J.J.'s Mission

24 November e-mail from J.J.

(Sorry from his Dad the BlogMaster - his Mom and Dad got stuck in Thailand last week so his Dad is WAY behind in posting this...)

He starts off with stating that it is "awesome the Utes won this past week. What a year they've had!". He was excited to hear Shauna Mossman in our Ward had a baby. Elder Crispin gave J.J. one of his many blankets before he left for his new area. So J.J. says he is all set with another blanket to go along with his Utah Utes blanket he brought with him.

He asked for his iPod. I guess all the missionaries in his mission have them. We were not going to send it but he pleaded with us to do so. Not only did we think he shouldn't have it but that it probably would not get through the "famous" Mexican mail. The "five finger discount" would have swiped it before it got to him. However he said "Yes I did get my iPod, thank you very much. That honestly felt like Christmas for me. Unwrapping all the socks (I disguised everything in socks hoping that would help to get through the Mexican mail system - seemed to work!) and finding new things, that was a lot of fun".

J.J. said he loved getting all the American candy and food I stuffed in the package for him. He hasn't had American candy for a while. He said they have it there but it is a lot more expensive so he never buys it. He did say that if we are going to send a Christmas care package (which we did a few days ago!) that he'd like treats such as Twix candy bars and Pop Tarts. So that is what we sent him with lots of other goodies stuffed in a Christmas stocking and other food to fill up the box.

His full neighborhood did not have water for quite a few days. He says it happens randomly sometimes. He didn't have any water for a full week. And they still didn't have it in their actual apartment. They fill up buckets and use that for everything. As I told him, just another mission experience! But what a pain in the butt not to have water.

Think how many things you use with water!!!

He thinks in December he will be moving to a new hous

e. I hope they do because all they have are two beds, one table with two chairs and the toilet/shower. He is looking forward to at least having "a fridge and microwave and all that stuff that we don't have".

He has been so focused on the Lord's work that he wasn't even aware that last week was Thanksgiving. His new companion Elder Gutierrez "is really cool. He has 13 months in the mission. He's from Veracruz, Mexico. And his birthday is May 31, but the same year as mine! I'm a day older than him".

It seems the Elders in Mexico are allowed to go out on their mission at 18 as soon as they graduate from high school. He gets along really well with Elder Gutierrez who doesn't speak any English. But this will really help J.J. to fully understand Spanish. Glad his second companion is a native speaker! Great for J.J. to become fluent in Spanish.

His Spanish is coming along well. The Zone Leaders have told him how much his Spanish has improved the past three months. J.J. has now been out over five months. Where did all the time go?!

He explained how the "change" works. We were eager to hear how the details of his mission work, as they seem a lot different than his Dad's mission in Thailand 26+ years ago. J.J. says on Tuesday morning they go the the Chapel and have a little devotional and meeting with the Mission President. It takes about an hour or two. Missionaries who are going home share their testimony. Then they go find their new companion and head back to their area.

J.J. said it is fun to do changes because he can see some of the Elders from his MTC group. He was basically the senior companion for one week since his senior companion didn't know the area at all. He hasn't had any baptisms this past week. They are still finding new investigators so "hopefully we can work with them more and get a few more baptisms".

J.J. says he'll try to send pictures but we haven't received any lately. The photos are SO important to see how he looks and what his companion, investigators and members look like. Helps us to understand better how he is doing.

J.J. - send more photos!!!