GREAT WEEK OF THANKS!

Zone activity.

My study area.

I like my area a lot, it is pretty small so I have seen all of it already and we walk everywhere, but it is nice.  The people are really friendly, and even when they dont want to hear our message, they listen politely and then say no thanks, so it is different here to Chicago or other areas in our mission.  The weather is definately different.  It is hot one day, cold the next, and rains very sporadically.  I miss the snow already.  I can live with the cold, the heat is terrifying.  They dont have air conditioning or heating, the kitchen is about the size of your bathroom and we only have an electric stove, and the fridge is college size.

We had a lot of good lessons this week.  We have 3 baptismal dates, with two of them being really positive now. It is the Familia Maria de Jesus.  I am super excited for them, I can already see the changes in their lives from the gospel. 

We don't do anything for Thanksgiving here I think, it isn't a holiday in Mexico.  Which is surprising frankly considering how many holidays they do celebrate.  They have had over 8 fiestas since I have been here, so either it is this time of year or they like fiestas.   They are a celebrating kind of people.  My companion and I are getting along fine, commuication is a struggle at times but it normally means I get to play pictionary for a bit. We have been trying to help each other learn the language, so he sort of understands English now, but he cant speak much of it, same for me with Spanish.  I am at the point now where I can understand when a word stops and starts, but not what the word actually is.  

The mail here is very slow so you can send your Christmas card now and I may get it by Christmas.  Have a great week!

Entrance by house.

Mountains on a clear day.

More mountains.

Rabbit

Zone activity

Good morning!

Very windy day.

So windy.  

MONTERREY, MEXICO...FIRST WEEK HERE!

My first companion Elder Hernandez

The mountains are awesome here.  The ones in Utah are rock with some shrubs, the ones here are covered in trees and look amazing.  I am looking forward to getting started in the work.  I know I am as ready as I can be at this point, all that is left is to get to work.  So my first week has been great.  I am still trying to figure out how we get around but I sort of know where things are now.  I have met most of the members in the ward (area he is in) now and all of our investigators.  We have 8 or so investigators right now so we visit 4 everyday and spend the rest teaching inactive or less active members or finding contacts and references.

The people here are really humble and kind. The area I am in is more of a suburb of Monterrey and is fairly tiny.  Houses and buildings are never over 2 stories except for large convenience stores(Malls).  We use buses and taxis to get around in Mexico.  They drive like maniacs.  I mean really, the first 3 days were interesting learning how the traffic works here.  In terms of driving hierarchy, it goes buses, taxis, cars, bikes, people, with motorcycles mixing in somewhere between bus and car.  But I am used to it now and it is fun now.

My companion is Elder Hernandez.  He is the first in his family to serve a mission and is from Tijuana. He has 4 siblings and is a convert to the church along with his family.  He has 14 months in the mission, so he isn't new. He likes English pop songs but hasn't the slightest idea what the lyrics are or how to say them which is funny.  He just substitutes the words he doesn't know with whatever other English word he happens to know. Otherwise, he is a good companion.  He helps me understand the context of a question asked and answers what questions I have on proper grammar.

 I met Justin´s teacher Ashley, not sure what else to tell.  IT isn't scary here, just different. The people are all much poorer than even the poorest American I have met yet they act like they have more than we do.  I haven't been sunburned yet but I use sunscreen everyday so I don't expect it to happen soon.  The language isn't harder to speak, but definitely harder to understand.  the speed they speak at is faster, they have thicker accents, etc.  but I enjoy it.  I think I will have it by the end of November, but that is a ways off yet.

View from my apartment.

Fuse blew out my first day.

Justin's teacher from the MTC.  She probably thought he was coming back for seconds.

My district.

Campechana

EL NATIVO WINNER!

The District

I am feeling pretty ready to go, just not too confident in my Spanish still, but I am better now.  I am definitely going, there weren't any problems with my visa or passport. I am the Travel Leader for our group of 10.  We leave here at around 3:40 AM, and our first plane to Fort Worth, TX is at 8:10 AM, so 9:10 for you guys.   We arrive in Dallas around 11:50(12:50) and then have a layover until 2:20(3:20)  depending on how fast we get through international customs.  

I am doing fine.  I am itching at this point to be gone from the MTC. I like it here, but I really just want to get down to Mexico and start learning and teaching.  

El Nativo winner

I did indeed win the Nativo, though it came down to an arm wrestling competition between myself and Elder Long. My entire district is going to the same mission, so my companion and everyone else leave with me. 

We haven't done too much this week either, mostly packing and planning. But yeah, we also had a talk by Elder Carlos Godoy of the 70 that was uplifting and really funny.  Alma 26:22, read the principles and blessings there for missionaries and also Moroni 8:1-3, though liken Moroni to yourself, and you will have an idea of what the lesson was.

FIRST YES TO SUCCESS AND ROOT BEER!

