25 January 2010

Hi family,

This last week went by pretty quick. We've just been busy busy here. My companion had one change here before and so he knows his way around a little. But now I've got it down. It usually takes about a week or two and then I know the area really well and can get anywhere I need to. When I got here there were already some investigators here which is nice, but we're still looking for more. We have about 6 people who are ready for baptism here, but they're not married! It's a pain. Nobody is married here, they all just live together. So we are helping them with that. One family told us yesterday that they were able to get the money together (1000 pesos) and so now we can get them married and baptized. We went with another boy who is about 14 and we challenged him for baptism. He said yes and he wants to, we just had to talk to the mom to get her permission. But she said that he isn't ready yet and so we won't be able to baptize him for a little bit.

I like my new areas a lot. But I miss some members from my last ward. Actually, Sister Barajas emailed me today to see how I was doing and to say hi. That was really cool.

Pool B-B-Q at a member's home with Brother Bueno in the background (top photo).

Sounds like it'll be a good Super Bowl this year. I'm going for the Saints, I like Reggie Bush. Thanks Mom for getting the package out. I'll let you know when it arrives. I'm guessing about 2 or 3 weeks from now. I really like the new Liahona that came out. The new style is much better and more organized. Had some great articles as well. Mom, Dad said that he watched the video on my blog, and I watched it after I posted it. So maybe try again, or try on Dad's computer because he said it worked.

I don't remember my SLCC student number, so if you could find that Mom then it'd be a great help. Thanks.

Elder Arrecis and Elder Green.

One of my areas right now is really rich because it's right next to my last one, and that's a hard area. But the other area is a lot more poor and humble and that's where we have most of our investigators. There's a huge hill covered in houses and that's where we work a lot of the time, I'll send you a picture of it. Yes, I have the same DL as last change. One of the ZL's left but the other one stayed in this zone. How many areas in my mission? Lots. I think there are like 10 zones, but who knows how many areas.

Member cooking the steaks.

I don't have my basketball shoes here Mom, remember? I sent them home when I left the MTC. So I hope you have them because I will need them in about 5 months. :) My zone conference was much better this time. We have them every transfer, every 6 weeks. The President has been doing the interviews differently lately, he does them with the whole district together. And then if someone needs to talk to him alone they can. He shared some stories about when he was called to be president and how he met the apostles and stuff, so that made it more interesting. I like when he shares stories. I'm really starting to love my mission president, he seems to get better each transfer. He only has 5 months left also, so he's gettin' ready to finish, you can tell. haha.

Lookin' out at the city at night from the top of a huge hill in my area. (Really pretty view)

So I'm sure you have the new Gospel Principles manual, it's really great. I like it a lot. There is a member in my ward who had back surgery like 3 months ago, and he has been bed ridden basically. He can get up and walk now but not for very long, he's still in recovery. So the elders started to read the Book of Mormon with him each day, I think the Bishop assigned them. And last night, we finished it! When I arrived here we were in 3 Nephi, and last night we finished it. It was really cool. The members are great, their son is in the mission right now. And on Saturday then invited us to eat with them. We had a way good BBQ and ate some delicious steak. And they have a small pool so we ate outside by the pool, it was great. I love pool barbeques. It is the first house that has a swimming pool that I've ever seen in Mexico. It was a fun afternoon.

"Huge hill in my area covered in houses."

Well, I think that's about all from this week. Thanks for the emails. Love you all very much. I'll send you some pictures from this past week. Have a good week.

Love,
Elder Green

Photos from 5 January 2010

January 5th - Day of the Wise Men. In fact this date is more important than Christmas in Mexico. The kids buy a balloon, tie a wish list to it and that night send it off. The next morning the Wise Men bring gifts.

J.J. asked for a dirt bike and a new Toyota pick-up truck. Guess the Wise Men were smart enough to know that Elder Green did NOT need these two items while he is serving as a representative of the Lord Jesus Christ right now...

