Ball it out

So here it is:  This week was a lot better than some of the past ones. Let's get it started.

Comp:

Whew. This dude cracks me up. Love him. I got two new nicknames for him. One is Jimmer. Like Jimmer Fredette. We all know Jimmer cause we are either Mormon or ball out and get buckets or both. So Jimmer was awesome in college and is stinking it up in the pros like the Cougars do everytime against the UTES. My comp is the same. Warm ups(college) he balls out, then in the game he has a seizure every time he shoots. But he's a baseball player. Anyway he hasn't gotten any faster and is forgetting more things each day. Today he forgot all his white shirts to wash. But that is him. We goof around in the streets and make some pretty delicioso meals. Oh and also................when you live with someone for 2 months you're bound to see a full moon and it happened today.

Weather:

Holy smokes it's incredibly cold here in the night. In the day it's like blazing hot; so weird. Kinda ridiculous. But I got 2 blankets and sometimes a heater. 491 pesos for our heating bill usually like 150 so that will explain how cold it is.  Use the heater like almost every night.

I saw 2 volcanos in 1 day that had smoke coming out of them. Pretty trippy.

 

Me vs Mexico:

So I am literally forgettig words in English. I just can't remember them. It's the weirdest thing. I speak Spanish when I'm mad too. So things are moving along real nice you could say. Also, when we contact people I always contact the drunks. 2 stories 1) I asked this dude, who was hammered what his name was, after 2 min he said "no recuerdo" or "I don't remember".  I just started laughing, said have a good one and we left. Priceless. 2)Yesterday there was this beautiful white husky with two kids our age, so we started talking to them and O. (one of their names) interrupts me and says that me and him and the perro are all equals.  Me loving dogs as much as anything said "Well of course mi amigo". He loved it; got a pic with them and the perro.  Always a pleasure to contact the Mexican people. 

Basketball:

WE FINALLY PLAYED BASKETBALL DURING THE WEEK!!!!!!!!!!! SO sick. Love ballin' in boots and church clothes and owning kids. We got 3 contacts out of it. It was kinda of a competition. but not really. One of those games where each team has 3 out of the 5 that should be at home playing World of Warcraft, but it's all about buckets. We play every p-day still. We are playing in the local park now for more contacts. We always win. Well, my team, cause like CP3 I hate losing more then I like winning. 

Investigators:

We have a baptism on Saturday. Our First... 2 days before cambios. And we have been working with her for 2 months. M is her name. We have 2 more who are really good;  P and A, they say that they can feel the spirit and feel happy and peace when we are with them and when they are in the church:  When we first contacted P, she had dreams the next night about us and our mesagge. Then after we taught her for the first time had dreams about us again. What can I say, I'm a ladies man for all races - haha - jk. Pretty wild what the spirit can do and how God prepares people for us to teach and Baptize. 1 week left in this cambio. We're gonna see if we can BALL OUT or as my comp says BALL IT OUT. Oh he's so classic.

 

Anyway thanks for reading and I got more coming for about 20 months more. who knows. DEUCES.

Fat Cat

 

What's the haps people.  Another week down and its flying by, here's the update:

Comp: This guy. Thinks he knows everything which he is pretty close. but not really. So I have been letting him borrow my shoes for exercises. and they don't have a size on them cause they are so worn out; he thinks they are tens.  So every time every time we go into a shoe store (and it's a lot of time because I gotta see those shoes) he tells the owner "I'm looking for 10" and I say 11.   He says "you're a ten" and I took off my shoe and showed him the 11 and he has been silent about it ever since.  I never really end up actually buying anything, it's just for the contact of the person. 

 

Funny Experiences: So we were walking home yesterday night. and there were these people trying to get this cat off the top of this building. It was a fat black and white cat, like the father of Garfield fat. Anyway J ties these two metal ladders together with rope, and they are big ladders like 10 ft each. and metal that you would use to lift and get jacked, so it was heavy and he was trying to lean it up.  5 ft man plus 20 ft 200lb ladder - not a good mix so I helped him out a lot ha.  Then he  climbed up and got the cat, but it was freaking me out so one of the ladies got a bag like you would use at safeway, the special save the earth nonsense ones, well it was too small.  I climbed up the ladder with it J. stuffed this cat in head first treating it like it was a toy and gave it to me as I climbed down. Almost fell cause that thing was freaking out.  Good times for sure; no day is ever the same.

Investigators: No baptisms yet, but we got 11 new investigators this week. 5 fechas or dates next month; so we are making moves.  The work is getting better - we have a goal of 200 contacts. so we are starting to make moves. 

