June 24th, 2013

I would like to start off by announcing that I met someone who knows Timo yesterday.  There is a family here who sent their son to the United States for High school.  We ate with them a few weeks ago and they asked me where I was from.  When I said "Utah" I was surprised when they asked me what part.  It's usually a miracle that they've even heard of Utah.  But when I said "Cedar Hills" I was more surprised to find out that they'd been there!  They told me their son was living in Alpine and attending Lone Peak but that he was coming home soon for the summer.  They told me his name, but I didn't recognize it.  I asked them if they had seen the wal-mart in front of the school and they said yes.  I asked if they saw the chapel behind the wal-mart--also yes.  I told them I lived on that block.  Everyone freaked out.  Their son came home this week but I still hadn't met him when a young man walks up to me after sacrament meeting and asks me if I miss Lone Peak.  What?  He asked me what classes I had taken, what teachers I had, etc.  When I told him I had Señorita Taylor, he told me that he had taken Spanish 4.  I asked him if he knew Timo and he said yes, that he was the TA for his Spanish class!!!  His name is R A, I think.  Not sure about the first name, but the last name is right.  What a crazy, small, Mormon world we live in, right?

More craziness.  We went to visit a less active couple last week, and had a similar conversation.  The husband, E, asked me where I was from.  "Utah."  "What part?" "Cedar Hills." "That was my first area on my mission!!!"  Crazy.  He served in the Provo mission and his first area included Cedar Hills, Lehi, Alpine, AF, and Highland.  The only baptism he had there was a family from Ecuador that lived in Cedar Hills.  He's been to the Timpanogos temple and wants to get sealed to his recently-baptized wife there this December. Maybe he'll invite you so you can meet him...

Answering a question from last week:  The zone I'm in is called U.  There's three zones in G that belong to our mission.  I started out in I--which is more on the north side of the city, and right now I'm on the west side.  I took pictures of the shoes, but this blessed computer doesn't have a port for my memory card.  Someday...

Happy Birthday Mom!!!  Thanks for being the best Mom ever!!!  Enjoy your bike!

Tuesday in District Meeting the Zone Leaders had asked us to come up with a focus as a district and set goals to achieve it.  We really should be able to have a lot of success in this district--it's the most tight-knit district I've had in my whole mission and we are all 6 part of the same ward.  So we did.  One thing that had been worrying me is that we are not recieving referrals.  The week before we had recieved a total of 6 as a whole district.  In the biggest ward in the mission, that's just not acceptable.  So we talked about how we could improve.  The Zone Leaders and Elder A were there, making it a grand total of 9 missionaries, the biggest district meeting I've ever taught by far, but it was a big help having them there.  The Zone Leaders, because they're zone leaders and they're awesome, and Elder A, because we were in a similar situation in S and ended our time there together receiving 30 referrals in one week.  So we set some goals to improve.  We decided to set the goal to receive 15 as a district every week for the rest of the transfer, and talked about a few things we could do to acheive it.  The Spirit was definitely guiding the meeting.  It went well.  This week we recieved 28 as a district, and it's only going to go up from there.  

You may ask what happened with all those referrals.  Most of them are not interested.  But we'll keep looking I guess.  We had a cool experience with one of them in particular.  Her name is A, and she's not Catholic.  She's from the Apostolic church. 

Needless to say, we got there expecting a challenge.  She started out the lesson saying that there are no other scriptures and no living prophets, that everything we need is in the Bible, and that she has more years in her church than we have alive, in other words, what are these two little children going to be able to teach me?  But as we explained to her the restoration and as she started to see that we do know the scriptures just about as well as she does, she was a little more open.  When we were sharing her the First vision, the impression came to my mind that the salvation of this daughter of God was in that moment dependant on my personal conviction that Joseph Smith is a prophet.  When we had finished relating the First vision in Joseph Smith's own words, the Spirit flooded the room, and I was really grateful for the testimony I had.  Later, she asked me how I could say that the Book of Mormon had changed my life if I had been a member since birth, and in that moment I was really grateful to also have an answer to that question that she could not contend with.  At the end, she said that if she came to know the Book of Mormon is true, she'll be baptized July 20th.  She didn't accept another visit, but we've done our part and we'll be hoping she reads that book.  It's so good to know that Heavenly Father trusts in me enough to let me share my testimony to people like that, who's salvation is in jeopardy and need to hear what he has revealed to me to get back to him.  Remember that, Timo, when your out there in a few weeks.  Every lesson you teach needs to come from the heart.  There doesn't need to be a difference between sharing your testimony and teaching a principle, if the conviction is strong, you'll do both and the same time and the people will feel the power of the Spirit and will know what you are teaching them is true.  If you follow the Spirit, the promise "ye shall not be confounded before men" will be fulfilled.    

