They Say I have a Good Spirit

Me and the crazy people I talked about last week who throw flour at people y are drunk.

My week was great because on Tuesday we had a 3-zone activity. First we went to the zoo, then the park y played only for an hour because it was hot, then we had lunch, then we watched Meet the Mormons, in Spanish, of course. But the spirit was strong. We all cried y some of us, including me, got a good feeling throughout our entire body. But it was good.

At the Tuxtla zoo with my comp y another missionary.

Well yesterday I figured out I have 7 weeks left in Coita. On April 13 I will have been here for 6 months. That is crazy! Nobody told me that I’m leaving, but it is usually just 6 months here y you go. There is a transfer next week then another on April 13. Changes are every 6 weeks y April 13 is a the next y then I will have been here 6 months y a week.  Maybe it could be next week, but no missionary left early. Unless it is what the Lord wants, so you better send my package soon.

Our branch is so, so close to becoming a ward. We just need 20 Melchizedek priesthood holders paying tithing y right now we only have seven. So tomorrow we y the branch president are going to the less actives y try to bring them back. Once Coita is a ward they are also going to make our building bigger. We had a district meeting about doing more lessons, but shorter, like 20 min. So the next day that is what we did. We did 9 lessons to 5 less actives y 4 with investigators. We challenged Roberto for March 7th y Karla y Leonardo for baptizmo on April 3rd.

The boy on the sofa is an investigator named Leonardo.

 It’s going to be great. This Saturday with Elder Dallin H.Oaks all the missionaries from the whole mission are coming y that is a lot but it will be good. The missionaries said I have a good spirit y I am always happy y bring the spirit everywhere. The members here always want me to say the prayer because they like them because they are short but the spirit in it is strong. We didn’t visit a lot of investigators because they were never home but we visited a lot of meno activos. That is all we can do until we find more new investigators. Yesterday a previous investigator visited church. His name is Alexis.  I’m talking more in lessons Elder Laurel does a part of the folleto y I do the other part. People are understanding me more but it is different with every person. Some understand me y some don’t.

So that was my week love you all y thanks a ton.

Hi Mom. Love you. Have Nate work on family history work everyday. He will have to teach it to a lot of people. 

Tell Nate and the boys nice singing.  Tell everybody I love them y miss them y Francisco good job on working.  And tell Jim I said hi.

‪The weather is so weird. One day its hot the other is cold ,or the other is raining. That was the weather this week, but right now its hot but a nice breeze.‬

Elder Laurel and I are working great together, better than Garcia. We haven’t fought y we both work together in lessons. But he doesn’t want to learn English. He is still late to personal study y won’t excercise because it is too cold for him. ‬

Gorditas

The people are still feeding me way too much.  I tell them I am full but they do anyway.  Elder Laurel just laughs at me. Our district leader in Cintalapa is jealous of us y our food because they always have chicken.  I don’t get sick anymore from the food, but I still don’t drink the water.

I got a letter from Uncle Jeff with $50! I don’t know what to do with it, y a card from Schryver’s mom for my birthday y a Christmas card from Grandma VanBuskirk. I got them on Tuesday. Tell them thank you y that I love them y thanks for the support.

‪I’ve got to go. Tell Dad I love him y thanks for total y thank you mom for total.  Tell everybody to keep being themselves y work hard y that I love all of them y miss them y that I pray for them.  Tell Fran to keep up the hard work y to learn the Book of Mormon y I love him. Love you all‬!

Hugs y kiss. Love you. Adios!

 the boy y the girl is Sada y Diego y the picture of just the girl is Sofia. 
 They are members here. 

the boy in the red shirt is Bryan, a menos activos 

I don’t know what it is called but it is only 1 peso. It is like a giant cracker with hot sauce y spicy chicken. It was good.

It's Crazy Here in Coita

Well this week was great because of the meeting with the temple president. We went in the first room for the endowment y we sang “Help Me Teach with Inspiration,” then I said the opening prayer then the president talked about the different ordinances of the temple. Then we were able to ask any spiritual questions on the ordinances or the video. I didn’t understand a lot but the spirit was so strong. Then we just did a regular session, but the president was my favorite part.

Well yesterday was Coita’s first time having a seventy councilor come.  His name was Reyes. So the young women sang y talked y there were flowers set up y food afterwards, because he was there y the stake president y his councilors too. Then they told us that the movie Meet the Mormons is coming to the movie theaters here in Mexico on Feb. 27.  We were so happy.