Me vs. Mex: I dared the daring Saturday and had street tacos again and my goodness they were worth it.  So bomb.  I haven't gotten sick yet.  That's all I have to say. 

Well folks short one this week - wasn't too interesting and lots of work with the members and getting people to hear the good true word.  Again if you have questions ask me please. 

Elder Farner

 

3 months in the mission

Last week's letter was a bit of a joke.   Sorry for all those that read it, you will probably never get that time back.   Anyway, I'm gonna write a better one. here it goes

Me vs Mexico:

So the people here are all about giving the Americans hard times when they are walking in the streets, yelling stuff in English. funny stuff. 3 kids are 8 years old yelled "Say something in ingles".   I said "Hola"; so I like to mess around with them.  They love my eyes almost as much as my hair.  I had one family say they were envious of my hair, so I said once I get my hair cut I would save some for them. 

Language:

It's getting a lot.  I'm getting used to Mexican Spanish which is very different then the Spanish I learned in 3 years of high school.   Well, I didn't learn anything there, just how to dance.   For saying something sad, they say bien triste, for good, que bueno, for funny bien chistoso.  They use que y bien before a lot of words. Kinda fun.  I'm working on the accent and the conjugations are slowly improving. 

Food:
Oh it gets better every day.  There is a lot of stews down here; not a big fan of stews to be honest. But with tortillas and salsa its all good. We had chalupas the other day.  Oh they were bomb; I had like 12.
I'm putting the weight back on that I lost from my sickness; it's not good, but I figure I'll get sick again and lose it all. It's all good.  Then there is the pastelirias.   It's like sweet bread and pastries.  Oh my goodness its clutch.  I think I gain more weight with the sweets than with the Mexican food.
Companion:
This guy;  he's classic. something everyday he does makes up for the wasted time and the miscommunication. Like this week.  When he walks and tries to send a text or write in his planner he slows down and drives like someone from Seattle in the rain.  Then when there's a sidewalk or a bump he always trips over it and says triste calle.  Haha bien chistoso.  Then he always hits his head on stuff, the bathroom doorframe, strings in the street.  He just doesn't pay attention fully.   He's kinda like a little brother all the time.  Anyway love him, we ball out and we got 2 weeks left.
Investigators:
There is always fun with our investigators. They all say they will come to church; never do. We had one choose her baptism and not come to church so we gotta get her to church. We have 7 potentials for baptism, they just need to come to church.   It's very frustrating but they need to be ready before baptism.  We have like 400 inactives. They are adding 2 more missionaries next cambio. Lots of work to be done.

3 months in the mission; the time is flying by. I'm learning stuff everyday. Gospel, Language, how to be more like Christ.  It's hard, frustrating, annoying, but I love every second of it (except throwing up and when the investigators don't come to church).  Anyway if you want to know anything, ask questions I'll see what I can do for a answer.

Love ya and miss ya.

 

Lots of Fellowshipping

This week was good stuff.  Here it goes..

 

The Ward:

So we are making a big push with all the miembros asking them for references and teaching with them all the time. So we have had a lot of success and are getting return appointments which is good. Me and my comp had 77 contacts this week; were making moves. The bishop is preaching every Sunday to the people about the work and how it needs to press forward.  We have had a couple miembros in our casa to meet them.  I have a pic of all the family back in WA and everyone thinks that Seattle is my mom; so mom that means you are young and spry.

Comp:

This guy is the man.  He's like a brother,  we don't fight anymore, but he takes his sweet time with things. my word. We made ginger bread houses; he was so confused because he has never done it before. pretty funny. He's the man, love him, good dude and a little strange.  Kinda like me.

Me vs Mex:

So I love walking down the street, it's always fun.  People stare and are now yelling. English or Good Morning or other english words.  It's pretty funny.  I just contact them and they are always super cool and funny.

They have the sickest jackets down here:  49ers, Raiders, Pats, Dolphins, Redskins and Rams are the most common sports teams.  A bunch of LA stuff.

So imma kill my shower if that's possible, but its the worst thing ever.  My goodness. The slightest inch of movement with the knob, it's hot as Satan or Cold as Christmas.  My goodness.  But whatever; anyway love this place, but it's just way too cold in the night. 

Investigadores:

So we have one who went to rehab, then escaped somehow, which is weird and I don't know how it happened. We had a baptism on the 11th but she didn't come to church so no mas date. We are doing a lot more work with the less actives.  There are 350 less actives in Serdan alone.  It's wild, but we are pressing forward with love and teaching with members, lots of fellowshipping. 

