26 January 2009

This week was a good week, except we didn't have the baptisms. We weren't able to find the lady all week, we passed by her house a lot but she was always gone, that was a bummer. We finally found her Saturday afternoon and hopefully we will baptize her this upcoming weekend or the following.

We also have two more people set up for Saturday the 7th for their baptism. Their son was baptized a year ago, but the parents never were. They're a younger couple, maybe 20's or 30's, not sure. They said that they wanted to be baptized, they just have to work around the husband's work, he works on Sundays. But he is looking for a new job and trying to get Sundays off, and in a week from this Sunday he has it off, hopefully it'll stay that way. Next Saturday we will baptize them and confirm them the day after, hopefully all goes as planned. The wife came to church yesterday with her son, so that was perfect.

I washed my clothes by hand last week in our house because there wasn't time last Monday, that wasn't too bad. I've learned how now and it's almost easier than going to a member's house and having to wait. Haha. So yes, I know how to wash by hand now, scrubbing the clothes on a little wash board. Today we washed at a member's house though so that was nice.

This morning we woke up extra early to do a little exercise that felt nice. In the morning it was clear and I could see way far out over the city, but at around 9 the smog started to roll in. I could distinctly see a brown cloud hovering over the city. The smog cloud was covering all the buildings I saw earlier, but was still below the mountain tops, definitely a dirty city.

I hope all goes well at the Draper Temple and you are able to help out, sounds fun. Yes Dad, the days might be long, I know. We helped at the temple here from 7am til about 9pm, several days out of the week. That was a long week for sure and lots of work. Seems like it was forever ago... I remember my farewell talk, but honestly it feels like yesterday. But yet again, it feels like I've lived in Mehiko forever. Haha.

Not too many people write me anymore, but every once in a while. Cody, Elliott, and Phil write me maybe once a month, but it's no biggy. Kory and Calaigh are the ones that write me regularly, about every week. I only write letters to Calaigh though, no one else really because emails are easier and faster. You might have met Calaigh Dad, I'm not sure. She's been over a few times before.

I don't have any pictures this week, but I'll work on that. I can't get a picture of the combi's, because there aren't any here. I'll take some pics of my house and of the dogs though.

Yes my comp talks a lot, but it can be bad sometimes. I don't like to sit at member's houses for a long time and talk because it's very very boring for me. And sometimes when we're in an appointment, and we have more soon after, it drags on. I can tell the people are ready for us to go and we've taught them everything we needed to that day, but it just kinda drags on is all... Not a big deal though, I still really like my comp! :) Probably the second best as of so far. But when I'm the senior comp I won't be sitting in member's houses as long, that's all.

I haven't got the package yet, but I might get it tonight at the junta if it came, especially if Sorensen left one at the offices for me. That just depends if he dropped it off before Wednesday, because that's when Pouch comes. So we'll see tonight.

Thanks for the metric conversion rate Dad. I learned it but I don't remember the exact conversions, heck I can't even remember English vocab anymore! Some words take me like 20 minutes to think of what they are or the right way to say them. Haha.

Quick question/concern. My eye has been twitching a ton this week, and it just started this week also. Do you know the cause of that?? It's really annoying and it looks like I almost have a lazy eye... Hmmm. Not that serious, but wondering if there's anything I can do. Thanks

Definitely a bummer about Graff, but it is what it is. He's doing better now that he's in his house I've heard. The rest of my MTC District is stickin' in there tough. We keep in contact through cell phones which is convenient.

I'll try to watch my funds and not spend more than 100 dollars a month. I'm going to cut back on food a lot because I'm starting to get a pansa, or a gut, and it's making me really self conscious about how I look. Haha. Gotta stop eating junk food and all that. I miss exercise... :( I'm growing a beard when I get home! Just like Dad did. This shaving business gets old...

I was going to tell you that I don't really like the dog's name either, but then I found out that she passed away. Kind of weird isn't it? Just randomly died. Hope you didn't pay too much for her. And good luck for February, maybe you can find a keeper this time.

