February 20, 2018

Hey momma, hows things? Thanks for the update, im still here in tuxpan with elder velazquez which is sweet, they cut our zone in half which sucks. they cut off tepic, which is good because we were having problems with the elders their because they are super far away from us so they just did whatever they wanted, but still kinda bummed, our zone was the biggest before with 24, but now we only have 14. but we only have 1 companionship of sisters, so thats good. We havent visited ricardo hardly in this last week and a half because things have been crazy, but they still want to get married, but they still havent done it. Now that changes passed we should be in our area more so that should be good. we are going to do some sweet stuff this transfer. WHat made me smile yesterday? ummmm idk, i smile all of the days. The most frustrating thing was that the new sister in the zone didnt leave her other area until 1 in the afternoon and we are supposed to get to our new area at 11:00, and she just wasted a lot of time and we dont know why but we spent our whole day in the bus station waiting for her. This week Elder anderson THE APOSTLE came and it was super awesome, it wasnt like a super spiritual meeting where he like told us stories and parables. he just said, "alright, this is the lowest baptizing misson in mexico, this mission is hard, but if you want to baptize more heres what you have to do..." it was super cool, he just gave of lots of super practical advice, it was sweet. he just told us what we need to do to baptize people

the nice thing about being a missionary is i dont have new or social media, i live in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere mexico, i feel like im in the year 1950, we go to the market in the morning to buy fresh fruit and fresh made cheese and fresh tortillas, we help people pick beans in the field sometimes, and i dont have any worries. my biggest worry is that this town doesnt have public water so a lot of people here dont have access to running water and they are so poor. i shower with a garden hose taped to a wall, and our water comes from a pump and a well that we have to pump by hand until it gets going. All i have to do is go out and teach these people that there is more to life. People here live day by day, savings doesnt exist, if i work and earn 50 pesos, that day i eat with those 50 pesos, if i get sick and dont work, i dont eat. people here dont even understand the quality of life they have, they dont know that there is more. They dont have irrigation here, they work for 6 months when the crops grow because it rains, and then they go 6 months stressed and running around because there is no work. It is 2018, how are you telling me you dont have a way to water your crops? But i love the people here, there are huicholes and koras, tribes that dont even speak spanish. The people are simple and nice, they go to the river to wash there clothes, and they make some bomb enchiladas

February 12, 2018

Hey Momma,This week was alright. We didnt baptize yet because Ricardo and Diana arent married, but they are getting there. Ricardo is super ready. We had 12 baptisms in the zone which was super awesome. We havent been in our area hardly at all becuase we have been going all over the place going to baptisms and doing interviews. Which is frustrating because we are way down on our goals for the month. Yesterday we had a meeting with all the bishops and ward mission leaders and the stake presidency in Tepic because nobody is working and the stake is falling, the wards all have like 40-60 in attendance, which is terrible for a stake, but the leaders are all dumb and spent there time in the meeting saying stupid things and i felt like we just wasted a lot of time preparing for it and traveling and we didnt accomplish anything. "what do you need from the missionaries?" "um i think we need visiting teachers" or "um i think the missionaries are not too bad" or "i think our ward would progress if the missionaries told me when they left the area to work in the other ward they are assigned" you are the bishop, not their mom. Nayarit is smaller but the population comparison is like all of reno compared to the fallon stake, but fallon has 16 missionaries and all of reno has 8, (tepic has 8 and santiago ixcuintla has 16) and so they just spent the whole meeting complaining about how they need missionaries and its not fair, and i told them if they want missionaries they need to support the missionaries they have. they were kinda ticked at me i think. They have 4 companionships for 7 barrios. We just wasted so much time on those dufuses, we shouldve stayed in tuxpan and worked. The Rainy season starts in like...may, but it starts hard in like july and ends in september. funny things this week...when people yell at us elder velazquez always just smiles and says thank you so that is funny sometimes. thats about all this week momma. let me know how everyone is doing  

