What Is His Obsession with Possums?!

oh here I go again

writing a letter to my family

I cannot remember

this past week, but I will try and write it more.

My adaption of that song.  

However there is no news from the Mark. I did buy some Christmas lights, I am going to catch a possum and decorate for the family that I live with for Christmas. I hope they like it, they have possums here, I sent a picture the one who was chasing me... He bit my shoe, three times.

But this week we put someone on date for the 24th of December. But he has a smoking problem so hopefully he will stop tomorrow, because He cant for two weeks before his baptism. His name is Forest, so please pray for him, so he won't want to smoke. He knows it's true, loves reading the BofM but cant stop smoking.

We had two investigators at church this week, both home schooled and dont get out much. It was so funny, they are 12 and 15 and they dont have social skills, it was so so funny. We were introducing ourselves at young mens and they took 10 minutes to do that. They're awesome, Daren and Kyle, I love them they are so funny. The mom is doing pretty good also there, she is listening to the book of mormon online, she is in chapter eight. Hopefully that keeps going well.

And that about wraps up this week. But next week:

I will be going back to Manhattan for a Christmas party! That is were I was born, in the mission! And me and my comp, Elder T from my last district, http://www.ldsliving.com/story/73858-the-call-nati-talauega , and his comp get to go back early in the day to help set up, so that is a whole day in wonderful Manhattan! 

I love you more than I love possums, even with Christmas lights on them.

[The link in Brady's letter leads to a great news segment about Elder Talauega's decision to serve a mission. He's from American Samoa and lived in Brady's apartment in his first area. Brady really likes him.] 

New Area: Burlington, and More Problems with Pants

I don't have time again, sorry, we are mailing from the church lab and there are only two computers.

This week was good. We had a baptism, photos to come later. But the story of this week is one of destruction, and a deer. After the baptism, the Emporia elders were driving home... and hit a deer, going 55 mph.

They called us to go pick them up and then we drove down and then saw the car. It was destroyed, photos to come later, and the side panel on the front was destroyed. We looked at the deer and it just looked like it needed a combover and it would be good. But the best part was when the cop asked us if we want the deer, we said no then he radioed in "anyone on the roadkill list for a deer?" They have a roadkill list!?! So awesome! People can sign up and get the roadkill and eat it!  So cool! I promise I will be more assertive next week making sure I have more time. Love you, and I didnt even get to email dad or anyone else.

Con amor, Elder Daines

I got more time so I am writing more, the come back time. But I have been thinking about what I want for Christmas, and I was thinking just like pants, I ripped another pair, and ties. And music.

My new area is burlington. It is super small. We live with members and they are cool. 

I dont know if I said this yet, but in my last area, everyone was in the military, the jobs I heard were: tank driver, demolitions, and all types of military jobs. Now it is all in a nuclear power plant. I hear, crane worker, operations and stuff like that now. Burlington is super small, by the way. 30 minutes to walk across the entire town. 1 and a half hours away from Topeka, which is the zone I am in, so lots of driving for stake conference and training and stuff.

One thing I have been working on recently is being more bold in my teaching. Like if they don't agree with something, going straight out and saying it. For example, if they dont believe in the book of mormon I would have said, "Moroni, a writer in the book said that...", now I have been saying "Moroni, a prophet of God wrote that..." Get the picture? We had a training from the APs and president about that.

Bad Jokes, More Possums, and Silly Pets

This week I broke my ankle... just kidding. I couldn't decide how to start this letter so I started with a lie. Missionary like, yeah?

Well this week was good. We have a bap on saturday, this time for sure. My second so far then. She is Kristi. I dont really know much about her. I just got here. 

But his week was cold. everyday was below freezing. One was about 18. Right now it is 31 and I forgot my jacket at home. (Burlington.) I have that nice one from dad and a member gave me less nice one for everything else. I forgot them both. Walking around in the cold. 

We had some good lessons. Lots of less actives here are getting better. Our investigators are alright. One family we we're meeting with is a dad and a boy. Dad left church after he got divorced and boy hasnt been in 7 years. The dad doesnt really take us seriously and keeps making jokes the whole time. Kinda hard to teach with him, the son is really good. Asks lots of good questions that we can then expound on. This last lesson, the dad got a phone call and had to leave, and we had a really good 2 on 1 talk with son. It was really good. Spirit was strong and he said he would come to church on Sunday. But unfortunately, he got called into work. 