I don't remember when Shantaye wrote me last, and I don't have her email. Can you have her re-send it or write me another one? Sorry sis.

Sundays we eat at a member's house also, right after the services. Everyday except Monday we eat with member's. But today when we went to wash our clothes, the member's fed us breakfast. Hot dogs! Haha. Might sound weird but that's normal here, hot dogs for breakfast.

Thanks for the updates! Love ya all tons!

Elder Greeny

20 January 2009

Hi Family.

Sorry this email is a day late, yesterday was crazy busy and I didn't have time to do anything really. I had to go to the mission offices in the morning to finish the visa things, and we had to go to some immigration office and sign more papers, so now I'm officially officially a citizen here.

There is another elder in my district, Elder Shawkey, and our areas touch each other, and he has one change more than I do. He had to go also so we did divisions and went together. He is a way cool guy too and he's fun to be with, way into riding. So we talked about that a lot. He's from Cali and would go camp out at the dunes like every other weekend. It was a fun day to be with him, and it was an adventure trying to get to the offices, but we made it no problem. Neither of us knew how to get there really.

The metro was crazy, it's always packed in the morning. People push and shove SOO so much just to try to get on. We were both laughing so hard. The people almost fight to get on the subway, and they cram in like sardines! It was pretty fun we thought. Then after that, we came back and had like a half hour until we had to go to the district meeting. So that took up my whole day and I still need to wash my clothes...

Ugh. So I am pretty sure the zip code to my area is 07140 (note from Dad this DOES work - you can see exactly where J.J. is now serving!). That should be right because that's what they told us. Hopefully you can find my area more or less.

The temple was really great, I enjoyed it a lot. I was surprised by how much I could remember of it all, especially in Spanish. I'm excited you'll be able to go to the Draper Temple Open House, I heard it was really really gorgeous. Calaigh told me she went through it and that it was really pretty.

Things are going well still. We have a baptism set up for this Saturday, a lady and two of her children. Hopefully it won't fall through. We have another appointment with her this evening.

About in all my shoes the soles slip a little bit, but it's not too serious. If it keeps up then I'll take them to a shoe shop, it would be pretty cheap I think.

My Sundays we go to church at 12:30 until about 4, then we leave the chapel. After that we go to the food and that's about til 6 sometimes. My comp. likes to talk a lot. Haha. Then after that we usually go back to the house unless we have an appointment that night. We attend the Gospel Principles class on Sundays. That's what it's called in Spanish at least. This past Sunday we had a meeting with the Bishopric and that went well. They just asked about our investigators and what they could do to help and all that. There is only one ward in my area, and only us two missionaries. In my last area we helped once or twice with the sacrament, blessing or passing, but in this ward there are plenty of members and they take care of it all.

I don't listen to my iPod that much, just Mondays. I have a lot of church music from my comp, he's got a ton. And I have some Spanish music that helps me with the lingo also. Then if anything else I listen to straight acoustic guitar music. I don't listen to most of the stuff that is on there, I just love acoustic music.

I really liked those quotes from Mom, thanks for those :) Good to hear that the other missionaries in the ward are doing well also. It was fun to see the pictures, thank you for sending them to my Hotmail account, much easier and quicker also. I told you the hills here are steep, I'm glad you got my pic from last week. Some streets are crazy steep and the cars can't get up them, especially when it rains.

This week was colder and it rained like 3 times. Pretty unusual but it sure was nice, I like the smell and feeling of rain, plus it really cleans up the air which is nice. My area is definitely full of tons of dogs. My area had dogs too so I kind of just got used to stray dogs in the street, but this area has a ton! They are everywhere. People who have pet dogs, they put them on their roof. I'll try to get a pic for you. The house next to us has like ten stinkin' dogs on the roof, and they bark a lot. Haha. But it's all good.

