Feeling sick....

What an excellent week! I look forward to all the Portland adventures I will do with you guys when I'm back. 6 months 15 days and counting...

I'm glad Jake is doing so well with European history. I'm also glad that the office is doing well! That's an answer to many prayers. 

Today I went on a little first world adventure, as well! Elder V and I went down to Plaza Crystal, the biggest mall in the mission, and walked around taking a look at everything. It reminds me of home... even all the store names are in English... We went to McDonald's for lunch for the fun of it.

Okay, today I am feeling really sick. I felt a little off when I got up and we went to go play soccer right away. Bad idea. Next time I will refrain from playing... especially from playing so hard. I felt completely out of it. After hot chocolate, some powerade, a banana, and a trip to get a peek at first world life again, I'm feeling a little better. Nonetheless if I stay the same tomorrow I'm not getting out of bed. Rest is the best medicine. No, I didn't drink bad water. I'll make sure to buy lots of electrolite drinks and rest up a lot this week. Fortunately every house in the mission is well equipped with medicine for every need. I already took fever medicine. Tonight I'll ask Elder V for a blessing and with that and the power of prayer I'll feel better in no time. Lesson learned: if you feel bad, don't play soccer. I hope I'm just extremely tired and not feeling well. That would be ideal.

It feels great being in the coolest city in the mission for six months. The Lord blessed me dearly to be in Xalapa all summer. Veracruz gets very hot and humid, except Xalapa, so I'm a lucky dog to avoid 100 plus degree days like the ones I had in Tuxpan.

This week we found the most golden investigator I have ever met. His name is A, a 48-year old lawyer. The Lord has truly been preparing him to receive the gospel. He's also one of the few people I have taught in this area who is just so ready to learn all about the gospel. Just like M, A is a lawyer, which made Elder V and I laugh a little bit. Let's just contact all the lawyers in our area, then!

Want money?

Work!

Funny graffito on a loan afiche we spotted.

My collection of World Cup Coke bottles.

More from paradise

It's actually true - when the mission starts winding down, time goes faster. What a blessing I'm experiencing.

Elder V and I had a fun week, as usual. We're still struggling to find interested people, but that doesn't bug me. I think that's why President is keeping me here for so long. He knows that I'm totally fine with just working hard and doing my best - I don't need to see "results" to be happy.  I have been able to love the members and get to know them in such a great way because I have been here so long, and that is such a great blessing to me.  I absolutely love this ward and the families I have been able to fellowship and serve during my stay here.  I am a happy person.  I am in Xalapa, Mexico and that is something to be happy about.

One member got quite offended this past week. The second time something like this has happened on the mission. Elder V and I were talking together in ''tú,'' as we always do. She told us to stop doing that and to talk in ''usted'' because that's what the rule is. She had never told us that in the 5 months I've been in Xalapa. We told her quite jokingly (because we always joke around with that sister) that the rule we actually have is to use ''usted'' when it is culturally appropriate (because that is the actual rule) and that talking to another person of one's own age in ''usted'' is actually culturally inappropriate. Elder V and I continued conversing in ''tú.'' We have no idea what happened in her brain that night, but now she's extremely angry at us and won't talk to us or let us into her house. It caught us totally off guard because we always joke around with her like that and she jokes around back. Last Friday I guess she was fighting some kind of internal battle and our innocent comments pushed her over the edge. I'm so sad about the misunderstanding, but that's alright. Hopefully she will realize there was no harm intended at all. Don't worry. Las cositas así ni sueño me dan. (Things like that don't affect me at all.) Just thought I'd share a random story with you about how people can choose to be offended. (See Elder Bednar's ''And Nothing Shall Offend Them'')

Speaking of Elder Bednar, General Conference was a blast. I love watching it in English, so I set up the Gringo room again and we starting watching in English. When it was announced that there was going to be a talk in Chinese we were all totally surprised. When the translation dub began, one Elder commented, ''So this is what the rest of the world feels like...'' I agree with you, I think the 70 who gave those talks in other languages did it to show the other cultures that they are important and to show that the gospel is the same worldwide. The 70 who spoke in Spanish do have excellent English skills. Elder Gavarret visited the MTC while I was there and that awesome Puerto Rican doctor is basically American.

For the two Spanish talks we simply pulled up Canal Mormón and started watching the talks in Spanish. I wanted to do the same for the Portuguese talk, so we tried it, but the other 4 gringos didn't understand any of it and we changed back to the dubbed translation. Spanish and Portuguese are so similar! It makes me laugh how similar they are. I guess I'm just able to hear through the accent or something. I understood about 95% of the talk in Portuguese. The translation for the Chinese talk was super cool. In any case, I loved the fun addition to conference.

Thanks for the yummy treats with French packaging!

 My little friend showing me Los Voladores in her school workbook.

 I found the greatest América souvenir of all time at the market.

 The best haircut place in all of Mexico.  Well worth the $3.70.  It is the most I have paid for a haircut in Mexico, but nobody does a better job.

Six more weeks in Xalapa!!!

Woo-hoo!!!!! You're never going to guess what transfers are!!!! Exactly the same! I'm staying with Elder V another transfer!!!! Ya-hooooo!!!!!!

It was absolutely unexpected. I had actually already packed my bags. I'm so excited: 1, being in one area for four transfers. That's a typical amount of time for a missionary to be in an area but it had never happened to me. Now it will! 2, being with Elder V for another transfer is going to be so fun. 3, more time to live in the coolest city of the mission!

Turns out I will be 6 more weeks with my Salvadorean companion. Quite excellent news! He is doing better about his dad's death. When he goes back to El Salvador he wants to study civil engineering. The nerds who plan out bridges and roads and all those things.  He is super smart.

What a stressful week for you at the office! At least things could all get figured out.