That package saved me. I was almost out of Zyrtec. I had two more.  The members we live with have about 5 cats. And two awesome dogs. And two possums that come every night. One is bigger and passive. I could easily catch him again. And the other is little and rude. He chases me and bit my shoes and everything. I want to catch him, but I dont think I will... one of the dogs is a husky. She is so fun. Loves to play chase and run and run and run. But she is super obedient and loves to snuggle. One of the cats, Meriska, doesnt like to play chase. She is a kitten. I always say her name like the vampires in van helsing. Then I chase her. I usually beat her eventually. She slips on the wood a lot. I love chasing her. She doesn't.

Is He Happy? Brady Delivers His Verdict.

This week was good. We lost some investis to mexico and I dont have much time so I will write fast to save time.

I am getting transferred this week. 

My bike is in the mission home, no tengo ahorita.

I am sad because I am going to an english area.

I am sad because my comp doesnt speak spanish.

I am happy because I am a missionary.

I am happy because this past transfer was lots of fun.

I am happy because my comp Garza is awesome.

I am happy because he helped me learn spanish.

I am happy because I have photos to send home.

I am sad because I cant write much because I have to send pictures.

I am happy because Alex Boye has started recording a new album.

I am happy because it sounds awesome.

I am happy because some is in africanise.

I am happy because I am a missionary.

Verdict: I am happy, even though I am going english.

[Yes, that was the entire letter. We got lots of pics from Brady this week. Here are some of the less random ones:]

Better Than Cow Tippin' (Pictures Included!)

*Note: Aside from all of this cow excitement, he did have a baptism last week. 

This week wast the best ever! Once in a lifetime opportunity!! More to come on that later

This week's letter will be done day by day, starting on tuesday! VAMANOS

Tuesday: normal

Wednesday: during the correlation meeting, we were stuck on the bottom of town on bikes, so we called someone to pick us up

Thursday: Manhattan day, with the college. but we had to go on exchanges because we had two dinners, so we split up and I got stuck in English and on the edge of town away from the college.

Friday: Best ever. We woke up at 6 in the manana and went to mcdonalds for breakfast. Then at the church we got a ride to a farm and did service there, bahaha. ...cow service... We waited while the ranchers went and got all the cows together in one of those little metal places, you know what I am talking about, they are all over in Montana. One right by the corner where the jeep road goes onto normal road and the road goes in a sort of s shape. 

I went undercover in the middle of the cows. They noticed I wasnt a cow fairly quickly and ran away. I chased groups of them into a corral, where me and the rancher chased big ones away and put calves in another part. From there we put close to 30 calves in a little cage and me, two somoans and a rancher kid would push these baby cows that weighed over 240 pounds of muscle and loved to kick into a little pathway, lets pause in the story really quick to talk about this a little bit more. In the cage was awesome. The cows had poop all over them from the bigger cows and were fat and loved stepping on our feet. 

The best way to get them into the straight and narrow path was through baptism. Just kidding. It was to put them in a headlock and carry the head forward and someone else push in the behind and then you drop the head next to the entrance and four people push and kick the cow. 

To continue from the straight and narrow, the cows would get pushed through to the end where there was a machine that grabbed their heads so they couldnt move and then some one would give them two massive shots, stick a tag in their ear, one of those big white piercings that lots have, and then someone would castrate them. Yay.

But it gets better. There were some stubborn cows, but the cows were out in the field. Horsemen would go and lasso the cows and drag them, then we would go, they taught us how to tackle cows and we would then take them out. Two people will hold the cow while others did the things aforementioned. Pictures of that to come next week

Saturday: normal

Sunday normal.

Pictures:

Smuggling Samoans in the Trunk Is Only Natural

Yay italic is back off! I accidentally turned it on during typing of last letter and couldn't fix it! Also library was closed monday so we couldnt email then. 

However this week was great! We did work. I played There Is Sunshine in my Soul a lot this week on the ocarina, and got an awesome new person to work with. Super prepared and awesome. 