That is awesome that Utah ended up in pretty good rankings. What a year eh? I found out who is in the Super Bowl. Too bad my Eagles just barely missed it. My buddy, Elder Shawkey, loves the Cardinals so he is excited for that.

That's funny nobody really like the Tamarindo water, it's not my favorite either. Nopal is prickley pear but I didn't like it much.

I was wondering if you could figure out the conversion rate for me. How many meters and centimeters is 6 foot 3? Like around 180 or 190 centimeters?? People ask me but I'm not sure, I've heard different conversion rates from different people. And how many pounds are in a kilo? 2 to 1? If you could find out that'd be great :) (Yes J.J. is 1.9 meters tall or 190 centimeters)

So now for the bad news... My buddy Elder Graff from the MTC, he went home last week. He wasn't enjoying it and it just wasn't for him. He was in my MTC district and I'm going to miss him. I was bummed that he went home early. But it is what it is.

I bought some cereal and milk last week, it sure is nice to have cereal! I also bought peanut butter and jam and bread, that was way good to have! It feels like food from home sometimes which is nice every once in a while. But the bread is like 20 pesos a loaf so I don't know how often I'll buy it. Sometimes I'm a "codo", which means elbow. And it means you don't like spending money. I don't like to buy things that I know should be cheaper than they really are, but it's all good.

An elder in our ward is leaving on his mission tomorrow, and he gave his farewell talk this Sunday. He did a great job. It feels like I just gave my farewell talk, I remember it like yesterday. I'm glad I'm not in his position! Haha. He's going to somewhere more South in Mehiko, we ate with his family during the week and talked with him about the mish and all that. He was pretty nervous. After the services, they didn't go eat at his house or anything like that. Monday night they did something at the chapel, but we couldn't go because we had the junta.

Conference was today and it was long like usual, but it went well. The Pres is working on a new technique for teaching and so we focused on that most of the time today. We started this technique a few months ago but he is continually changing and improving it.

I'm starting to meet some really cool missionaries and making new friends here in the mish, it's pretty sweet. People know who I am before I even meet them sometimes, guess my names going around or something. There's some chill guys here so it's cool to get to know them.

Things are going well like usual. My comp and I still get along, no problems there.

I love you all!

Hope you have a great week.

Elder Green

Sorry folks - no photos to post from J.J. this week. Hopefully next week?!

12 January 2009

Today we received a nice e-mail from Elder Green. He is doing well in his new area. He and his companion are both new so are out searching for investigators as they are starting from scratch. His new area is where the LDS high school is located. It is about 15 minutes from their house.

The Mission President is now having "two Zone Conferences every change (every 6 weeks)". And tomorrow J.J. gets to attend the Mexico City Temple again. He is really excited about that. They are now going to allow the Elders to go every six weeks to the Temple. Sunset in his new area.

The Mission President said there won't be any more changes (where the ZL's and DL's change companions with the younger Elders) anymore. Only the ZL's will go on changes with the DL's. J.J.'s Dad always enjoyed the changes (J.J.'s Dad's mission called them splits) with the DL's and ZL's. Nice to learn some more teaching lessons from other Elders.

J.J.'s Chapel is only three years old. It is new and very large. This past week the Elders in his District went to the LDS high school and each missionary companionship went out with two seminary teachers to visit the young people in the Ward. They helped get the young people signed up for seminary. It was a two hour project to visit many of the youth and less active members. He said it was a lot of fun.

During the time visiting with the seminary teachers J.J., his companion and two of the seminary teachers visited one less active family. The family was working on getting bricks to the top of the house. So the Elders, seminary teachers and everyone helped throw bricks on the roof and stack them. J.J. said "there were a ton of bricks and it was tough work, but it felt good and the family really appreciated our help".

J.J. said they did a lot of contacting this past week. It's tough when both Elders are new to an area. He said "It seems like most people we contact are already members, or have already talked to the missionaries. But we've taught some lessons and we're starting to find people, so it's going well".