Dad sent me the pictures of the lawn - it does look significantly better than it did last week. I miss the good old northwest forest we have right behind our house.

Oh, Savvy boo... I remember that was the first week I spent away from home, too. Now here I am for 104 consecutive weeks away from home.

What other news do I have for this week...

One of the ward members brought his family to church last week... and nobody in his family is a member! We had three investigators at church Sunday thanks to him. 

I'm still so happy at transfer news that I can't even think of what else to write! Oh, yes. A few weeks ago you asked me what to say in Spanish if something went bad. Two Mexican idioms in use are ''Te chupó el perro'' (the dog sucked you) and ''te cargó el payaso'' (the clown picked you up). You can change the object pronoun however you'd like to give it a different meaning. I've been meaning to write those for a few weeks but I always forget.

Until next week.

Moving along

Crazy how quickly time can go, and yet it seems like it has been forever.  Right after winter officially ends, I'll be back at home with you guys! Only 7 more months to go... these will be the fastest months of my mission. I know it.

Correct, transfers are coming up next week!  I likely won’t be with Elder V after that, but I look forward to whatever adventure lies ahead.

Not a whole lot of exciting news to share with you this week... lots and lots of people contacted and not a lot of people who are interested. M is the strongest convert I've had on the mission. After reading and praying about several talks from last general conference about a month ago he received a strong confirmation of the gospel's truthfulness. He recognizes the Holy Ghost, reads several chapters from the Book of Mormon every day, and looks forward to going to the temple soon. He is experiencing eternal blessings from the 30 seconds we spent saying hi to him in the street one day.

It's been raining hard recently. (Is it proper to contract ''it has'' in that manner?) I know it rains a lot in Oregon, but the rain that pours down here almost daily astounds me. Today when we went to play soccer the field had a giant puddle in the middle. That made it even more fun.

With Elder V things are going well. We still keep talking about soccer and everything else that keeps him happy. He seems to be getting over his dad's death, but he still gets very tired frequently.  He is so strong to have handled this burden.

Fiesta time

 I'm so glad everything went well for Zac's baptism!

I love when the Lord performs tender mercies for us like that without us knowing. How fun to have Betsy at the office!

I love hearing the news about all of the kids.  It helps me remember that my family back home is real and not just some crazy memory or imaginary thing to me.  I miss so many things about home, but I am so happy I am in Mexico.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day... I miss singing hymns in English. Hymns are definitely not at all the same translated.

This week was kind of rough for us workwise. Now that Milton and Julia are members we're kind of left without people to teach. There's not a lot of people who are ready in this moment to accept the gospel. Thankfully Dad gives wonderful advice about what to do in this type of situation!

Friday was the Noche Mexicana and it was a blast. I think more than 1,200 people showed up. That's greater than the number of active members in Xalapa! Zazil-Ha and Abril along with their entire dance group danced all the traditional Mexican songs and I was almost tearing up because after every dance tiny little Abril would always look right at me and give me the most darling smile. Because their mom was busy changing their outfits after every dance she couldn't take pictures. I took lots of pictures and gave them all to Sister Isis, who probably sent them to you yesterday. Today is going to be my last Mexican Independence Day in Mexico ever... well, the 16th is technically the actual holiday, but everybody parties the day before. Our curfew is at 7 o'clock tonight so we will be safely back home before the real party starts in the city tonight.

Missionary mannequins

Happy Birthday, Mom. 

 I haven't seen Elder D since our first day in Mexico. I wonder what's become of him! I know he's still in the mission, but we've never been in the same zone.

Yes, Elder V is doing better.  We had an easy week because I didn’t want to stress him out with the burden he is carrying.  But he is doing great and is ready to work hard again.  I still can’t imagine having a parent die while I was on a mission.  But I am proud of him for staying on his mission.  The spirit truly can comfort us in ways we can never imagine until it happens.  We had some fun this week and took some silly pictures like the one above to keep his mind off of the sadness.

To answer your question, in Mexico it's more common to say manejar. In Spain they say conducir.  I was thinking about those verbs the other day. ''How weird would it sound to say 'I'm managing a car?' '' Then I thought about the etymology of 'drive' and I'm pretty sure it comes from driving a horse team, which has an even funnier application to the concept of moving a vehicle.

I can't wait to eat cookies again. The Bimbo company equivalent (Marinela) are nowhere as good. Although I love Bimbo bread, chocolate chip cookies can't be compared to homemade treats. Thanks for taking such good care of me. 

We really are such a blessed family. That was the first thing I learned on the mission. Even the basic blessings I never really considered as rare before the mission. None of my companions have been born in the church nor have two active parents. Not a single one of them.

And Elder V says hi to everybody, happy birthday to you, and thank you so much for everything.

Thank you dearly for sending me so many packages. I keep all the boxes I can because they represent how much you love me and miss me. I just hope that being a good missionary make it worth it for you!

 A chihuahua in my mochilla.  How did that happen?

Trying on glasses.  I liked these ones as well.

Pray for my companion

Elder V's dad died and President Greer just told Elder V today in the morning. We took a taxi down to the offices where President talked with Elder V and gave him a blessing and everything. He is going to be staying in the mission with me and relying on the Savior to help him get through his trial. It's basically the worst thing that can happen to a missionary. So I'm just going to send a lot of fun pictures today.  We don't have much time for email.  Just please pray for Elder V that he will be comforted and be able to bear this burden.

I can't possibly imagine anything worse that could happen to a missionary. It's a good thing everything is going so well for us and he's so happy and stress free or I think it would be unbearable for him. He says on the mission is the best place for him to be for something like this to happen to him.

I'm so glad we were left together for this transfer.  We are truly brothers and I am glad I can be with him during this difficult time.