Also for pday last week we got haircuts at a member's and my friend left their phone there. So we had to go back. But their house is in Fort Riley--a military base. You need id to get in. He forgot his wallet in Manhattan. Can you see how this is going? So we went to go get it, and instead of dropping the other missionaries off and my comp and I getting it, we put a Samoan in the trunk and smuggled him into the base, like Han Solo. If we got caught we probably would have been arrested. No bueno. I dont plan on doing that again. 

I do plan on catching another possum and hopefully I plan to work my way up to an armadillo eventually. That will require some preparation on my part though. 

The new pants are working great! I wear them so I would know. And a happy note! I convinced my companion to buy me a soda at a gas station! Free soda! Yay! Also my apartment is kinda bland... maybe if you could send me some clay snowman things. That was a joke that probably didn't make sense to most of my readers at home, but to one, they will understand.

We put an investigator by the name of Marjen on date. She is cool and super distracted; it took longer to put her on date than it should. However it happened now! She is on date for the 2 of November. Fun fun fun. 

I learned to ride my bike with no handlebars. I could do it alright before, but now, I am going over bumps, through grass, and up hills! and I go like this while doing it: 

"I can ride my bike with no handlebars

No handlebars, no handlebars

I can ride my bike with no handlebars
No handlebars, no handlebars

Look at me, look at me
Hands in the air like it's good to be
Alive and I'm a famous rapper
Even when the paths are all crookedy

I can show you how to do-si-do
I can show you how to scratch a record
I can take apart the remote control
And I can almost put it back together

I can tie a knot in a cherry stem
I can tell you about Leif Ericson
I know all the words to "De Colores"
And "I'm Proud To Be An American"

Me and my friend saw a platypus
Me and my friend made a comic book
And guess how long it took
I can do anything that I want, cause look

I can keep rhythm with no metronome
No metronome, no metronome
And I can see your face on the telephone
On the telephone, on the telephone"

You get the picture right?

I love you more than I love riding my bike with now handlebars.

His New Satchel Saves the Day

Well this week was rad. Get it? First off that package arrived perfectly! It [a new satchel] is waterproof and it saved four Book of Mormons! That day I would have used my backpack, but that arrived so I didnt, later when we were biking it started to rain... 70 degree sideways rain. And my pack [the new satchel] was dry inside!! Awesome. 

Conference was good, lots about family, it was awesome. I dont have lots of time for writing right now but I will try to go fast. We put two people on date this week it is good. One is awesome, totally prepared. The other lives with a member family and is like the dad for them.  Super awesome lessons with them. 

I miss conference with you guys, not as good. I bought lots of candy for it and used 70 dollars of my 150 a month on it. Then didnt get to eat it cause we watched it in the church... estoy triste... anyways in conclusion, the package was so awesome thanks so so much. Love you, I now have MoTab Showtime, Alex Boye Spirit, Piano Guys one and two, Essential Missionary collection, and David Arch. The last one was so good, great idea mom, love you so much!!

In Which Brady Wrangles a Possum

Before I forget I need to answer your questions: I will not be transferred. We are staying. Yay. Thanks for sending, I am very excited! I will love to smell that Thorin hair, I miss that little buddy.

I keep forgeting my camera so I cant send pictures. But me and my comp caught a possum! Awesome! It was smelly and after a while it just started playing dead. Loved it. 

Also I had to give a talk this week, no bueno. No se como compartir un mensaje en espanol... I found a book of the hungry catipillar in the nursey and sort of translated that into spanish for them, then compared it to repentence. Everybody laughed...at me and my spanish. 

But this week we had a really good lesson with someone that is taking a while--her name is Marjen--about baptism. It was good. But she is also attending another church and they are pushing her to be baptised also. Right now she is listing towards the other because she identifies well with the music in that church. I feel like we can get her though.  

Also on thursday, three days before the baptism, the branch pres called us and told us he wanted to push back the baptism so he moved it back three weeks, lame. But nothing we can do. Hope it gets better soon.

Thanks so much, and other than that not much happened this week. A lot of service and possum snatchin'.

Also I forgot to tell you I went to a setting apart for a missionary this week. It was awesome and great. The stake president looks like a pirate.

