Like today is P day, we get to do laundry, clean the room, write letters and stuff and our zone gets a new district. Just the concept of seeing new missionaries with their orange dots on their tag is cool. Last week I literally vacumed and scrubbed the whole room down on pday, it seemed so grimey i was freaking out. There were nasty booger stains on the walls from previous elders, I about barfed scrubbing those off, really you don't even know the half of it. \
I write in the journal every night, its hard to fit everything onto one page. I like alot of the equipment we got for my mission, it works out. Those plastic things you sent was not at all what I meant by the collar extensions. If I think about it I can't eat with those white shirts on I want to gag when my adams apple is compressed from the collar.
"Everyone here seems too nice, it's weird. But I guess they're just trying to develop christlike attributes like were suppose to, like everyone in the church is suppose to. I don't think about normal life very often but when I do it seems different and foreign. It's seems like missionary life is so established that normal life is not right.
Yes i figured out the laundry and its fun. I couldn't find those dryer fabric softener things you put in the baggy. But we get six dollars a week on our mission cards and I can buy those in the laundry room with that. 5 of the missionaries in our district are leaving to Lima Peru next week, 3 sisters and 2 elders. So our District is going to be pure Tampico Mexicans, the 7 of us.
If you could find a Mexico soccer jersey that would be awesome to send. I'm going to write a letter to you guys and send it on Friday with some pictures. I don't remember if I told you but wednesdays is P day obviously and we're only suppose to write stuff Wednesdays. I'm trying to follow all the rules and be obedient, bye

Hola

Hola Mother Joanne,
Yeah I agree, What a send-off, I didn't get a tardy demerit, I too loved that we came in and dropped me off just like YOU wanted, you told me all along you were coming in the doors with me, and you did. Not too many Elders can say that happened to them, eh? I just got done with laundry it is 11:51.

I got that box last week like friday or something, it was great. They keep us busy. I sent a letter last week sometime you all should've got it by now I would think. Heston's letter he sent was nice. I think so far from all the DearElders you guys sent me, the box, and Hestons note, I've received more letters than anyone in my district. I think I've got twice as many as my two companeros combined. I guess that just show how much all you love me. It's really nice to get mail, but it's far from something i'm worried about.

Like I said, I'm in a threesome with Elder Brian Cook, from Syracause, he went to Syracause High and played Center for the football team. He's like 6'3" or 4 and weighs less than me, he said he used to be fat in high school and has lost a bunch of weight since. He's pretty cool he went to utah state for the year and was friends with some girls from my school up there. Elder Seth Mitchell is from some city in northern Las Vegas, I don't remember what its called. He seems like a really great kid, you can see it in him. I think were going to do really well, we've all gottin along real well and connect real well. They shove the Spanish language down your throut, and you just got to keep your mouth as wide open as you can.

Well it's been a week, my companeros and I are gettin the jist of things around this here part of the world. Its like we all live inside this physical bubble and there's no exit out until you've done your time. Though it's extremely spiritually enlighting and it seems like that bubble was removed. It still doesn't seem real. There's so many rules, guidelines, and specific schedules anyone and everyone would think it's ridiculous. I just have a constant feeling, or knowledge that every little rule or way they want us to do things is exactly how it's suppose to be. Someone somewhere said once that we are a peculiar people, and we are. But the Lord blesses us more so than we would think when we follow every little rule or commandment, and especially when it's to the T. So everythings great.
love you bye3

Finally a Letter-HOORAY!

Hola Familia,

Well I'm at the MTC. Can't say that I'm in love with it yet. I am in a threesome with Elder Mitchel from North LasVegas and Elder Cook from Syracuse. They seem alright, have the right attitudes and purpose for being here so it seems like it'll be alright. Were learning how to say the basics of a prayer in Spanish. Last night after dinner they gathered all the newbs in different rooms to do role play missionary work. They had a guy dress up as King Lamoni and he came in and gave us an inspirational message telling about Ammon and his conversion and then his people. The next few role play enactments were simulated as investigators and missionaries coming over to their house. Then the narrator would stop the play, ask questions, then it was open to the audience to do their missionary work to the investigators. The investigators were very good actors and sometimes if you got caught in the spirit and story you would almost forget they were just actors.

We went back to our rooms, put a few things away, got slightly settled in and went to bed. I really didn't sleep well, I had alot on my mind and I swear I was worrying if it was 6:30am every 2 hours. But all seems fine and things seem bright. Well, love you all, hope I gave enough information to satisfy mother. I bet cleaning up my stuff will be fun, honestly it will be an adventure, I'm sure you'll find great treasures in all the abyss of clutter!
Love you all
Sam

MTC

Sam has officially begun his mission. He entered the MTC on June 30th, and he made quite the entrance by blasting his music of the "Final Countdown" a CD he had prepared for our drive there. He is excited and prepared to serve. We are waiting (not very patiently) to hear from him. Thank you everyone for your love and support in sending him off.