Well, the members here are all worry for me because I have been losing a lot of weight, so when I go over to eat, I eat the meal then they ask if I want more. Then I say no, but they give me more anyway, so I finish the second one y then they gave me a third helping, or even more sometimes. Laurel only eats the first serving, but I eat 3 to 4 servings.

Well on Friday I spent a day with our district leader y he told me I know a lot of Spanish vocab, I just need to work on the prestions y pronouncing my words. Well, we visited Lupita y Andre y Tono again and we talked to them about the importance of going to church y baptism.  Lupita felt the spirit because she was about to cry two times - one time was when I told her I’m leaving in April y I said my meta is to baptize your ninos Andre y Tono. Y she said yes.

 Well the week we visit another investigator named Karla y her 10 year old boy named Leo. They love drinking tea, so we taught them the word of wisdom, so they stopped drinking the bad ones but they gave us tea all the time, like lemongrass. It was good. We also invited Karla over tonight for family home evening at Isabel’s house. We didn’t teach Roberto this week because he is never there y Jose Maria just finished his divorce y now we just need him to be married for baptism. Once again we had only one investigator in church, so please pray for us with that. Well tomorrow is no work because we are going to the zoo y playing sports with our zone so we can get closer with them y I heard just maybe watch Meet the Mormons, but I don’t know. That will be fun.

It’s crazy here in Coita right now. There is a big tradition where people were bells on their pants y masks y carry bloody knives y throw flour at people . It is just in the hermanas’ side of town, but they will throw flour at anybody. It ends on Wed. I don’t think it is a holiday, just a weird tradition.  There are lots of fireworks and people walking down the street covered in flour. It’s so crazy. The kids don’t have school until Thursday. I can’t take pictures because it isn’t in our area.

That was my week love you all y miss you a ton Thanks for everything. Adios!!!!!!

Love you so much. I love reading the card for Valentines. I love you y thanks.  Wow, thanks for the photos. The house looks great. Is that even our house?

I’m doing great. Tell everybody I miss them y love them y I think about them all the time y pray for them individually. Tell Dad hi for me, y that I love him y thanks for the support.

Xoxoxoxoxo

this is a fruit called nooney. It heals cancer but nobody eats it
because it smells very bad. I didn’t try it because it wasn’t ripe. 

‪the bananas are called apple bananas 

because they are sweet ‬and round

the drink is pineapple water. we get a lot here

Crazy Story of the Week

Here is a funny story. Well, we were walking to an investigator’s when a women came out of her house running to us y talked to Elder Laurel. She said “you are the Mormon missionaries?” y Laurel said “yes.”  Then she said, “come in.” So went in her house y her husband was drinking a big bottle of alcohol y his shirt was unbuttoned. Then the wife said to the husband, they are Mormon missionaries so listen to them. They speak the word of God.” Then she went up y went in a different room y grabbed a pass-along card y said “is this you guys?” We said “yes.” So we try to teach them that our bodies are temples, but every time we speak the wife will tell the husband to pay attention y listen to us because we speak the words of God. Then she will run outside when the neighbors come home y invite them to hear the words of God. So that happened about 3 to 4 times in the lesson. Then the husband tells her to be quiet.  Then he got up, shook my hand, y went on his knees y said “I love you because you speak English y you are a gringo” y he said “you are my friend” then he said some words he wanted me to repeat it in English. Then his wife said, “he really does love you.” So we finally said a closing prayer y the wife said a good prayer. Then the husband wanted to, but his prayer was just saying random words y then during the prayer the wife would tell him the ending. Then at the end we said bye y the husband gave me a hug y he said “goodbye my friend.” So that is my crazy story of the week.

This week was great because we got two free rides from taxis. One was a menos activo (less active) y he likes the missionaries. Then the other one beep-beeped at us while we were walking y I say “beep” back y then he stops y he said “I like how your friend beeped at me so free ride,” then he gave us a fist bump. All you hear here is beep beep, so I just say beep beep back to them.