Also the possum pooped in the towel we were holding it in. We didnt notice, but God watches his children. We miraculously had the sheet there when he pooped. We spent a lot of time just holding it without the sheet and it didnt poop there.

He Sounds Like a Real Missionary (and more about pants)

Pant situation is not as serious as I originally thought. Turns out, Jos A. Bank dry clean only suit pants are indeed somewhat washable. So I washed my one pair that wasnt destroyed or supposed to save for meetings. They work. Other note. I was playing with some kids and I was running and tripped and fell and hurt my knee and put a hole in my pants that didnt have a hole. Pant situation is back up to red alert. 

Something cool, on sunday we got a less active to come to church. She hadnt been in a few years and she brought her granddaughter with her. She is baptismal age. Her mom is a nonmember and we will be able to baptize her! Hopefully this saturday. Thus fullfilling the standard of excellence of one bap a transfer. However next transfer we are lined up to baptize 4 or five others!! Awesome. 

Once a week we have been able to go to Salina. But we couldnt do that anymore because of miles. Also salina is a different zone, and that is where the granddaughter is from and a bunch of other investigators. So we called the pres. skipping the line of command and got permission to go up there everyday this week and use as many miles as we want. So we no longer have a mile limit and can leave our zone whenever this week. 

This week the attendence in the spanish branch was triple about than what it usually is. We are working hard to keep it because the main english ward is trying to split and the spanish might dissolve. No queremos eso. It turned out good. That is how we strike in the church, via going to church. 

Other than pants, I have had another problem. I seem to be losing shirts somehow. I dont even have seven anymore....what? No idea how that happened, but it is a problem. 

We had some good lessons this week. Felt the spirit really well in one. We were teaching in a restaurant and the worker was listening to us. She was sort of crying the whole time, and when I was teaching about the spirit I felt like asking her how she was feeling. So I did, thinking that I would then use that to explain what she was feeling was the holy ghost. Things didnt quite work out like that. I asked and she just broke down and started crying. She kept saying that she didnt have words and couldnt express herself. It was awesome. And that was in Salina by the way. 

Love you so much mom! 

Pants Problems

Well here goes week one of planner writing. Last time I said that I would write stuff down so I can remember. 

First up. From day one: pants. I really need some pants. All the pants I have are dry cleaned. One of them a sticker from a bush grabed it and tore the whole leg part in half. The other it riped in the middle, and the last is good. I have another nice one, but it is the blue nice suit that am not supposed to wear that much. So in conclusion of this topic, I have one pair of normal pants I can wear everyday that work. 

Next; stops. My comp is from mexico. They dont have street rules down there, so I sort of back seat drive a bit. He doesnt like it. He asked me not to help for a bit. In that twenty minute ride, he took two wrong exits and ran three stop signs, and almost tried to go through an army no through street. I stopped him on that one. I still do it now, much to his chagrin. 

Music; I really want a bit more if possible. Everything LDS artist or over 100 year old classical.  

Re emphasis on pants. and ties also, could you send me the rest of my ties? I dont know why I didnt take them all. 

And last and not least because it is awesome, sort of. There is this homeless lady who walks laps around the city. She has a beard. An actual beard, full out. Probably better than stuart could grow.

Shout out to ross who told me how to make toast, and Grace. And to Robby for sandwich! I am looking forward to trying those! Especially the toast. I have never had that yet. Mom also pulled through with some great ones.

In which Brady commits to writing better letters and calls on (all) his family (by name) for help

After reading part of one of Jacob's [Osborn] letters I have decided to make my letters better. They are boring. So, first on the agenda, the oath. I Brady, do solemnly swear, that I will write better letters and that I hate this keyboard. There see? Started already. 

But this week was good. We started teaching in Manhattan and Salina. The latter is out of our zone. But since we are spanish elders we get to go out there for that. Oh cool. Manhattan is awesome. K-state is there. Love it. The work is a lot of fun. And when it comes to email time I cant remember what I was going to write about. I can start keeping track in my planner. 

