Investigator from Haiti

Monday, January 31, 2011

Hola Familia,

Como estan eh?? Things here in the mission are going good still. Yep we had transfers last Tuesday and now I'm here in Barrio Azteca. Estaca Aaragon. We are about 10 minutes from the temple, in fact there is a street in our area, that you can see the temple if you are there. We are inbetween the Temple and the Airport, here in the gran Ciudad!!! haha It's pretty cool! If you look on google maps I'm pretty sure you will be able to see a big round about, and about 8 different streets entering and leaving the roundabout. I think I remember seeing it in the MTC. Our area is pretty big too, I thought because it was in the City it would be small but it is huge.

My companion is very very GREEN!!! Haha I mean green!! He just barely was baptized a year ago, and now he is here is the mission. He is the only member in his family, his parents don't like the idea of a mission at all. His name is Elder Garcia and he is 21 years old. He has alot to learn, I try teaching him something but it doesn't sink in until after about 6 times of explaining. I've explained what a reference is about 8 times and he is still confused haha. But he has a lot of desires to be here in the mish and be baptizing. In fact we had a baptism this Sunday, I let him baptize because I figured he would enjoy that. Our Church is way chill too. It was built abut a year ago and it is awesome!! It has two floors and everything is really really clean! It is alot different than Pachuquilla. The members here are really cool too. The Bishop lived in Provo a few years so he knows quite a bit of English, he also is a big help, alot different than Pachuquilla haha.

My comp doesn't know a bit of English, oh well haha. One of my favorite things about the City is that here there are Moto Taxis. What they are, is just a motorcyle and behind it there is a little cart that they pull around hahaha you can go anywhere in our area for 10 pesos if you use the Moto Taxis!! But we usually walk most places. Here there is a lot more food in the street!! It is delicious haha but I did have the runs this morning haha. I swear there are taco stands on every corner, every where you look you can find tacos haha. To get to our all of our meetings and stuff we have to take the Subway, haha it doesn't take very long to know how to use it, its pretty easy. Sometimes the Subway is jam packed haha and you have to squeeze in there!

Everything here is the City is alot faster paced than Pachuca, sometimes it is hard to get people to stop and listen to you. This last week we only taught a total of 7 lessons! That is really low, it should be up in the 20s but this week we will do alot better. Now we know the area and have a few investigators, we should have a lot more success this week. Once again I had to talk in Sacrament meeting this week but we were running low on time so I only had to bare my testimony. Elder Garcia was pretty nervous to be talking in front of everybody.

But ya I finally saw Kayd this week haha. He is also training, his area is really doing good right now!! But ya he looks a little bit different haha. But it was good to see him and get to talk to him for a little while. Before we left transfers, we forgot to take a picture together so we still don't have a picture of us together here in Mexico.

But overall, I'm super happy with the switch, I don't think I would have lasted another cycle there in Pachuca. So I'm happy to be here in the City. Well I hope the Super Bowl goes really good and its a good game!! I really miss football and sports but oh well haha. I think today we are going to play soccer with some kids here in the ward. Elder Garcia really likes sports too so that is something that we have in common. I don't think he has ever used the internet before he didn't know what to do when we got here to email.

Well gotta go, have a good week and SuperBowl Sunday!! Hope that the weather is warming up a little!!! I attached the pic of the baptism so you guys can see who my comp is. Talk to you all next week!! Love ya!

Elder Chambers

Monday, January 24, 2011

Hey Family,

Hey guys how is everything? Things here in Mexico are going good still and the work is picking up a little. Sounds like its not to cold back home, in the 40's in January isn't bad at all.

This week we had another baptism, it was una niña who is 14 years old. She was super shy but in the end she wanted to get baptized. I ended up baptizing her, it went really good. Well we got big news yesterday, this Tuesday is transfers. In the mission your first companion is called your dad and when you train your newbie is called your son. Well we heard Yesterday that Elder Castro will be staying here in Pachuquilla. And I, remember the whole dad/son thing, am pregnant! Yep I am going to have a son! So I have transfers, we have to go to Mexico tomorrow and I will receive my brand new, fresh out of the MTC, Mexicano Companion. I still don't know what area we will be in, we find all that out tomorrow. But, for now I will have to say farewell to Pachuquilla and Elder Castro haha. Oh well.

This week, on Friday, was my 6 month mark in the mish. And well me and Elder Castro started the tradition by burning ties. I sent some pictures, but just let me tell you a tie doesn't burn very easy! It took about 20 minutes to get the job done. And I ended up burning my finger, a piece of my tie that was burning fell off the main part of the tie and onto my finger. So I started jumping around shaking my finger saying ouch ouch, Elder Castro thought that was pretty funny!! Now I have a white burn mark on my finger.