This week was fun. We began teaching a new investigator, Brian Meza, on Monday and the lessons with him have been amazing. We taught him the restoration, the plan of salvation, and about prayer, faith, and the Holy Ghost so far. We also invited him to be baptized on Tuesday and he said yes! I also received a nice surprise on Sunday when I was called out by my Branch President before we started classes. He released me from my calling as the music coordinator and I am now the District Leader. I don't respectfully know exactly what I should be doing beyond keeping everyone on task and being an example, but hey, I was called and I accepted. Now, I still have to play the piano at meetings though, I am the only one left in our entire branch that is capable of sight-reading music so while I don't decide what music we play on Sunday, I still am the one who has to play it. Our classes with Brother Lund and Brother Clark are going fine. We are spending more time now on how to make our lessons better than on what lessons we teach or what order they go in.

 We also had our language evaluations on Wednesday morning, which was frankly a little easy in my opinion, but I also have to take into account that my companion and a few other elders don't have any language experience so esta bien. We have begun playing a game in our district we call El Nativo, which is just a contest to see who can use the most Spanish throughout the day. We then vote on who we think was the 'Nativo' and the winner with the most points by Sunday will receive a $10 card to DP Cheese-steaks, which is an awesome place that serves only one food, which I am sure cannot be guessed from its name. We otherwise spend our time preparing lessons, working on the language, or studying the scriptures/doctrine.

 I am doing well here. I enjoy the peace and the simplicity here. I do miss my computer and being able to play the piano whenever, but I am not having any real withdrawals from it so I assume that it was closer to my hobby than an addiction at this point. That is my story, I am sticking to it. I am also almost over having Bronchitis I think. Idk, I was coughing a lot and it definitely wasn't any cold/flu I have had before. It also doesn't help that I need to drink A LOT of water here because of how dry it is. I drink a bottle of water before I go to bed every night so my throat can stay moist and it never seems to work that way. But I am almost over it, a few coughs every now and then.

 I am starting to see now how important it is for members to be a part of the conversion process and any help we receive is appreciated. Also, take some vanilla ice-cream, mix in crushed graham crackers and chocolate chips and you have amazingness. just saying. Good luck to Bryce, I hope he does well in his competition. Also, thank you for the gifts and the letters, they mean a lot here. Though I will say that I have more food/drinks then I believe I can eat in the time I have left. Thank you to Lana and Lizzie for the Rootbeer and goodies. I was having such a craving for it. Will post again next week.

CHRISTMAS AT THE MTC.

FLOWER

MISSIONARY PIC

LOTS OF ROOTBEER!  THANK YOU!

FALL IN THE MOUNTAINS

I HAVE PLENTY OF FOOD.  I'VE GAINED 5 LBS

PROVO TEMPLE

AUTOGRAPHS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST!

Me at the Consulate

Yep that was me under the directors armpit.  Hope you caught a glimpse of my forehead and maybe another of me singing. 

I received the letters and the packages.  Thank you for them, I liked them, as did my room/class mates.  I have had a good week here, it is very busy but I am enjoying the work.  I wake up in the morning at 6:30, get ready and go eat breakfast by 7:30.  I am in class by 7:45 and then we have an hour for Personal Study, an hour for companion study, and then 1.5 hours for language study.  I am definitely learning spanish.  Conjugates and tenses are so hard to remember, and now we are working on relatives and indirect + pronouns, which also makes very little intellectual sense. This is followed by lunch, then another 3 hours of class time.  We then eat dinner, then go back to class for more personal time.  The afternoon time is spent preparing to teach a lesson for an "investigator".  We aren't sure if he is a real investigator, but most of us are leaning towards no.  But it is still good practice for the doctrinal lessons and our Spanish, since that is all he will accept hearing us in. 

Train we take to go the Mexico Consulate

Train ride

Picture of the mountains from the train.

My first district!

This is my hint to send cookies.

View from my room

My fellow missionaries.

My study space.

Water thingy

Another water thingy

Not sure what they are but the architect in me liked it.

My MoTab debut.

My first companion Elder Greenwood.

I enjoyed listening to a talk by Brother Schwitzer and his wife this Tuesday night on their mission experiences and the importance of understanding and keeping the commandments in the scriptures and from General Authorities.  Conference of course was awesome.  The food here is good, but I have to be careful how much I eat since it is buffet style.  There is a restaurant right off campus that sells really good burgers as well as a Jamba Juice, but we only go there on our P-day (missionaries get one personal day a week for shopping, letter writing, laundry...).  The evergreens around here are starting to drop their pine cones and the mountains around the campus actually have snow on them now, not because it snowed, but because the clouds that pass by them are freezing on the mountain leaving behind ice/snow.

I have been enjoying my time here, the language is starting to come more readily and I like my companions.  The talks we have every Sunday and Tuesday are amazing.  We have had Apostles and General Authorities come in and talk to us.  It is incredible how much more powerful the talks are when they are prepared specifically with the missionaries and their work in mind.

I hope you guys are feeling well and that the season is still warm there.