I got a k-state clock. I dont know if I told you but I burnt my hand. Also my letters might seem unorganized because I remember what to write while writing it. And I hate this keyboard so I don't want to fix it. But while we were cooking the pig I grabbed that bar that going in his mouth and out his rear and it was still above the fire. In that half second I cooked the outside of my hand. I love my ocarina and I love shopping in Walmart. Especially in the book and skin care sections because you can hear the music the best. Last time I heard In the Middle by Jimmie Eat World. Raddicuullll. One quick comment about your little call-signs at the end of the emails, dad, yours is good, mom, yours is redundant. I will have children also...I hope. 

Now I need some help from all of you folks at home. I need some recipes. My email is brady.daines@myldsmail.net. They need to be simple also. Right now my breakfast is cereal and a poptart. Lunch is some times top ramen, then hardboiled eggs and a poptart. If we come home for something in the afternoon I eat a pickle. And when we come home at night I eat a... take a guess... poptart! Seven days a week. No bueno. So starting this week we will have a compitition. Person who sends me a really good one will get a shout out in my next letter. 

People I expect an entry from for sure include, but are not limited too: Mom, Dad, Maren, Stuart, Michelle, Grandma, Grace, Krysti, Carley, Hannah, Emma, Nicko, Mckay, Jacob, Julianne, Maddie, Taylor, Covey, Rachel, Rob (uncle), other Grandma, Lauren, Paul, Elisa, another from Mom, Annie, Clara, Hitch, Kathryn, Natalie, Scotty, Luke, Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Gandalf, Frodo, Samwise (the dog), Samwise the real, and lord of lake town, and last and least Robert. just kidding, not least, love you Robert.

More Adventures from Kansas

Hola! Well I am back writing. Hopefully you got my picture yesterday. Me and the other elders here were celebrating a birthday so we killed a pig, then gutted it, then cooked it on a spit for a few hours. Fun fun fun. They are polys and they tought me how to! That was awesome. 

We are out here in Junction City and it is cool. I am super excited for that package. No tengo ahora, pero espero recibo. Get that? I dont know if it worked well but I tried. My companion is Elder Garza and he is funny. He is a good biker. I have been borrowing another elders bike because as of now, I dont have one.

Alive and in Kansas

Pues, I am in kasas now. It is indeed hot and humid. But it is awesome. We have a car and we can alternate each week having it with some sisters. I like it though. 

My comp is a native spanish speaker from mexico. He is awesome. So the missionaries that I spend most time with are my comp, who works out hard and has great muscles. Then two other Polys: Samoan, and Samoan/Hawaiian. They both played rugby and are huge. I look super small next to these guys strength wise. I am the tallest but by far the weakest. 

I am learning spanish and it is getting better. I had a hard time in church, it was in spanish. I almost fell asleep many times. But I made it!! There are some awesome families here. And unfortunately, I am having a little bit of a difficult time readjusting food wise. My stomach doesnt like it. 

And if you want to send stuff, you have to send it to the mission home. Use priority mail or something. That we they readdress it and send it out fast. If you don't, I wont get it for a month or two, and don't use like ups or fed ex.

love you all! peace

                -Elder Daines

One more thing:  For p-day today we are going up to Manhattan and playing nerf in the church then basketball. I am very excited. I will miss greatly the daily soccer with latinos though. Love you. Wish Maren happy birthday for me. I will send some letters soon. I have presents for the boys. Sorry. In the missionary store in Mexico there isn't anything really, except food, ties and a few other pieces of junk. I got one for Maren.

Last Week in Mexico

Once again, same thing. Except we also had our first american friends leave this week. So I am a first generation here. 

The food has gotten much better, and my spanish is getting much better. I am excited to get out. I got to go to the temple this week! 

We have played a lot of football this week. By football I mean soccer. With latinos who are really good now, we have some awesome games. And with my three week experience in soccer, I normally played frisbee, basketball, or ping pong, I am getting wrecked, sort of. I am a big chap and can use my excess weight to my advantage.  It is so awesome how you guys are in alaska again. I liked that a lot. I am excited to get out there.

 

Side note: thanks to everyone for the letters, like the tahoe clan, and Rachel (who I did the handshake with), but it can take up to 28 days, true story it happened to my friend, so you should not send anymore for a little because I am leaving, my last week. thats right, six weeker right here!