This week we also had an Zone Activity, once again we went to a Church and played basketball and soccer. But this time I was able to put up the nets that you guys sent me haha. So it was a lot better!!! This week I also bought me a watch. I feel like Dad, all the time now I'm looking at the watches. But I bought me an orange Tommy Hilfiger watch, but I'm pretty sure it is fake it was only 11 dollars, but it looks ballin!!! Elder Castro told me it will probably stop working in about a month or two haha but I really wanted it. We'll see how long it lasts!

Another cool thing happened this week, Miguel was ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood this Sunday. He asked me to do it so I got to ordain him. It was pretty cool but a little hard in Español, because the truth is is that I've never done it in English or Español! But it went good it was a cool experience.

Well not much else happened this week. I got the letter from the Kites, and today I got a bunch of emails from my friends too. I should have a lot more information next week about where I am and who I am with. So I guess I'll talk to you more next Monday. Bye love you guys!! Tell all the fam hi for me!!!

Elder Beanz

Monday, January 17, 2011

Hola Familia,

Hey everyone, sounds like life back in Cache Valley is going good and normal. Things here in Mexico are going good too, and for the most part normal haha. We ended up having a little bit of success this week.

Saturday was Miguels baptism, it went really really good. That is one thing that bothers me here, is that they don't plan anything!! All the baptisms are getting lined up the day before or the day of haha. And most of the time only the direct family members of whoever is getting baptized is there, there are usually no members there. Haha it is alot different than the baptismal services back in Utah. But this one went really good, and there was actually alot of members there. After the baptism I gave Miguel a sick Purple Paisley Tie that I bought him, haha maybe one day he will want to be a missionary. He was really happy after his baptism.

This week here has been really cold, mostly because it has been super windy here. But now it is startin to warm up again. How is everything going back home how are all the cows and other animals doing with the cold weather? I think it is about time for another batch of pictures eh? Haha

Well in the package that you guys sent with Curtis, it sounds like Mom sent me a Book of Mormon. But I never got it, there was no Book of Mormon in the bags, so who knows what happened. Also I tried using the gift card to buy Miguels tie but it rejected the card. I am going to try and buy something else and if it still doesn't work I will send it home.

Transfers are coming up soon, actually they are next Tuesday. I don't think that me and Elder Castro will be staying together for another cycle. I'm pretty sure one of us will be leaving. The truth is, is that I hope I can go somewhere else, I want to see different parts of the mission and have new experiences, but we will see what happens. If I stay here in Pachuquilla, oh well.

This week we had a funny experience, we went to this door and knocked there. Then when the guy answered the door I started explaining who we are and what not. Then he interrupted me and said wait wait first of all there is a doorbell!!! He then continued to rant on about how he hates it when people knock on the door instead of using the doorbell!! Hahaha it was all I could do not to start laughing right in his face! Who gets mad about knocking instead of using a doorbell!!

This past week we have also found like 6 people who could talk english. The people that can talk english always always have to talk to me. They always start with Hey man where you from?? Haha I always talk back to them in Spanish. Haha so the whole conversation they are talking english and I'm talkin Spanish haha.

This week we had to talk again in Sacrament. But this talk was a lot better than my first haha. I mean a lot better! I talked about the Holy Ghost, it was really neat to see my progress with the language so far!! It went on for about 15 minutes without me even realizing, it was only supposed to be 8 min. haha. Oh well. After a bunch of people said that I did really good. And after Church the Bishop found me and said "Now, now you've learned Spanish" haha. They can tell a big difference in my progress too. But I still have alot to learn still. But I finally feel like I can say anything that I need to say, and I can understand almost everything. It has taken me 3 months here in Mexico, and about 6 months in the mission to finally feel mas o menos comfortable with the language. O ya this Friday is my 6 month mark in the Mish. Woo hoo! I've only gotta do what I've just did 3 more times haha. But the time out here in the field is going so much faster than the MTC. Before long I will have a year haha. Jk.

Well gotta run, I forgot my camera so you will have to wait until next week for pics of the baptism. Love all you guys!! Peace out!

Elder Beanz

Monday, January 10, 2011

Hola Familia,

Well this week has went by pretty fast. I hope all is well back home and everyone can recooperate from the all the Holidays. All the kids had to go back to school today so I imagine that it is the same there. No more Christmas break haha.

Well we ended up not baptizing Miguel yesterday. We found out that he had a problem with question 4 in the baptismal interview. So he had to meet with President Hicken before he could be cleared to be baptized. So we set up an appointment with President Hicken at 5 pm yesterday. Then yesterday Miguel wasn't in Church and we couldn't get ahold of him. We even left Church and went to his house to look for him, but he wasn't there. We found his Mom there and she didn't know where he was either. We tried calling him probably 30 different times. Then it came time to leave for Mexico to meet with Pres. but we still didn't know where in the world Miguel was. Then he texted us, and said that he had had car troubles and his phone had been dead. So we rushed to the bus station and were able to get to Mexico on time to meet with President. After the interview, President told us he was cleared to be baptized so we will baptize him this Saturday. It was a really cool experience. We did all that was possible to find Miguel but we couldn't find him. We called him, called his family, left Church and went to his house, but we couldn't get ahold of him. We finally decided that we had done all we could and we needed to have faith in the Lord. So we went back to Church and prayed for help, then right when it was time to leave for the interview we found him. God is always going to be willing to help us, but first we must show that we are willing to receive his help. First we must do all that we can do, then we can put our trust in God that all will turn out well. It was a testimony builder haha. I'm pretty sure Elder Castro is going to baptize him.