February 5, 2018

 this week we went all over the place and were hardly in our area. we teach english classes in the church but this week we were out of town and so we sent a mexican to teach and 17 people came and she was not happy with us. Me and my companion are still killing it. This week we went to misson council, and then we went to jala and ixtlan del rio for divisions with the assistants, then we went to tepic for interviews with president an to teach that part of the zone, then we went to santiago ixcuintla for interviews with the rest of the zone and we taught something different, then saturday night we got back to our area and yesterday was church so theres not much to say.  what spanish are you asking about? ricardo and diana have two little boys that are so cute.(Elder Velazquez) his english is alright, he wants to go to byui so i try to work with him a lot but i always forget. i need socks and jeans, and the pants you send, can they be like 30 waist and slim fit so i look papi? im studying the new testament and the doctrine and covenants and the book of mormon right now, its neat.

Pictures

January 28, 2018

This letter was written to be read to the Fallon II ward in sacrament meeting:

Whatsup fallon second ward. im in mexico i think. Things are good around here. im in a place called tuxpan nayarit, its a lot like fallon, i mean as close as a pueblo in mexico can get to fallon. there is a lot of agriculture like fallon at least. There are like 4 paved roads, and the members are awesome. I was reading the parabola about the 99 sheep, and how Jesus leaves the 99 sheep to look for the 1. Its not because 1 is more important than the 99, that isnt very logical. but it is because Jesus knows he can trust the 99 to stay together while he goes out looking for the 1. If you are listening right now, it means you are in church and it means you are one of the 99. Stay together. Being in little branches you see the differences between a branch that rises and a branch that falls. the difference is unity. Make sure that you stick together. Do activities, dont wait for bishop sommer to plan it, or wait for someone to invite you. Just call up someone invite them over. Before a ward can grow it has to be strong within. If you notice someone isnt at church, shoot them a text, pass by, see why they werent there. People have to feel loved and wanted. Ummmmm i dont know what else to tell you guys. be thankful for all that you have? I know forever families are real. A couple weeks ago we went to the sealing of some of our converts and it was the strongest i have felt the spirit in my life. Just to see a mother looking at her kids and then looking at the mirrors that go on forever and realizing that not even death can seperate her from her kids was a really cool experience. Everyone who isnt sealed should make that a goal. Also, i know that God listens and answer our prayers, we just have to pray with faith and be specific. A while back we went to a little town in the middle of nowhere on the edge of the cierra and we didnt know anybody, we went because President told us he wanted us to start opening the area. so we went and said a prayer that someone would recognize us and we went contacting and someone recognized us and yells "Elders" so we went and talked to them, but they we from another town, just passing through. So we said another prayer that we could find someone that recognized us that is from there, and once again "elders" so we go and talk to him, and he says "im from here but havent lived here in 40 years, so im not sure where the members live" so we said another prayer that we could find someone who recognized us, who is from there, and who lives there, and we walk a little more and "elders" and he was from there and lived there, and he told us where some members live and we went and visited them and they introduced us to some other members, so that was neat. Thats probably all ive got to say. catch you guys on the flip side, see you in a little bit

January 29, 2018

Hey momma, the pants fit, theyre a little big.i did have fun, on divisions i taught elder barlow how to fihgt, but he is 6´10 and hits like a bear so i didnt like holding the mitts with him too much. the tire is hanging and i punch it. i got him some shoes a few weeks ago. we had a sweet lesson with ricardo and diana this week and they came to church again. we made arroz con leche and then we made burritos out of it, we just invent weird foods that taste good

January 22, 2018

Hey momma, hows things? sounds like good. i bought some mitts today, so im stoked about that, we got a tire too, so me and elder velazquez are armando the gym chido. This week Ricardo came to church again so that is sick. We put a goal for the whole zone to baptize february 10th, so that day we should be able to baptize ricardo and his wife diana. he is super cool, his wife is like halfway atheist and kinda weird, but were going to change her mind and baptize her. we are always in our area now, or at least almost always. its great, im having tons of fun working with elder velazquez. we laugh a lot because hes funny and im dumb and being a missionary you just see tons of weird things all the time. If you dont ask questions i dont have tons of stuff to tell you. thanks for the email, have a good week