His area is mostly hills. Elder Sorenson (who was a BIG help to J.J. - came home four months ago from the same mission J.J. is in) stopped by last night. He is going to Mexico City for a week on vacation. We told him J.J.'s new area. He said it is all hills and TONS of dogs! He offered to take a care package to J.J. So we are working on getting a package together for Elder Green.Elder Green on one of the hill roads!

J.J. received the latest care package we sent him - an after Christmas care package with a beach calendar and some treats. He also received three letters. He said "It was awesome." He loves the calendar we sent him. He also received a letter from his Great Aunt Jeanne Green who also sent him $ 20.00. And a letter from the Kerry Barlow family. He said "It was nice to get a package and letters, those are the best things for a missionary as Dad knows I'm sure."

We purchased a Tamarindo drink this week to try. J.J. says he doesn't like it at all. It wasn't too bad J.J.'s Dad thought. But everyone else didn't like it. J.J. can't believe that Jamie Pruden (who served in Mexico) likes it. Everyone serves them Tamarindo water. Sometimes with carbonation too. And now they are giving J.J. "water of Jamaica" which is a red color. Not his favorite either he says.

He wanted us to tell Jamie that he had Nopal this week. He said "Jamie will be so proud of me". J.J. didn't like it and said it's all slimy and has a weird texture in your mouth. The "joys" of tyring new things on your mission!!!

J.J. had pig with tortillas this week too. It was prepared the same way as the sheep that he didn't like at all. He didn't like the pig as it had all the "fat and everything, including the tripa! Which is intestines!" His companion wanted him to try it but he decided to pass on it.

He ends his e-mail with: "It was a good week. I'm excited for the Temple tomorrow morning, should be fun. Hope all is well back at home. I love you all!"

5 January 2009

(Direct words from Elder Green himself!)

Hi Family!!
That is so cool to hear about the Utes! I'm so glad we won, I wish I could've seen it. But Mom said that you are going to buy the DVD so I can watch it when I get home, that's perfect, thank you.

The Elders on the turf soccer field.

Way to go Utes!It sounds like you had a nice trip with the game and visiting Grandma and Grandpa and all that, that's good to hear. I hope they are enjoying their new calling, the mission offices are lots of work.

District Activity at Carl's Jr. and the celebration of one year for Elder Acosta.

But man, I can't believe Lily died... That brought a few tears to my eyes that I'm trying to hold back because I'm in an Internet cafe. I'm going to miss her a lot... I love that dog so much. But luckily I have pictures of her on my camera. Are you planning on getting a new dog or maybe after a little while?

Elder Richards, Elder McManama and Elder Green.

About the baptism we had, I'm not sure exactly how it worked. Her two kids are already members and she'd heard the lessons, so when we found her we just reviewed everything and she was ready to be baptized.

The Christmas gifts (care package!) from his parents.

So my new area is sweet! I love it so far! Mom asked if I'm still in the city... well, it's one of the biggest cities in the world, so it seems to never end. It' not the Center (or Zocalo as it's called), that is like the downtown of Mexico City. But I'm still pretty much in the city, as much as my last area was. The whole mission is basically the city.

His District on Christmas night with their matching ties.

The area is called Cuautepec, so you can try to look that up on Google, but I don't know much more info about it. My new house is awesome, I love it. It has a kitchen with a fridge and microwave and a nice bathroom with running water and hot showers, I feel like I'm on vacation compared to my last house. We have everything we need in the house, and my comp said it's one of the best he's had, if not the best. It also has CARPET!! That's a miracle in Mexico. Burning a necktie at the six month date on your mission.

My comp. has 21 months in the mission, only two changes left. So I could be the one to "kill" him, or be his companion when he finishes the mission. He is also from Oaxaca like Elder Crispin was. I saw Crispin at changes and it was sweet to talk with him, I miss him. This is his last change and then he goes home.

Elder Nava and Elder Green. Elder Nava is companion # 3 for J.J.