Thanks for the package it was dizope!!! It was like a Christmas at home!! It had all the things that I wanted! I had been wanting a football, and a CD Player for a while now haha. So thanks! Elder Castro is in love with the Chex mix stuff that you sent. He couldn't stop eating it, by the end of the day we had it all eaten haha. Oh and thanks for the tie haha it is sick! Elder Castro wants it but I ain't givin it to him haha. Talking with Curt was nice but I'm pretty sure it was against the rules haha oh well. Well this package had pretty much everything, I don't need one for my birthday now, but seriously I don't need anything now haha. Oh ya I sent one gift card back home but the other one I can use here in Mexico, so I kept it.

On Friday, I had an opportunity to give my first blessing in Spanish, actually my first blessing ever haha. It was really cool. And guess who it was with! Yep, Azucena, she is sick right now so we went and gave her a blessing. Haha It is pretty cool to be able to say that my first blessing was with the same person who was my first baptism.

This week we contacted a lady and she didn't want to learn more, then we crossed the street and kept going. Then later in the day we passed the same lady. But this time she stopped us and said, "here take it, take it, it's all I have." Haha she gave us 30 pesos haha, we tried to tell her no its ok you don't need to give us money but she wasn't going to let us leave without it haha. So me and Elder Castro went and ate tacos that night haha.

Well that is about it for this week. Gotta Run but I love all you guys. La Iglesia es verdadera! Peace out!

Elder Beanz

Monday, January 3, 2011

Hola Familia,

Hey guys how is everything going this week? Hope the New Year started out good, what did you guys do on New Years? Me and Elder Castro had to be in our house by 6 pm on new years eve. It is a rule that President gave us, so we made mac n cheese and played chess. After we played turista (monopoly) Castro had never played before but he wasted me. haha Then we ended up going to bed at 10:30 haha it was quite the New Years. Also on New Years day it was just like Chrismas again, there was absolutely nobody in the streets when we left our house at 11. We did somehow manage to have two lessons though they went good and they said they would go to Church but they weren't there yesterday, the people here in Pachuquilla are a bunch of mentirosos.

Haha this week we had to go to our ward mission leaders house for something. While we were there I saw some oranges laying there on the table so I started to Juggle. Haha our Mission Leader freaked out, he thought that it was the coolest thing in the world haha. He knows a little bit of english so he kept saying, Oh my Gosh and Wow. hahaha it was like he turned into a 5 year old kid haha. Now he wants me to teach him how to do it. Maybe I need to juggle for the investigators haha.

Well this Sunday was almost the same as the last. Cesar couldn't show up because he had car troubles or somethin, but Miguel came again. He is excited for his baptism, it will be this Sunday if all goes to plan. He is a stud, yesterday we were in a class and the bishop said "In the ward we have 170 active members" haha and after this Miguel leaned over to us and whispered "171" haha. It was awesome. He also signed up to help clean the Church with us next Saturday. Haha He also wants to visit Utah when I get back and go skiing with me haha. So all is well with him but after his baptism we will be close to starting over again, we don't really have any that are progressing really good, because they aren't making it to Church. Even the members struggle to make it to Church, especially with the time change, now our Church is at 9 in the morning, there was only about 30 people there when the meeting started. I don't know why first ward ever complained about numbers haha.

I hope everyone got all my letters. I don't know when I will be able to send lots like that again, they took forever to write. Oh and if you guys want me to look for anything to buy you guys here in Mexico tell me and I will look. I have a good gift planned out for Mom but it is too heavy to send home, I will have to take it with me in my luggage when I come home.

Well I don't know if you guys have heard before but there is a tradition of missionaries. When you have six months you burn a tie, then when you have a year you burn a shirt, then one and a half years you burn one of your pants, haha then when you have two years . . . your suit hahaha. I am getting close to the tie haha I have a really crappy one that an Elder, who finished his mission already, gave me, I think that one will be the victim. Haha

Not much else happened this week. I finished off the candy that I got from Christmas so now I'm back to eatin tamales and mazapan for food haha. Today we are gonna go to walmart maybe I will buy some candies to snack on this week. Also today we are goin to play ping pong and pool with Miguel. He says that he likes ping pong haha we'll see if he is good or not. My comp has never played ping pong so it should be interesting haha.

Gotta run but I love you guys, hope everything is going good back home. Keep up the daily scripture readin and las oraciones. Talk to you guys next Monday, hopefully we got some pics of a baptism haha. Peace out, Later

Elder Chambers