Anyway short this week and I'm super tired right now, been tired all week.  I'll do better next week, anyway keep it real and deuces. 

 

Elder Farner

Moon River

So this week was very interesting.  I had been hearing all week in the letters how the Christmas in the mission is the best and how jealous people were of me.  Well my friends, I should’ve traded, cause I had the worst Christmas ever and I’m not exaggerating at all….and I’ll explain why.

Christmas Eve:

Ha oh boy it would’ve been a blast if I didn’t get straight steamrolled by sickness. I had been sick since Tuesday, throwing up, diarrhea and not being able to move.  We then went and got medicine, it’s a long walk to the pharmacy; like 10 min.   So the whole way I’m trying to keep my balance and debating if I should throw myself in front of a big bus, but with my luck I wouldn’t die. So we got the meds and then went to Hermana C’s house.  This lady is a saint and is definitely going to the Celestial kingdom.  Anyway, she made us a feast and me some chicken and rice.  So I got to watch people munch.  That was fun...........not really.

Christmas Day:

Well things got worse and worse with time. I was trying to feel better before we got to talk with the fam but that didn’t happen. Around 4 we went to Hermana X’s casa.  Lovely lady also.  She let me sleep on her daughter’s bed before I talked to the fam.  I slept for 3 hours. Around 7 I got on Skype and started talking. Felt sick the whole time and didn’t say half the things I wanted to say cause my stomach hurt so bad. And the connection (if that’s what you want to call it) was a disaster.

After Christmas:

Santa musta been really ticked off at me cause got nothing on Christmas and the day after I got something: a Moon River. (FLETCH reference). And I would’ve rather had coal.  I’ll explain. So woke up around 10 and felt like drunk hobo. So we decided to go to the hospital.   Bad decision. They hooked me up with an IV and a bed. Bed a little small, but the best blanket I have ever had at the hospitals. So 2 nurses came in.  I call them the Evil Twins. They need a sample of my doodoo and they brought with them a tube.  You can probably figure it out from there. Then after that they gave me a bunch of medicine.  I’ll tell ya, the stay at the hospital is muy bueno cuando you can watch TV. The next morning I left for the house.

So what have I learned from this you might ask? Well:

 1) Don’t eat everything you see in the street even though it smells like heaven.

2)Self-medicate or get some lifetime scars.

3)I have one more chance to have a good Christmas on the mission so let’s do it big, huh?!

4)Christmas with the family, YOUR family is 100x better.

Cars y Bikes:

They all have flat tires. It’s so weird. They just cruise with no air in the tires; and we freak out back at home when we are losing some air. Wild. Perspective.

 

 

That’s it this week folks. Pretty boring and gross and miserable. Till next time.

The Key is to just Work, Work, Work

Well I’m not sick right now so that’s good.  It’s a lot better when you’re not sick that’s for sure.  Well, let’s get it started huh. 

Comp:    

HAhahahah this guy just keeps getting better and better.  When I am waiting for him I just study or read or practice dribbling the basketball cause even though I’m on the mission, it’s still about buckets.  Just different buckets, anyway.   Our lessons are getting shorter and sweeter. 1 hour to 45 min. so that’s helpful.

People:

I call them door hoppers. They just go from door to door and just stand and survey their "kingdom". Then there is the Center Park or the Jungle I call it. Cause there are lots of PDA couples.  It’s like high school all over again, but they are still the nicest people.   Good stuff.

Serdan:

This is the area I’m serving in.  It’s pretty sweet, but it’s very expensive. I was in La Paz which is like the heart of Puebla and I bought a sweet snapback for 50 pesos or 3.80 dollars.  Same kinda hat. 100 pesos in Serdan.  A little ridiculous and all the shoes that are real are like 2500 pesos.  Wildness but great food...... my goodness imma gonna be BIG MIKE big when I get back. haha chiste

Weather:

It’s a lot like Seattle when Seattle is like the nicest day. Kinda like Santa Cruz in the morning;  cold but the sun is out.. Then at night it’s cold, real cold.  I got my North Face, Beanie and some gloves and it’s still a bit nippy. But overall it is very nice from 12-6.  It’s cold cause it’s the desert and it’s Diciembre.  So hopefully that will change next month. I’m getting a nice reddish face neck and arms.  I need to wear no shirt a couple days to even it out but then I couldn’t put my name tag anywhere.

