week 3: a shot at fame

These ain't no cafeteria chicken nuggets...

This week went by super fast. It seems like from Sunday just flies by. It hasn't rained in a few days, which is nice because we can play soccer on the field. If it rains, the field is all soaked. And my ankle is healed enough to play, but it still hurts every time afterwards. Our district leader got really sick on Wednesday  and he asked me to give him a blessing which was really cool. We got a whole bunch of new gringos last Tuesday night, and the MTC has not gotten a decent amount of people here. Last Wednesday we also got a new group of Mexicans  which means we got two new ones living with us! they are both really cool, and I enjoy talking to them in Spanish.

  I feel pretty confident about my Spanish now. I can't use subjunctive very well yet, but I can definitely carry on a casual conversation with all the Mexicans  The Mexicans only stay for 12 days so every time a new group has come in, our district leaves class for an hour or so, and goes and talks with all the Mexicans and their families, and I'm surprised how much I know. It is really cool to speak it. This week we also got to do TRC, which is when a group of Mexican volunteer members come in from the city, and we sit down with them for 30 minutes, get to know them and then leave them a little message.

A view from a window. Don't know what window.

 Also this week representatives from Salt lake City came to film for the "World Report" on the mexico MTC and they chose our district! So my district and I will probably show up on the world report wherever it is showed! I think it is shown during general Conference on TV, between sessions.  They just filmed us with out investigators, teaching them and then they pulled some of us aside and interviewed us personally.  

Elder Daines is hilarious. He is going to Kansas too.

 Oh yea and earlier this week, I was flipping a large two pound coin from England and I tried to catch it on my tongue and it wen straight down my throat, and got stuck in my chest, so I had to eat something to get it to go down, but it hurt a lot while it was there.

Elder Carlston catching some zzz's

 We got two new phony investigators to teach. It is hard to know exactly what they need to hear from the gospel.

Elder Budge is definitely having a hard time. His companion has been sick for a day or two now, so Elder Budge stays at home all day to take care of him. Elder Budge is a trooper! He has incredible patience.

A sprained ankle and breakfast tamales

E. Jones ,E. Packard., E. Carlson, E. ?, E. Budge, E. Mexicali (?)



This week week was pretty was great, and went by super fast! Right after I wrote you on Tuesday evening, David Warren walked in the door behind me. I don't know if you remember him, but we were really good friends, he went to Shadow, and was on the football team with Ryan Lythgoe (who is also coming in 3 weeks) but me and David sat next to each other in seminary all year long. I'm really glad he is here. He is going to Peru, but because he doesn't have his visa yet, he cant get into the Peru MTC Then on Wednesday, I was playing soccer with a bunch of other elders, in the rain, and I slipped, and hurt my ankle. At first I thought it was definitely broken, it hurt really bad, but the doctor lives just next door to us, so he took a look at it and said it was a bad sprain, so it is super swollen and turning purple. The guys in my district gave me a blessing right after it happened though, and I have been able to get around with out it hurting too much. 

Spanish is coming pretty well, although it is really hard. I am  further than all the others in my district, so I'm trying to learn to conjugate into past and present subjunctive, and use it off the top of my head. I'm really good at using conditional, gerund, and past participle, and preterit, but it is sometimes hard to tell when I need to use imperfect. But it is coming really well, and we have tons of really good teachers here. 

Sometimes I get annoyed by the fact that we read so many books, and things about the gospel, when I really just want to read the gospel itself. There are so many, fundamentals, and simple lessons that I feel antsy, and just want to read the Book of Mormon--so I do! I'm trying to read the whole thing twice while I'm here--last night I read all of 1 Nephi.

Yesterday all the Latinos left, after 12 days. Hopefully we get some more today, because they were such good practice. We made pretty good friends with the ones that lived with us. So now there are 300 missionaries here, but I guess after tonight there will be 500! And by the time I leave 1000! I don't know how they are going to deal with all those people, they can't even figure out how to deal with those of us already here. It is hilarious, that everything is still being set up. They are figuring out problems as they come up. President Pratt has only been here for a week longer than I have. People have found out which house is his, and there is a line outside of it, for him to solve their problems. 

Some of the missionaries are not having such a good time. Some of the guys are such weenies, they won't even eat any of the food. they wait outside of the cafeteria every morning and rush into get the little boxes of cereal. They eat five bowls of cereal, and then take two more to their rooms. I hope they are not going foreign. But its all good, because that leaves more delicious breakfast tamales, and oatmeal for me!