Day 28

[I'm posting this letter exactly how we got it. At least we know he's having fun and hasn't lost his sense of . . . Brady.]

day 28

28 days in this cage. I have heard rumors of an outside world but have seen no sign of them.  I look out over the wall and only see smog. The people with white name tags get to go on explorations outside the wall.

they say its not safe for me, the tacos could make me sick.  I am stuck in here, reading the BOM and watching old church videos. I play soccer in here. and frisbee. and ping pong. but I see no cars. nor remember the taste of strawberries. nor the touch of grass. just kidding. we have grass. but we play street soccer. I mean football. I am not a man of many words however I believe in harvey dent. I believe that this is the place to be. the outside is dangerous. we had our latinos leave again, this time however, they were the last graduating class from here, this used to be a school before mtc. they all played soccer for them, they had to give their jerseys back at the end of the year though. so they stole them earlier this week. and gave them to us. awesome. however they are beyond my reach. they left the safehouse. I will probably never be able to see them again. our dorm is beginning to look like a war zone. carcases all over the walls and celings. these dang misquitos man. my amigo elder jones came and fought with us for a night. he got 361 in about an hour. we won that fight. I also started my frisbee work out every day. pretty soon 45 jump squats will be nothing.  Elder Grant Owen made it safely into the safehouse. we played that one sport together where you throw the disc around and try to catch it in the endzone. I cant remember the name. even though I typed it a little bit ago.  they also started to figure out the food. even though we still have rice and beans twice a day now, it is getting better. unlimited fruit loops also. what what.

mucho amor

Me (Elder Daines)

Elder Castillo and Elder Slavens (he's being weird); [soup?]; Elder Packard: he ate the coin;

Entrance to my dorm, Elder Crook and Elder Butterfield.

Halfway Done

[We didn't get a proper letter from Brady this week, just some email snippets as we emailed back and forth in real time. Here are a few of his thoughts.]

I am half way done. Not much has changed though...

We play frisbee on sunny days. And I saw me amigo Grant Owen. The food has been a lot better since he got here. Unlimited fruitloops now!! So thats a score. And my friend swallowed a big copper coin on accident. Kind of funny. Thats about it.

There isn´t really much to tell. Everything is the same. My friend is waiting for him to poop out the coin because it is a special one from the 1700s. I can't send pictures right now, I dont have my camera. So probably next week.

I am happy. The mtc is fine, my campanion is great, and very in tune with the spirit. 

We are teaching two investigators, Isai and Louis. Isai said he would be baptised first lesson, now his family isnt happy. Next is Louis, he is going fine. Like a normal investigator.  My schedule is I wake up, go to breakfast, study language and teaching, lunch, more language and teaching, then dinner, study, gym, then bed. 5 days a week. Sundays we go to church, then study, then a devotional, then a movie, like Legacy or The Testaments.  P-day we do what we want. Until 7:30 and watch a movie. 

Spanish is fine, I am slowley cacthing on. Grant says hi. I love you, my testimony is getting stronger. I really like isaiah 53.

How about this Holland quote:

"I ask that my testimony of the Book of Mormon and all that it implies, given today under my own oath and office, be recorded by men on earth and angels in heaven. I hope I have a few years left in my “last days,” but whether I do or do not, I want it absolutely clear when I stand before the judgment bar of God that I declared to the world, in the most straightforward language I could summon, that the Book of Mormon is true, that it came forth the way Joseph said it came forth and was given to bring happiness and hope to the faithful in the travail of the latter days."

I have to go now. Thanks so much! Love you!

Corndogs for Breakfast

I hate to break it to you, but right when I got here I ate what I wanted and drank whatever.

Well, this week was long. The days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. It is hard, the Spanish is coming though. I feel like I am picking it up a little fasterthough.

The food is... special. We had more hotdog soup. Tasted like dirt. But the spirit is good. I guess I will try a recap reallly fast. First, we continued to go through the same schedule. End of recap.

Quote of the day "I feel like a robot." But we did watch a broadcast from the Provo MTC with Elder Holland, that was good. 