The good news is that L went to church again, has accepted everything we teach, is keeping all her commitments, and is getting baptized this Saturday!  The sisters are also baptizing on Saturday, so it should be a really special day for the ward.  Pray specially for them so that everything goes through and they can be baptized that day.  It's been exciting.  

We did get to see the training broadcast and it was SWEET!!!  I was sitting next to Elder M
during the meeting, and during one of the music videos he leaned over and told me "I guarantee my mom is crying right now if she's watching this."  I thought to myself "I guarantee my Mom is crying right now if she's watching this!"  But really, it was so good. 

Leadership training, they had an activity with a stick relay.

I feel like I was going to say something else, but I can't really remember.  Sounds like you all had a fun, busy, scouty week.  Have a great experience tomorrow, Timo (going through the temple).  Take it all in, and think about why they want all missionaries to make those covenants before leaving on the mission.  Love you, bro!

Elder Pew and a fellow Elder friend at the leadership training

Have a great week, everybody.  BYE!!!

Elder Pew

June 17th, 2013

Guess who I'm sitting next to.  No, not the prophet, Elder A  His child (a missionary) is finally getting here , and since we're the closest area to the mission offices, they sent him with us for today and tomorrow.    It's been AWESOME!!!  And keep writing him, his family stopped writing again. 

It was a pretty awesome week.  We had the leaders training meeting Tuesday and it was incredible.  President Wagner taught us how to put a baptismal date with anyone in the first lesson and we did a lot of practices that ended up helping me out later that day (keep reading for more info).  Also, I saw Elder B (still in A, but he's zone leader now), Elder D, Elder D, Elder D, and Elder E, so it was way fun.  And basically I learned way too many things to really be able to tell you them all.  But it was great.  I got back just in time for our lesson with G, an investigator that we had found last Sunday, who started off the lesson telling us that she had thought about it and she decided that she didn't want to get baptized.  We'll see about that!  We taught her the restoration and she understood it really well, and when the time came to invite her to be baptized we applied what President Wagner had taught us and she accepted a baptismal date for July 6th.  Sweet!

We're still working a lot with members to get them excited to help us.  I think it's been working, along with President Wagner's talk from stake conference, because we have a ton of lessons already scheduled this with new people the members have been talking to.  Yes!  And L finally came to church!!! She's looking pretty good for her baptism on the 29th.  Also we had an activity this week.  We played Mormon family feud and it was fun.  

I don't have a whole lot of time left, but I also don't have a whole lot more to say.  Thanks for everything and have a great week!  Less than a month and you'll be getting letters like these from Timo too!!!  Who's ready?  Love you!

Elder Pew

June 10th, 2013

Big news this week:  This Tuesday they are going to send 2 more missionaries to S.  Yes!

So we have a completely new way of doing missionary work.  I think I've probably explained this earlier, but now we don't knock on doors, we only contact in the street when prompted to by the Spirit, and we work more with members and less active members to find people to teach.  So when the members don't talk to anyone, there's nobody to teach.  That's what's going on here in E.  But it's not going to last for too long.  This week we visited a lot of members, doing exactly what we did in S to try and motivate them to work with us to find people to teach.  It's going to work, but it's going to take time.  The good thing is that there are more members in my area here than in all of S and they are all really willing to start talking to people.  And they'll be good examples for the investigators and the ward will take care of everyone who comes to church and gets baptized

We did find two awesome investigators:  M and G.  M came to church last Sunday with her friend who is a member from a different stake in G.  We went to teach her Tuesday and she was super interested.  She is already reading the Book of Mormon, she's in 1 Nephi 9.  She's 20 years old and has a 1 year old kid and works in a call center (speaking English).  It was an awesome lesson.  Oh, and did I mention there's a former Mission President in this ward?  Powerful!  We taught her in his house and it was sweet.  She accepted a baptismal date for June 29th super willingly.   

G was someone that Elder Q and Elder D contacted the week before I got here.  We finally had an appointment with her yesterday and she's way cool.  She told us that 2 years ago she had 2 different operations for brain tumors and both went really well--she seems totally normal and says she lives a normal life.  And she said that since then she's realized that God has a purpose for her and that she should try and be a better person.  So we taught her about the purpose God has for her and she also accepted a baptismal date for June 29th.  Let's pray that she doesn't disappear.  