18 January 2010 - New Area

Hi Family,

So I ended up getting changes as well. They closed down that area again. It seems like every 3 or 4 months they close it, then open it back up. That was a bummer though because I had found some really good investigators there. The DL who is right next door will be in both areas, they should have a few baptisms in these next weeks. But that's ok, as long as they get baptized then that's all that matters, I don't have to be the one who does it.

And being on that subject... Do you remember Teresa? She's in my old area Whisky, when I was there with Elder Garcia. We found her and she was such a cool lady. I think you remember. We'll... she got baptized on Saturday! Garcia went to it but I wasn't able to go. I was so excited to hear that. After 7 months she finally got baptized. She said in her testimony afterwards that thanks to Green and Garcia she got to know the Gospel. And lots of other cool stuff. Garcia took pictures that he's going to give me. That was really good news.

My new place.

So as to changes, I moved one area over. Right next door. I have two Wards again, they're called Santa Monica and Jacarandas. This first week has been really good. I feel happy again with my new companion. Forgot what that was like... I don't think I'll ever leave this zone though, I've been here for 5 transfers in a row, they just move me from area to area. Haha. But it's fine. My companion is Elder Arrecis. I'm his step-dad, meaning I'm his second companion. He only has one transfer in the mission. He's from Chiapas Mexico, his whole family are members and they've been members for about 5 years. He's a good guy. We get along well. The members in this ward are really great. It's been a good first week.

Thanks Mom for getting my package all ready. You'll probably only end up sending like two or three more because then my time will be up. Crazy thought.

Thanks Dad for approving my trip. I'll see what we can do. Some other missionaries are looking into flight prices.

Today we played soccer and basketball for several hours. We just finished playing. It was fun. Tomorrow is our zone conference, it's actually with two zones. We'll see how that goes. Not too excited for it. We have to be there at 7am and it's very far away, and we'll see how long it lasts this time.

Well, not much else from this week. Just transfers and getting familiar with my new area. Thanks for the emails.

Love you family.

Elder Green

My companion taking a suitcase up our 3 story spiral staircase to get to my new house.

11 January 2010 - Transfers are here . . .

Hi Family.

Made it though the last week of the transfers. It was tough, but I did it. The past two weeks I've been working as hard as I possibly can and we had a little more success. The mission started a new thing, we have to sing a hymn in every lesson or it doesn't count. So we've been singing a lot these past two weeks. But it's amazing how much two verses of a hymn can bring the Spirit into a lesson. It seemed odd at first and lots of missionaries were shy to do it, but it really is amazing. I would give that as advice to Am if you write her. Sing a hymn that is related to the lesson, it really helps the investigator feel the Spirit just that much more.

These past two weeks we went to a new part of the area to knock doors. We probably knocked over 300 doors these past two weeks. But we found some good investigators also. We are teaching a lady named Isabel who was a Jehova's Witness before. We were able to bring her to the chapel yesterday and she really seemed to like it. We have an appointment with her tomorrow.

On Friday, we got together with the district and we all came to work in my area for an hour or two. That was pretty fun, we found maybe one or two new investigators to teach. But this area is tough.

On Saturday, some members called us at like 8am and asked if we could help them because they are moving. So we went and helped out all morning. Lots of work to do, but it was nice to lend some service. Just going up and down stairs with boxes.

A big cold front came in on Friday and the temperature really dropped. Not sure how cold exactly, but around 40-50 F. That's cold for Mexico City, especially since furnases and house heating don't exist here. Lots of rain too. My umbrella broke on Saturday night finally. Poor little guy... But it still works, it's just limp on one side. Haha. It's not too humid here though, just normal.

Bummer that Texas lost. But what can ya do? Mom's sending another package? I would love some Swedish Fish. :) Those are fat free and one of my favorite candies. And more pop tarts, I just ate the last one this morning. I don't want to eat too much fatty foods now, only 5 and a half months left, gotta get in shape for the summer :) The cheese and crackers you sent were really great as well.