This p-day, since we didnt go to the temple, we had lots of down time. We woke up early and did laundry. Then went to the gym and played basketball and ping pong and soccer and frisbee for about 3 hours. It was really nice. We still have about 5 hours left, yay!

More on food now. For breakfast it is a very hard hit and miss. Mostly miss. One of the better ones we had was corndogs for breakfast. Lunch is typically good. And dinner is alright. They have Mexican cereal out for dinner most of the time so I can fill up with about 3-4 bowls normally. And they have chunky yogurt....  no bueno. 

Also most of the instruction is almost all in spanish.... My second day here we started teaching a pretend investigator... Me and my campanion didnt know any spanish. Getting better though.

Also our roommates who were Latinos left on Monday. They were really funny and tought me Mexican slang. How padre is that? I did an awesome tie trade. I traded a green that I didnt like much for an awesome brown and pink one. It is exciting.

I just realized I also used the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days last time, sorry

First Week in Mexico

To who it may concern:

I hope they have pizza also.... they do have that arizona drink here for only 10 pesos.

My pday is on tuesday, and so today we went to the mexico temple. It was lots of fun. But I will start from the beginning of my first week.

Tuesday, we got here late, you already know that. 10:30 Wednesday I woke up. Elder Crook is my companion. He is a person. And he is very in tune with the spirit. Also he keeps a layer of spit on his lips. But he is a nice kid, plays baseball and stuff, lots of fun. My dorm mates are Butterfield and Slavens.  Butterfield has blond hair, went to USU like Stu and loves it there. He's in the swing-dance club. Also in tune with the spirit, and nice. 

Slavens is awesome. He has great t shirts during gym time. We also watched a lot of the same shows, and played the same games. He is also awesome. We really lucked out and got an awesom3 dorm team. Don't fix that 3. We also have two latino people in there. They only speak spanish. Lucky Butterfield took 3 years of spanish, Slavens took 5. So we can communicate. We taught them to pray in english. 

The first day though, it was hot hot hot. We were wandering around for an hour so super parched and trying to find water. It was funny, had to be there though. Later we went to our classroom and met our district. Our district is seriously the coolest. Everyone in there is super funny and awesome. We have two hermanas in there, Tollman from Cali to Utah, and Vance, from Utah to Hondoras. Then Elder Budge, Utah to Kansas, his companion Jones from Idaho to Kansas. then Packard who is super awesome. He played soccer on a high level and lived in the Caribbean for a while, and his companion Elder Carlson. Both to Kansas. We have the best district.

Our worst fears have been realized.... the food is very dangerous. From soggy tortilla chips, to corndog for breakfast, to gross hotdog soup, to cordon bleu, which was very good.

The days feel like weeks, and the weeks feel like days, I now understand that expression. It is very good, but is starting to blur together. Everyday is about the same, me and my campanion have been teaching an investigator (actor)....... in spanish. Both of us never knew any spanish before we came here. So that is difficult, but it is cool to see how fast we can progress our language skills. Both of us are learning so fast. We have a good time here. Also the buildings are awesome, they just stack and stack. I can send a picture soon. 

Adios. I hope you have a good one.

post script: Sunday, was awesome. We were going pretty normal and by the end of the day my camp had a migraine. so I gave my very first blessing. It was cool. Then we went and watched the Testament video with the Nephites and Jesus crossover. At the end the spirit was so strong, it was so cool. After that we went to our dorm and Butterfield shared a little of the poem called A Missionary's Prayer, if you don't know it, look it up. Then to conclude my day, I read Isaiah 53. mucho bueno.

First Letter Home

Je arrive dans le Mexico. Je suis american, dans le Mexico. Je ne mange pas les asticots. 

Well, I finally made it all the way to mexico. The elders are super nice and helped us get ready and find our homes. On the bus ride to the mtc we got a full bus of just new missionaries. 

There are about 5 missionaries going to Kansas with me. There are misquitos and no dogs. But I am excited. There isn't much more to say, other than I love you and hope you have a good time with Jake. Kiss Dubbies, and the cute thing for me. And hugs and kisses from me. Love you.

I love you again and hope you have a good time. Unfortunatly, I dont have a missionary experience yet to share haha. I mean jaja. But I did take one picture for you. It was of all the missionaries in our caravan.