I met a 24 year old girl the other day who is a professional soccer ref for a living.  What?  Awesome.  She's the nursery teacher here.  

This week was stake conference.  The whole thing was about missionary work.  President Wagner spoke and was on fire, Elder Holland style.  It was amazing.  He takes every opportunity to talk as a chance to call everyone to repentance.  He started out by saying "You have all been really blessed to have great leaders here who have set the example in preaching the gospel.  But where's their army?  How many of you have visited a less active member in the last 3 weeks?  How many of you have shared a Book of Mormon with someone in the last year?  Imagine how embarrassing it will be to have to answer these questions in public on judgment day..."  By the end everyone's hair was standing on end and they were all holding on tight to their chairs.  It was exactly what we needed.  He said that there are more missionaries on earth today than in any other moment in the history of the world, and that these missionaries have received new instructions: work with the members.  The Lord will find a way to do His work, what's left to decide is how much you want to be a part of it.  So true. 

Tomorrow I have to go to another stake center for a leadership training meeting.  Should be pretty fun.  

I've run out of things to say this week.  Things have started off slow here, but I'm enjoying it.  The other missionaries in our district are super fun and the members are also way awesome.  I am absolutely certain that we will have a lot of success together.  Thanks for everything!  I love you all!

Elder Pew

June 3rd, 2013

Hey everybody!  Well, I'm going to start by answering questions.  Yes, we meet in the chapel on the same property as the temple.  My new companion? Well, he's good.  He´s no Elder A, but he is obedient, he knows the area, he plans everything out well.  But the first few months of his mission were super crazy since he was an extra missionary in that mission for a while and I don't think he ever really was trained.  So I think I'm going to sneakily train him again.  But he'll be fine, I think.  His family writes him and everything, but if they stop I'll let you know.  Halfway mark package: still no.  And go ahead and write Elder A all you want.  And tell him I miss him and everyone in S.  

Well, this week was really tiring.  It's just been a weird situation in this ward, because there's not actually supposed to be 4 missionaries living in the same house, they banned that about a month ago.  So Elder M and Elder T had to find a house in their area and move out this week.  Also, the sisters from our ward are living with other sisters in a different ward, and we had to find them a house.  The problem is, they gave us a certain budget for it and all the houses in their area are way too expensive.  So we decided to look for a house in our area and let them live where we are right now, since it is right on the border with their area and we never really work with anyone around there.  So by Thursday we found a house for us to live in and Elder T and Elder M moved out Saturday.  But we still can't move in to our new house because there are still people living in it, so we'll have to wait like 2 weeks.  Also, since the sisters are opening an area, they get lost every so often and we had to go rescue them one night because they were about an hour away from their area and had no idea how to get home. At about 9:30 we finally found them--literally 4 blocks from where they are living right now.  How they got there is still a mystery.  But that's just the kind of thing we've been dealing with.  

Not to mention that this area was completely dead.  They had apparently misunderstood the instruction to focus more on the less actives and decided to completely stop all efforts to look for investigators.  There's a lot of work to do.  But this area has me drooling with all the potential it has.  It's a super big ward--we had 195 in sacrament meeting this sunday, 153 more than we had in Sayula last week.  It's also CRAWLING with recently returned missionaries, who make up the ward mission leader, his assistant, and the entire Elder's Quorum presidency.  And they are all SUPER cool and willing to come with us and help us in the lessons.  Not to mention there's an ex-mission president here also.  And all the other members are pretty awesome and helpful too, from what I've seen so far.  They are all super rich and have cars and drive us all over the place to lessons and to pick up investigators.  And there's a bunch of part member families to work with.  It really should not be any problem finding people to teach.  

This week we did have a couple lessons, 2 of which ended with investigators crying during the closing prayer.  Nobody came to church, but we're working on that.  We ended up teaching one lesson in English to a Canadian named W that lives in Puerto Vallarta who was here on vacation with his wife, who's cousin is a member of this ward.  Did I mention that all the members here speak English?  Well, they do.  Our assistant ward mission leader, J, came with us and helped me teach the lesson in English.  He is amazing!  It was a good lesson.  It's not exactly their time to receive the gospel yet, but we left a good impression.  And his wife said the closing prayer and ended in tears.  Pretty cool experience.  Also, a member from another ward here in Guadalajara brought his friend, who lives in our area, to church on Sunday.  Her name is M and she's already reading the Book of Mormon and wants to know more.  We have a lesson with her tomorrow.  Sweet!

