J.J.'s Mission

14 October 2008 update from Mexico City!

J.J. had a zone party yesterday on P-day. They played baseball, football, soccer and basketball. Then they had a B-B-Q. He said it was a really fun day as he got to know Elders in his zone better.

Saturday (11 Oct.) he and his companion had two more baptisms. A mother and her daughter were baptized. They are teaching two more of the daughters now. They hope to baptize them soon. The family came to church three times and were ready to "hear everything we had to share, so it was awesome". They were confirmed by a member of the Bishopric on Sunday at Sacrament Meeting. That is the custom there - have a member of the Bishopric do the confirmations.

Sister Guillermina Correa Saldivar and her daughter Claudia Liliana Cuchillo Correa.

He said that he learned so much from Elder Sorensen who just came home this past week. Last Thursday we were able to sit down and talk with Elder Sorensen for over an hour to hear how J.J. is doing and what it is REALLY like in the Mexico, Mexico City West Mission. Elder Sorensen was very kind to give us lots of info and shared a great idea on how to get packages to J.J. It seems the packages are being borrowed on a long term basis (forever!) by the mail people. We are GRATEFUL to Elder Sorensen for taking care of J.J.


J.J. did give a hand written letter to Elder Sorensen that he hand carried to us. Connie Jo and I both had tears in our eyes as we read the SWEET letter from our son the missionary. About all we can say about the letter is what Connie Jo said - some "parental payback". Connie Jo also told J.J. in her e-mail to him this week that the letter was PRICELESS! In fact, it was. We are SO GRATEFUL for J.J. serving a mission and his great attitude.

Putting the iron (that is plugged into the wall!) in the 5 gallon bucket to get hot water for a hot shower. They use a small bowl to dump the hot water on them.

He says it is the mission policy for members to feed them each day at the main meal of the day at 2:00 PM. This is happening every day. He says he also gets fed often by investigators. He says he has "gotten tons of food this week". So that makes his Mom and Dad happen to know he is being well fed.

Their work desk.

Finally after weeks of wondering if the packages we sent had arrived to him he let us know that he has now received three of the four packages. He said we have to put photos of the Virgin Guadalupe on each package. This helps the mail people deliver the package. I guess the Virgin Guadalupe is worshiped heavily in Mexico. The photos assure the packages arrive.

Entrance to their house which is one of five houses in the courtyard.

J.J. said he even got my postcard I sent in September from Thailand. So it seems now we are having some success with the Mexican postal system. The "joys" of learning how having a missionary in the field works and how to get packages to him.

J.J. says his clothes are holding up well. They get to do their wash each week at a member's home. The member has a washer. It is a ten minute walk to the member's home. They find their investigators walking on the streets or knocking on doors. They only teach them once a week because most people work every day except one day a week. So they go back to visit on the person's day off.

It will be his first Halloween in Mexico. It is called El Dia de Muertos - The Day of the Dead. They celebrate it for a few days. He is excited to see what happens.

Elder Sorensen told him about being careful with his money. Some of the native companions like to "borrow" from the gringos. J.J. is taking this info and being very careful with his sacred mission funds. But the 800 pesos per month just isn't enough to survive on...

Last week they had divisions (splits as we called them in the Thailand Bangkok Mission) - where the Elders change companions for a day. He went with the Zone Leader - Elder Acosta. Elder Acosta is from Argentina. He said he had fun and that Elder Acosta is "a way cool guy". It was his second division. We didn't hear anything about the first one.

J.J. says they drink lots of herb or green tea. They offer it to him. He is really enjoying it and says "Now I know why Dad always likes it". Glad he is finally liking green tea. I tried for years to have him try it. No luck. Now he drinks it whenever he can.

He says out of the 188 Elders in his mission he and his companion Elder Crispin are number 30 with their baptisms. So they "want to definitely get higher than that for this month, hopefully we can do it".

For lunch last week his companion gave him a funny look when they sat down at the sister's home. His comp made sure that the sister did not see the look he gave J.J. When they left his comp said "no way, I can't believe we just ate that". Elder Crispin told him what they had eaten Elder Crispin said it was the first time he had eaten it on his mission. It was "higado". So J.J. wrote the word down and went home that night and looked it up. It was liver. J.J. said his comp didn't like it at all but to J.J. it tasted like any other meat. He says it "all seems the same to me here".

This past week was Fast Sunday. He said "lots of little kids got up and shared their ten to fifteen second testimonies, it was really cute". He said "the best part was that I could understand everything they said which made me happy".

The lingo is coming along. He learns more and more each day. He stated "when I can understand and talk it feels soooo good. I love Spanish!. It's really fun to speak it."

Their "mini bathroom". Notice there is NO toilet seat. The shower spigot does not work. That's why they use the iron and the 5 gallon bucket to heat the water and shower from that.