Thanks for the pictures Dad, the stadium seems really nice. Very "strawberry" as they say in Spanish. January 5th is a big holiday here. It's the day of the Three Wise Men. I'll explain how it works.. The kids buy a balloon, then they write a note, or wish list, and tie it to the end of the balloon, and that night they send the balloon up in the sky. And then the next morning the Wise Men bring them their gifts! It's like Santa Clause, but it's bigger. The kids get more excited for this than for Christmas. So... what did I do that night? I bought myself a balloon... :) Then I made my wish list, and sent it off. I took a video so I'll try to post it on the blog right now. And some pictures I'll send to you. But, the Wise Men didn't bring me anything... Members told me that I guess you have to give another copy of the wish list to your parents?? Who knew.. Haha. But you wouldn't have wanted to see it, I asked for expensive stuff. Like a dirt bike and a new truck and stuff. Ha. But I had fun doing it.

Ok well anyways. So changes are today. They called us last night at around 11pm. My companion is leaving to a new area. But they don't know about my transfers yet. They're going to call me today and let me know. They might close the area down again so I'll leave too, I don't know. So I have no idea what's going to happen. All I know is I'm getting a new comp, and that makes me as happy as can be. :) I guess I'll let you know next week what happened.

Well, I think that's about all for this week. Thanks for the emails Mom and Dad. Thanks for the prayers and support. I love you all very much! Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Green

This is a video of me sending my balloon off to the Three Wise Men. Enjoy

4 January 2010

Hi family,

Happy new year! Crazy that we're already in 2010. We had a pretty fun New Year's Eve this year. We got together with the district and had a BBQ on the roof and lit off fireworks. It was a pretty fun night. The two days that followed though were really tough to work. Everyone left for vacations and nobody had any free time, so that made it tough. But we just knocked doors all week long.

Ready to open some presents Christmas 2009.

I talked with my DL and ZL but there wasn't the possibility of special changes. So I'll just have to make it one more week because the transfers are this Sunday. 3 transfers with one companion is too long, especially one I don't get along with. It's a miracle I made it this long but I'm hangin' in there. Things were a little better this week.

Sounds like Chez and Dad had a fun time at the NFL game. If they took any pictures I'd love to see the stadium and all that. Glad you had a good time. I never heard anything about a fireside for the YM/YW in my ward. Glad Shantaye was able to attend.

"This Christmas tree was just TOO big to fit inside the car... so they had to tie it on the roof. :)"

VERY FUNNY!!!

I think I did pretty good the month of December money wise, right? I think I had to take out a little bit at the end of the month and then ate out like twice, so probably less then 50 dollars if I count right. I was trying to be more careful with it this past month. Plus, Grandma sent some extra money so that helped out too.

I got a few letters from the Ward and a picture from the Christmas breakfast I think it was. I also got a nice Christmas card from the Stake President. That was nice to get. I haven't heard anything from him since I've been here.

Glad to hear that Dad had a nice golf trip with uncle Ron. Sure that was fun even though it was cold. It got really cold here on Saturday and it's still pretty cloudy and chilly. I think January is the coldest month for Mexico city.

Lots of bowl games this week. I hope Texas can pull it off! Bummer Oregon lost, I like Oregon.

J.J. with his Dr. Pepper over the highway and the Towers of Satellite in the background.

My comp. wasn't jealous of my Christmas gifts, he just has a hard personality. His family actually sent him a package that he got last week so he was happy about that. We simply just don't get along. Nobody in the zone gets along with him, after talking with him for a half hour they're fighting. So yeah, it's been a long, hard 4 and a half months. But it's fine. Only one more week til changes.

Christmas 2009.

J.J. with his B-B-Q sandwich and pineapple Fanta drink on New Year's Eve.

District B-B-Q on New Year's Eve.

Well I think that's about all for this week.

I have tons of pictures for you, but not sure how much time I'll have right now. Lots of Christmas pictures I still haven't sent. Oops. I'll try to get em off to you. Messing around with fireworks on New Year's Eve.

Two pieces of candy from the first pinata J.J. helped opened in December 2009.

Love you all!

Have a great week.

Go Longhorns!!!

Elder Green