So once again we had one investigator in church, Jose Maria. Our biggest problem is our investigators no visit the church y finding new investigators. Our investigators tells us they feel the spirit, like the Lulu family had tears in their eyes y they felt the spirit when we talked to them about the word of wisdom. Y like Amparo.  She tells us she feels good when we visit. One thing the people love talking to us about is what we think of the day of rest. Because in other religions they say it is on Saturday so they don’t work y hang with their family. But we tell them its on Sunday y we talk more about it. Sometimes they keep on fighting with us so we bear our testimonies y others invite us for a lesson so we can teach them more. A cool fact is the Baptist Bible has the word Saturday written as the day of rest and that is why a lot of people ask us what we think.

Well on Friday was zone conference it was about being more obedient with the commandments y the rules. I also got 3 packages from my family y brother Bruner y sister Frailey y a card from Joy. Thanks everybody for my packages.

Oh by the way, we got word that on Feb. 28 Dallin H. Oaks is going to speak to us y they told us to come up with some questions for him to answer.

One thing people love to give us here is water of fruits y vegetables of any kind. You just add water the fruit or vegetable y some sugar in a blender y mix it. So far I’ve had cucumber y mangos y cantalope y pineapple y a lot more water. 

They have a lime here that looks like a lime on the outside but the inside is orange so it tastes like a sour orange. Its a tradition here not to eat with other people so they give us food y stay for the prayer, then leave us to eat alone. But other members not from Coita eat y talk with us.

Elder Laurel and I are great. He says thanks for the candy.  He still won’t do exercise.  But we are working great.

That was my week love you all y miss you a ton. Thanks for the love y support. Adios!!!!!!!

I’ve got to go. I love you a ton. Tell Nate if he see my friends to tell them to write me. Tell everybody I love them y tell them to keep up the hard work y Nate with wrestling y Francisco on the spirit y work. Love you a ton. Thanks Mom y Dad for total.

I KNOW YOU LOVE ME, MY WHOLE FAMILY DOES!

this is Jazmine, a girl in the ward

‪ The boy with my comp is Jazmine’s brother. He is helping their mom put up a screen for the door.

the food is beans pig legs meat.

The scenery is in Bonampack, a town 5 min from Coita. We go there for food because of the members.‬

They Just Need Our Help and Love

This week was great because we finally had 3 investadores in church. In the past month we only had 1 or none. Well about 3 weeks ago we challenged Omero to no alcohol y smoking for a week we visited him on Monday y his sister Olgui told us he smoked y drank again after 15 days. We ask him why after 15 days y he said “I had no money but my friends bought it for me.” Then we said “those are not your friends.” In every lesson he loves pointing his index finger up y say some words to answer something. Like this week he put up his index finger y said “thank you words of God” in English or like last week he said “thank you God”. He told my companion he loves me because I’m nice to him y I smile a lot. He said we are buddies. Well we try to help him as much as possible but he is always drunk. Like this week he made us beans y jamica. The food got me sick but it was good. He just needs someone to help him y love him that is why we are there.

Well, we found our old investigator, Roberto, again in his grandma’s house, so we challenged him to be baptized this week. We are happy. Well, Jose Maria is listo for baptism.  He is still waiting for a answer from God on the Book of Mormon y the church y because he is now starting to live with HNA Olgui again they first need to get married. So we are bummed about that. Isabel’s son, Zac, turned in his mission papers in this week so we are all waiting for his call. On Feb. 11 the temple president is going to speak to our zone. I love watching “Finding Faith in Christ” to the investigators or menos activos (less actives) because they show the oasis in CA. 

 I got a whole bunch of dear elders y a card from the Flores family y my Christmas package. We are having a hard time finding new investigators y getting our old ones to come to church. Y Lupita, Andre y Tono’s mom, dosen’t want us to visit them anymore. We visit them y Tono says “mom is here” then Andre said to him “no” then they both say “no”. They y Alexandra can’t stop drinking coffee that is one big problem here. Then Andrea y her 2 sons want us to visit but the dad, no.  Before they invited us in, now we teach outside y the kids look sad when we teach them y we ask why y the say nothing. They have visited the church before in Tuxtla y once here. So we have a lot of problems but we are trying to fight through them. Well yesterday we had a menos activo family come back to church besides the mom y a son, but the dad y the 2 daughters yes. That made us happy. So that was my week. Love you y all y miss you a ton. Thanks for all your support. 

ADIOS!!!!!!!

I got my package this week. Thanks so much.  I love the tie thing. Such a great idea. You missed some people, but it is fine.

 I love you.

Tell Nate good job on the wrestling y Dylan y Luke I love him y good job on math field day y GATE. Love you all.