After 6 months in San Nicolas, Mexico, I am being sent to Valle Verde. My new partner will be Elder
Cruz. I am going to miss the people in San Nicolas. They are the kindest and most humble people.
I am leaving Elder Montero but he will do great. I hope that I was a good trainer and he can pass on my
mad skills someday. I will also be a District Leader. I am honored and happy that my Heavenly Father
thinks that I can fill this new job. I will just follow the example of those that I respected and did a great
job before me.
My Spanish is now at about 80% but the people of Mexico still say that I have an accent.
What was your most spiritual experience this week? We went with Jose Luis, my convert, to talk to some
people in the street and he knew them for years. We were talking to them and he just straight out said,
"hey, these two missionaries have blessed my life and I want you guys to have them too. Get baptized like
I was and come with me to church Sunday." And they accepted both.
What was the kindest thing you did this week? I made food for a family that is really poor. They normally
only eat once a day and send their kids to a relatives house to eat. So I made some simple tuna pasta
and gave it to them.
What was the kindest thing that happened to you? Many of the families helped us with rides to and from
different parts of our area this week which was super nice since they are almost always super busy.
What is something the people do there that you wish we did here and why? They are really good at reusing
things rather than throwing them out. Most containers here if they are plastic they hold onto them as
Tupperware and if they are glass they clean them and they turn into cups. A little janky at times but it works
really well here
Also, we have Nuevo Loredo as part of the mission now. The President just gave us a new mailing address
so that you don't have to send packages to Mexico through the mail. You can send it to Texas and he will
go pick it up from there once a month. So no more expensive international stamps or mailing. You all can
send me a letter now.
The Church of Jesus Christ
Of Latter-Day Saints
Elder Jason Riley Bandy
1211 San Dario Ave. 1357
Laredo, TX 78040
We had a missionary activity yesterday. We invited the members to bring their friends and enemies to
the activity to try and help them see that it isn't hard to share the gospel with people. So we started
with a song and then some games. One was a really weird version of rock paper scissors that I wouldn't
ever play again. Then there was my game where the people would go up and write 2 truths about
their life and 1 lie and we would then have to guess what was the lie. It was fun but for a few people
that had trouble thinking up good lies. Then we played a game where we pumped air into a balloon
with confetti inside over the head of someone as they answered questions about the gospel. If they
got it right, then the balloon passed on the next person but if not then they had to answer another question
while aired continued to fill the balloon. It was okay for us since our recent convert Jose Luis brought 2 of his
friends with him to the activity and we now have 2 new appointments for Friday. Although I won't be in
the area any longer it is still great news.
