J.J.'s Mission

17 March 2009

Hello again Family. Another week went by very quickly. Next week I will be telling you about changes, who stays, who goes, etc. Sorry this email is a day late, yesterday was a little bit busy. Plus, the Internet here doesn't open until the afternoon, seems like nothing opens early here. Yes, I did receive the email about Doug Butterwick, that is very sad that he passed away. I have kept the Butterwick family in my prayers.

Happy birthday to Dad this Thursday!! You survived half a decade, good on ya. I hope you had a good time at the party and enjoyed your gifts. That is neat that Colton spoke at church. Four and a half months is a long time to wait, but I've heard of longer. My last comp, Elder Nava, had to wait a full year before his call came!! He goes home next week also, that's crazy to think about.

Nice job Chez on the soccer games, sounds like you're quite the star player. Keep it up! Very exciting the Utes made it to the Big Dance, I am going to try to print out a bracket and fill it out. I don't think I'll be able to send it to you, but just for fun I'll fill it out for myself.

The Guitar Hero game sounds like a lot of fun. I've played it a few times but I was never very good at it. I didn't like playing video games for some reason, so I never got into that. But I hope you all are having fun though, that sounds like a nice gift idea from Mom.

So Dad is playing church ball again? Good on ya. Good luck to you and Chez in church ball. I miss playing church ball, last year was the most fun when we won Regions. That is crazy that Hilary is engaged!! Congrats to her. How old is she? Did she graduate just last year?

Thank you for getting a pile of snacks started for me, I love getting packages, it's like Christmas for a missionary. And about the food, it doesn't necessarily have to be healthy food, just something that can fill you up is what I meant :) Thanks.

My companion and I still get along fine, no problems there. He's not a huge talker, maybe about the same as me, but things are going well. If we don't have changes then I would be ok with that, but who knows. We're both thinking that he is going to leave this change, that's what the odds say at least. He's only been with one companion for one change, never more, and he's never been in an area for more than two changes. This is his second change here, and so the odds say he'll leave, but you never know. Guess we'll find out on Sunday night.

I was able to buy something from Walmart to help clean my shirts. I can't remember what brand it is but it's used for collars and sleeves so it should work great. I am wearing more shirts per week(Dad) so you don't have to worry. My shirts just don't get very dirty so that is why I didn't switch them out as often. Ironing is no problem, doesn't take very long. I don't think I've used a normal dryer since I've been in Mexico, or a hot dryer to dry clothes. I always just hang dry my clothes, since the beginning, or the dryer doesn't use heat or something like that. So that's a reason my shirts wrinkle, but not a bid deal.

I still remember when I got my mission call almost a year ago. But I think I got it on the 22nd of March, not the 19th. You can check a 2008 calendar and see which day was a Wednesday that week. Thank you for the list of countries, I will double check it and see if I can think of any others. I was just curious to have it. People ask me if I've ever been to Mexico before my mission, and they also ask if I've traveled a lot. I tell them that I've traveled a lot but it'll be more cool if I have the actual list, thank you.

In my Gospel Principles class there are about 6 people who attend, so not way big. Yes we only have one ward in my area. The members are fairly good at giving us referrals, that is a big help.

I emailed Trevor about a month ago but he never responded. I will try again to see how he is doing. There was a senior couple in my mission, but they went home about 3 months ago. So now we don't have a couple anymore. It was an American couple, the husband spoke Spanish but the wife didn't. They were very nice and helpful.

Now to answer Dad's question, no I haven't been sick much on the mission. I've never thrown up or anything serious like that, just stomach aches sometimes but they don't last long. I think I am used to eating different food so it wasn't a big change for me at all.

Thank you for looking for "good food that will fill me up in the evenings" like Dad said, doesn't necessarily have to be "healthy" like Mom said. Haha. But whatever you send I will be grateful for. That would be pretty banana sandwich if Kory got sent to Mexico, Mexico City West, not likely though since we are in the same ward. Do they look at that? Because I've never heard of two people from the same Ward going to the same mission.

So you didn't end up selling my 450 I take it? What are your plans on that Dad? Just curious. It would be nice to have a bike when I get home, but I would like to buy a newer one. I was thinking a Honda 450, maybe '07 or so. All the new ones are fuel injected and I'm not sure if I would want that or not. If something goes wrong with your bike you can't fix it without a computer, but we'll see down the road.

I guess my letters didn't get sent out last week, the DL was sick that morning and didn't go to Pouch. So they should go out tomorrow and it takes 2 weeks or so for the letters to get there. There is a letter on the way to Aunt Theo though.

I know Dad wished to be a fly on the wall so he could hear my talk, but I don't think he'd understand a single word of it. :) This past week I had divisions with my DL. It was a 24 hour division, something I've never done before nor heard of before. We met up Wednesday at about 2 in the afternoon, worked that day in my area, and then he slept at my house with me. The next day at 2 we ended the divisions. It was a good experience and nice to study with someone different and see how he teaches.

This morning we had interviews with our President and it went well. It was only interviews, we didn't have a conference or anything like that. So we were only there for about a half hour because our district went first. My Prez is a cool guy, he makes me laugh, I like him. (Or as you would say in Spanish, "he falls well with me." Haha.)

I have a question now for you about buying something. I have talked with missionaries who have bought hand made hammocks and they are really cool. I've seen a few of them that a missionary showed me. They are fairly big and it is the color of the Mexican flag. I think it would be cool to have when I'm a holder. The member who makes the hammocks called me and started making it. He said it'll cost 1000 pesos, but I talked with my MTC comp, Elder Florence, who bought one and said I can get it for 900 or possible 800 because the guy needs money. So I will talk to him about the price and try to knock it down a bit. I hope that is ok if I buy it. I think I will have to mail it home to you though because I don't much extra space to carry around. The guy said it would be done today or tomorrow and is going to call me.

I have the address of my house if you want to try to find it on Google. It is: Castillo Ledon number 33. Castillo Ledon is the street name. We live in the center of Cuajimalpa, so if you can find that then I am close to there.

I love you all!

Have a Happy St. Patty's Day.

Elder Green