But my comp Elder Nava and I get along really well so far. He talks a lot which is nice because there is never a dull moment and we're always talking and it helps my Spanish. My last comp and I didn't talk very much, I think that's why we didn't get along so well. But so far, "so far", I like my companion, he's a cool guy.

Another baptism.

Now to answer Dad's question, yes we were in a three some last week for a day. That was pretty cool. I forgot how many questions a new missionary has his first day in the field. It felt cool not to be the youngest one around anymore. The Bishop and his family.

It was tough to say goodbye to members and converts on Monday night. The family of Guillermina gave me a little stuffed animal bear that had my name on it and everything, it was really cute. I will miss that family a lot.

Members from the Ward.

It was really tough to fit everything into my three suitcases, they were jammed packed. I didn't have room for the blanket Crispin gave me so I just left it there. The first night in my new house I was a little cold, but we have a little portable heater so I just put that by my bed at night if I get cold and it's perfect.

The two sisters who gave all the Elders the Christmas presents - ties and socks.

I didn't even realize it was New Year's Eve until half way through the day. My comp. and I stayed up til twelve, then went to bed right after. I was wondering why everyone was inviting us over for dinner, then it hit me what day it was. But we didn't end up eating with anyone, just bought some snacks from the tienda and chilled in the house.

Elder Green with Ward members and Elder Fajardo -

his DL and ZL.

My companion is definitely a short lil guy, but he's cool. So my house is nice, i like it a lot. It also has a way pretty view out the window. Our house is up on a hill and at night the lights are way pretty, I'll send you some pictures of that. There are lots of hills in my area as well. Half of the area is a hillside or a mountain side.

La familia Colin. J.J. really likes them a lot he says.

My comp. and I are both new to the area, so we had to take two taxis for all of our luggage. An 18 year old boy from this ward came to changes to help us out and take us back to our house which is nice. He helped us find the food appointments and things like that until we got to know the area better, so he was a good ward helper.

The view out his window at night looking over part of Mexico City.

Wednesday was our zone conference with the Pres. This zone is first on the list I guess, but that went fine. There aren't any combis in this part of the city, so I don't have a picture for you, sorry. I'm sure I'll see one again and I'll take a picture of it. There are only buses and taxis here.

Sunset over Mexico City as seen from J.J.'s apartment window.

All the taxis are green and they are the old slug bug beetles. They take out the front passenger seat and you can fit three in the back.I received 1400 pesos at the beginning of this month. I think that includes the monthly money and the transportation money, but I don't know how it is split up. But that is how much I received for the month.

J.J.'s "daughter" called hija. Her name is Cocaben. She always called Elder Green "papa".

This area has lots of members and there are churches everywhere. I was very surprised at first, I thought I was in Utah again. People yell out "Elders!" as they drive by and things like that. The church is a lot bigger and nicer as well. There are lots of members in my new ward. This zone has the most members from what I've heard.

Yesterday was fast and testimony meeting, and as soon as the bishop gave the time to the members, like 30 people got up at once at sat up front to what to share their testimony. I was surprised how many people got up. Sacrament went a little long that day, like a half hour over. One old lady started telling stories and my comp didn't like that really. I just laughed and thought of Dad doing the same thing back in our home ward. I told my comp that lots of people do that in Utah as well.

Our church doesn't start until 12:30 which is pretty late. On Saturday we had a baptism, sort of. The missionary that was here before us, Elder Knight, just finished his mission. But his parents came here for a week or two and then they are going home together. He was teaching this family and when we got here they were ready to be baptized, so we just got everything ready, the font and all that, and he came with his parents and performed the baptism. The numbers go to us I think but I wouldn't count it as my own baptism because we didn't even teach them or anything.

At the confirmation on Sunday, the bishop asked my comp and I to come participate, but a member of the bishopric gave the prayer, we just stood in the circle which was neat. I have a lot of pictures so I will try to send them to you right now.

Things are going well and I am really enjoying my new area and companion.

I love you all! Thanks for all the updates!