WEEKLY UPDATE #28

November 13, 2017

"Hey everyone!! 

This week was a little worse than last week but i have a lot of faith that it will get better! Training has been going well, right now I'm teaching Elder Canche how to listen to the spirit, and it has been going pretty well. 

Today was super fun!! We went bowling as a zone and I won hahaha!! Then after that my comp and I went to Wendy´s... and we were about to leave cause everything there was too expensive for missionaries hahaha. But then all of a sudden I hear "Hey, how's it going elder" at first i was like ENGLISH WHAT?! It was a business man here on a business trip, he told us that he served his mission in El Salvador and started to explain everything in spanish cause my comp was completely lost. I told him that we were about to leave cause we didn't want to spend too much money on food and he said "Order whatever you want ill pay for it!" and I asked "are you sure?" then he said "of course im sure!" Its crazy the things that happens here in the mission!! Im so greatful for this man that covered us at Wendy´s. 

This sunday we had stake conference and the talks were amazing!! You could feel the spirit so strong! Im glad that we were able to bring an investigator aswell!! 

I dont have anymore time so there you guys go hahha! Heres some fotos! LOVE YOU GUYS! Also i found marshmallow mateys here in Mexico!!!!"

It's the little things...

So, Davis's emails he sends to his Dad and I are usually just answering questions, so we ask a lot of questions to help him write a little more than his general emails.

I asked Davis about the picture of his Zone in costumes...if it was for Halloween or Day of the Dead and he told me they put on a play about the Book of Mormon for a Stake activity. He said there weren't any celebrations where he was. He said,"I was disappointed!! I heard that closer to downtown it was big but i live on the outskirts of the city."  

Talking about the weather in Chihuahua he said, "The air's already cold but the sun is really hot, when you hit some shade its immediately winter hahaha. I want your temps hahaha!"

I told Davis that three of his cousins are talking about getting married this Spring and his response was, " Wow so many weddings and no ones gonna wait for elder mcdonald!! hahaha!!" I doubt anyone will want to wait that long.

One of his investigators told him, "she wont be in her house anymore and was super sad, she said when i can i will come and find you guys hahaha!"

I asked him about the members in his ward(s)--if they invite them over for anything and he said, "not as much with members inviting us, but i have a handful that help us with driving investigators to church. Finally one invited us to do something, she said one pday her husband and her are going to take us to a fancy meat buffet and pay for us!! Also the Elders quorum president is gonna make us burgers next sunday! We just had a play and it was super awesome!"

I asked him for advice I could give my Sunday School class on being more spiritually self reliant and he said, "I would just have them start with making their personal plan to read the bom everyday and put goals on when to finish and how they will acompish it." Great advice for anyone.

"We have district/zone mtg every tuesday and mtgs with the ward mission leader every wednesday. Also once every 6 weeks we have zone conference with president and his assistants."

I asked him what they do in their "down time" (if they have any) and P Days. He said, "We dont have much downtime but i normally write in my journal and read hahaha! Elder Canche is learning english with me in our free time. On pdays we clean the house, buy groceries, sometimes we do zone activities if not my comp and i go eat somewhere or meet up with other missionaries to do something..."

"This sunday we had stake conference and it was super packed and the talks were amazing!!"

"They dont celebrate thanksgiving here but we'll see if a member is kind enough to help a brother celebrate his traditions hahaha. Im not missing too much there i guess haha!"

He seems a little homesick for the first time. Just saying he misses people. It's probably due to the Holidays that are coming. Wish I could give him a big hug!

Last week, Davis told me they had their electricity turned off for one night. He was super stressed about it. He said they had to take their groceries to their zone leader's place. I told him it was a good life lesson and to not stress, it's already done and learn from it. I asked him how things were this week and he said, "Yes we got our electricity back! It was stressful but we did it!! I hope so too! (when I asked about learning from it) Yes we had to get the groceries and everything! We took 6 buses in total that day... Hahaha We werent late with the bill, i know when each of the bills are due, but here in mexico it works different as soon as you pay they cut your light until you update the box but i forgot my card to update it and they already closed and we couldnt update the box."

It looks like he and Elder Canache had some fun taking pictures in the dark that night....

Note the reflection in the mirror. Reminds me of the 70s/80s pictures we used to get.