Language:

You can probably tell by some of my sentences and spelling of things that I’m losing the English and getting some espanol juego in my life.  It’s getting a lot better day by day.  I can understand pretty much everything but it’s the conjugations and speaking I have trouble with. But there’s always a person I have no idea what they are saying ha-ha. That happens in America too.

Investigadores:

We have 3 progressing, 1 with a date, January 11th. I invited her to be baptized which was pretty cool.  It was in perfect Spanish or the Spirit just helped her understand it haha.   But still waiting on divorce papers for N.  G and her daughter that had dates haven’t come to church and she lost her business and has cancer. So things are tough for here right now.  It’s sad but we try to help her out as much as possible

District:

We had basketball today. Little Tournament. It was me, Elder H, Elder S and Elder Z, two short men and one uncoordinated.  We went 4-1. I couldn’t even run the last game.  I was so tired from rebounds, getting and 1s and steals. Basically me vs 4. But that’s the way I like it. We beat Elder J who is  6 ‘1”, Elder G who is 6’2” and Elder W and Elder S who have all played before. They complained the whole time about I was "fouling them".  I was just doing the butt stick out on rebounds and 50/50 balls. I was like. ‘you don’t wanna get hurt, don’t jump on my back or try me with those 50/50’. It was pretty funny.  It was me and Elder G and Elder J  all running for the bal.  I reached forward and go it with one hand, brought it back between my legs and then around my back and Elder J and Elder G ran into each other.  Then I went between the legs on Elder G.  Oh, how I love this game. Haha.

 

 

Anyway to sum it all up.  It’s all getting better.  The key is to just work, work, work. Tired and more tired but it’s all good.

The Spirit is willing but the stomach is weak

I’m starting to have legit conversations with people.  It’s a lot more fun cause I can be myself in 2 languages.

Well let’s get it started. This email is going to be kinda weak, Cause I feel super sick and barely could walk here.

FOOD 

Figured I would start with this first; ate something called chicharon, usually it’s very good but for some reason it ruined me.  Made me pull a jimmy johns - ask my dad about that one.

Had a burger called the jumbo.  It’s on flattened hot dog buns:  hot dog, 2 meats, chiles, salsa, ketchup, mounds of cheese.  It was pretty good; enjoyed it immensely.   Well it’s making me sick talking about food. Next.

People/Culture:

Lots of power outages, happen for like 5 min and then go back on. Weird; the whole street will just die.  It happened when we were walking home. pretty scary.

Then there are the venders on the streets with their food.  They will go to the fences by the schools and throw food over to them.  Then the kids pay them through the fence; pretty funny.   They love Johnny Bravo here.  My comp has a little action figure.  They all know how to do the Johnny Bravo move. 

So we were eating in the tacos al pastor rest; way good.   And there’s this singing hobo who comes and will sing (not even good) and ask for money.  So I was giving hand sanitizer to the people in my district and he was coming over by us so I say ‘Aqui’.  He sprinted towards me and I gave him some hand sanitizer.  Then he was just stunned and looked ticked and walked out ha.

One of our menos activos is a barber, L. he was giving this guy a 1 on the sides when I see the guys face do a double take and freak out haha - he had wanted a 2 haha. priceless.

Investigators;

We have 3 who are progressing. C who is married to R who’s the man.  Then there’s N who’s basically a member who just needs to get married.  Then Jose whose wife is a member, he’s coming but he’s all about being a Catholic.  He’s slowly starting to believe, so were are making headway.

District:

We had Cambios this week. Our whole district is the same, which is pretty sick - love these boys.  I had intercambios with the District Leader Elder G. We had some fun times; played ball in the morning for ejercicios.  We then went throughout our day preaching and spreading the good word.  Then the next morning our cell phones weren’t working. pretty funny.  We were walking to the bus to go to el seco when we saw Elder H and Elder W with no ties and flip flops coming to talk to us about the cell phones. We decided to go to el seco and meet up with mi comp and Elder S.  They had left to come meet us, so we had fun finding them. Took us 4 hours to finally get back to the house with my comp. good times

Ruppas:

Ahhh  I’m going to adopt one of these things by the end of mission that’s for sure. They have a street I call Ruppa Road. Has a pit bull, 2 great danes, rottweilers, doberman, black lab, and a german shepherd.  All my favs. so sick. I love walking down that road.  There are some massive mean looking pit bulls here -pretty wild.  I’ll have to get a pic of one.

That’s about it.  I’m about to throw up so have a good one.