It is shocking to me how good Sundays are here. I can feel the spirit all week, and then go to church on Sunday, and feel in 10 times stronger. I have such good friends here!. All the members of my district are so fun to be with, and we all have a great time. The homesick elder is doing a little better, but it still takes him a lot of patience, I'm sure. His companion has to wait around for him all day long. Last Tuesday, he nearly didn't get to write home, because the sick one had to go to the hospital he was so sick. I don't think that missions are for everyone. If you come out as sick as he is, you actually hinder the lords work rather than progress it, because you hold back your companion.

Week 1: Bienvenidos a Mexico

 

Bienvenidos a la Ciudad de Mexico!

B is for...barrio??

Now where to start? So many things have happened. So if it's random sentences, I'm sorry.

So my first companion is elder Carlson from Enoch Utah. When I first saw him I thought he was about 22 because he his a pretty big guy, and doesn't quite have a full head of hair. Now if I  was living in AZ he might not be the guy I would be hanging out with, regardless I enjoy him a lot. He is a little bit shy, and his Spanish accent is terrible, but he is always in a good mood and camehere for the right reasons. He is a computer/videogame guy. I like him especially because he wants to keep all the rules exactly and helps me in doing so. We share a dorm with 6 different elders.

On the right starting from the right: Elder Carlson, Elder Budge, and in back is Elder Jones
on the left; Daines, Crook, and Packard

Four of us are going to Kansas, Elder Carlson and I, and then Elder Budge, and Elder Jones.

I like Elder Budge a lot. He is actually Shane Hatch's cousin, so Roy Hatch is his uncle, and I have become very good friends with him. He is the Utah state tennis champion for doubles two years in a row. His companion is Elder Jones, from Idaho, who is not having such a good time. He is homesick, terribly, and on top of that has diabetes, so is very uninterested in any studying like we do here, because he is always sick. I admire Elder Budge a lot for being incredibly patient with Elder Jones. Hopefully Elder Jones makes it another week. The other two guys in our apartment are from here in Mexico. I like them a lot too. They are really fun to speak to Spanish to. Elder Torrez is from Mexicali and  he has 5 older brothers who all served missions.

Our district includes 10 people. The four of us going to Kansas that I have already described, and then there are Elder Slavens from northern Cali, going to Idaho. Elder Butterfield from Cedar City going to Minneapolis, and Elder Crook, and Elder Daines, both from Salt Lake/Provo area that are also going to Kansas. So, a total of 6 of us going to Kansas here. The two sisters in our district are Hermana Vance, who is one of 16 children, and Hermana-can’t- remember-her-name.

We are all only the second group to come here to the Mexico MTC. There are only about 250 to 300 people here now, but by the time I leave there are supposed to be something like 3000. This property is incredible; it sits on 90 acres of green grass land. All the buildings here are awesome, but most of them are unfinished, and they are still doing furniture and stuff in all the classrooms. I love all the members of my districts, and we all have become really close. It rains everyday here at about 5or 6 o'clock, and the thunderstorms are awesome, but I forgot a rain jacket. During the day the air is incredibly smoggy and terrible, but at about the time the storm comes in it all clears up, and Mexico becomes surprisingly beautiful.

raining in Mexico

We live in the ghetto, and all we hear all day are police sirens and fireworks. I don't

know why, but i'm not even kidding when I say that the Mexicans in the city light off fireworks all day long, and all night long, I have heard it is because they are celebrating their patron saints, but for a week straight??

the weather here is awesome too. All staff here is pretty much from Mexico so, all I do all day is speak Spanish. I love all the Latinos here. Our language instructors here are Hermana Runyun who reminds me  lot of mom, she served in Argentina( I think she

is 25 years old?). Hermano Osorio, who is about 30 and is a Latino. But Hermana Runyun taught at the MTC in Provo for 2 years before this, and said that we are learning Spanish, so incredibly faster than those in Utah.

The food here is all Mexican food, and is pretty good. we eat alot of beans and rice, and chicken, and flan, and horchata. Our dorms have plenty of room. Everyday we get a little bit of gym time, where I usually run a mile with elder Budge, while our two companions time us and talk about zombies and video games. Then we play soccer together as a district, and other elders, or we play Frisbee. There is only one other elder here from Arizona that I know of, he was the one we saw the in the airport, Elder Nelson from Mesa, he is really cool, I like him a lot. He and I were waiting in Dallas for our plane to come, with two other elders, and we thought that there might be a few more on our flight o Mexico with us, and we turned around and there were 40 coming down the escalator! our plane to México was full of missionaries. We also have a fake investigator that we have to teach only in Spanish, which is pretty hard. By the time Sunday came along, I thought it was going to be normal day, and would not be very relaxing, because we had a lot on our schedule, but it was incredibly relaxing, and was a good break for all the study. My companion and I were asked to do the sacrament, in Spanish of course. For church it is just our district and another, so only 20 of us, but wee all have to prepare a talk, and then we find out who is actually speaking that day.

The spirit is incredibly strong here, I feel it mas fuerte cara dia. Especially today, because we got to go to the temple. it was very beautiful, and we get to go every other p day, which is awesome. I guess the most spiritual experience that I have had here so far was at the temple this morning. I walked in and felt and incredible rush of peace, and then when I passed the guy who checks your recommend, he told me, “Bienvenidos a la casa del Señor”.

Bienvenidos 

I knew at that moment that temple is very much the house of the Lord, and I could not stop thinking about it during the whole session. And although the session was all in Spanish, I felt the spirit very strongly. It is such an honor to wake up every morning and put on a name tag, and to be able to serve the Lord. I am having an incredible time here, and although I miss home a lot, I am very happy to be here. Say hi to everyone.

Day 1; Adios, Que llegues vivo...

July 9
Day 1

It's not fear you see; it having to take another picture in public. 

Hi mom and dad,

I got into Mexico a couple of hours ago, and just finally set up this email account! the plane was fine, and there was one other elder going with me from Arizona  Elder Nelson, from mesa AZ. When we got to Texas we went the the terminal for mexico and found two other elders sitting waiting as well. The flight was drawing near and we thought that it would just be us five on the plane to Mexico, and we turned around and counted 45 missionaries coming down the escalator! Over half the plane was full of missionaries, from all over the place, going all over the place.

 I got to sit next to a lady that lives in Mexico City on the plane, and I spoke with her in Spanish a little. No one else knows a lick  of Spanish on the plane, so that made me feel really smart, and I was asked on the bus and in all the instructions to translate, because at the MTC not a single staff member speaks any English  Mexico is just like it is in the movies, crazy driving, everything is old and beat up. I didn't see more than a handful of cars that weren't dented all over the place. Also you can't stand a single place on the street without being at least 10 feet away from graffiti.

  The MTC is really nice, it has a super high barbwire fence, and a huge iron gate, so it is somewhat secluded. I'm really excited to be here, the weather is awesome  like 75 with a little bit of humidity.

How to write a missionary

LDS How-to} Write a Missionary

LDS LIVING STAFF - FEBRUARY 16, 2011

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A letter from a loved one can make a world of difference for a missionary in the field. But staying in communication can be a bit tricky.

Here is some practical advice for those who want to effectively boost their powerful priesthood proselytizer!

1. Emails. Most missionaries are only allowed to email immediate family, but email rules are often up to the discretion of the mission president. If a missionary is allowed to email anyone, remember they have limited time on the computer and should use it to primarily communicate with their mission president and family. However, it is perfectly acceptable for family members to forward a missionary’s family emails on to others. Dearelder.com is another online option. They offer free same-day letter delivery to the Provo MTC, and charge the cost of a stamp for all pouch mail services. Simply go to dearelder.com, select the mission and missionary, and start typing.

2. Letters. Nothing is better than a hand-written letter—especially if it includes pictures, drawings, and stories—but be disciplined in what you include. President Hinckley gives some advice when it comes to letter writing: “Missionaries love to hear from home, especially from close friends. What makes it tough to concentrate is what is contained in the letters. Write about their mission. Share personal missionary experiences you are having at home. Write about insightful things you’ve learned in the scriptures. It’s all right to write about home; just don’t dwell on it. If you are focused on his mission, he will be too.” When in doubt, err on the side of too many stamps.

3. Pouch. The pouch provides a cheap and reliable mail service to many places where receiving mail is difficult, but be warned! Sometimes, the pouch service can take a LONG TIME and any letters that do not meet the requirements will be returned. The service does not accept envelopes or packages. In order to use the pouch, you have two options: either write a postcard or write a letter on one side of a single sheet of printer paper. If using a piece of paper, fold it into thirds, fastening the top with tape and placing a stamp in the top right corner. Address the sheet to church headquarters:

Name of the missionary
Mission name
P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City, UT 84130-0150

4. Packages. In the United States, most packages are sent to the missionary’s mission office. Packages to foreign missions are usually sent to the mission home, but the mail service outside the country is not always timely or reliable. Valuables may be stolen and cookies may get moldy.
When in doubt about how to communicate with your missionary, feel free to contact the secretary of the mission, the MTC, or the missionary to find regulations and suggestions specific to each mission.