Fun facts about the missionaries in the district:

Elder M and Elder D are both from Columbia, but both have completely different accents.  Elder M sounds like he's speaking Spanish in a British accent, and Elder D with a Southern accent.  Really weird.  And Elder M speaks English incredibly well.  

Elder T has 15 months in the mission.  Before E, he was in A. And he got transferred from there because somebody fell in love with him.  Sound familiar? 

The sisters in our district are Hermana L and Hermana B.  Hermana L is from the same generation as Elder A and Elder R, and is training Hermana B, who seems like she's about 15 years old.  These young sister missionaries really are weirding me out.  

Well, that`s about it for this week.  Thanks for everything and all your prayers.  Hopefully we can find some good investigators this week.  Pray for that!  See you later!  Enjoy summer break!  And congratulations Granny for the wedding!  Hope it goes well! Love you all!

Elder Pew

Monday, May 27th, 2013

They took me out of S.  I was figuring that would be the first thing you'd all be asking, so there you go.  I'm in G again, but in a different zone.  I'm in a ward called E, and the temple is in the ward boundaries.  Pretty sweet.  It's right on the border of my area.  There are 3 companionships here: 2 of Elders and this transfer two sister missionaries will be opening a third area.  I'm still district leader.  My companion is Elder D.  He's from Columbia.  He's from the same generation as Elder A and Elder R, but he spent the first 4 months of his mission over there waiting for his visa.  He's the only member in his whole family.  He was baptized when he was 13.  We live in a mansion (literally) with 2 other missionaries who seem awesome (another American and another Columbian) along with a member family who lives in a different section of the same house and rents it to us.  Basically, this area is the rich section of Guadalajara, and apparently there's lots of Americans.  It's about exactly the opposite of S.

We had another swap of companions.  Elder D's companion is now with Elder A in S, and it just happens to be Elder Q, my brother who was also my first Zone Leader in A.  He's going to finish his mission there.  They did not put another companionship in S yet, but President Wagner told me they would in the near future.  They did put another companionship in T, another little down by G, and they sent Elder J and Elder H there to open up that area and they sent sister missionaries to their area in G.  Pretty soon these misioneras are going to take over the whole mission...

We had a good last week.  We found a super awesome investigator named J.  We contacted his wife and put an appointment to go visit her, but when we got there she wasn't home.  Instead, a shirtless, gangsta looking dude with tattoos all over his body answers the door, smoking, and asks us what we want.  Based on previous experience, I was pretty sure he was going to get super defensive and tell us that his wife is Catholic and they don't want us to visit them, but no.  He invited us in and listened to everything we said, and was super interested in the Restoration.  We left him with a Book of Mormon and when we came back, he had read from the introduction to 1 Nephi 2 and understood everything.  And even better, he told us he knew it was all true!!!  That was the last time I saw him, but we had an appointment with him for tomorrow night and I'm excited to find out what happens there.  

We had found an investigator named V a few weeks ago that seemed kind of interested but stopped being home when we went over.  We found her again Sunday and she told us she wanted to give the Book of Mormon back because she didn't have time to read it.  So we said a prayer and started to read with her in the introduction and explain the importance of it.  She had a lot of doubts, but the Spirit was super strong and guided the whole lesson.  We just seemed to know exactly what she needed to hear--and it was amazing to see the Spirit work through us, including the member that came to help us teach, and through the investigator.  At the end of the lesson she told us she was going to read the Book of Mormon, and then we challenged her to pray and ask God right there in that moment if it is true.  She did and told us she felt like she had been illuminated.  She said that it seemed like her eyes had been opened to something she couldn't see before that prayer.  It was amazing!  And that just happened to be the last lesson I taught in S with Elder A.  

By Friday, I already knew I was going to be transferred.  That night, I said my last goodbye to Elder A, who got home today, and that day we also found out that Elder J was going to be sent to T and would no longer be part of our district.  When I was praying that night, I felt sure that I was going to be transferred, so when the call came Sunday I was ready.  It was a blessing, because if not I think I might of cried.  Ok, maybe I did anyways, but not as much as it would have been.  Luckily, I had time to quickly say goodbye to everyone I wanted to.  Some were sadder than others.  V was the only one that cried, but J was about to.  It's been really sad.  I'm going to miss all those guys.  SOOO many things happened to me in that area.  I feel like I matured about 10 years there with all that went on in those 7 months.  But at the same time I know that this is where I'm supposed to be now.   I don't know why, but I'm sure I'll find out.  When we were here at the temple Saturday and Monday, I felt like I was going to get transferred here.  And here I am.  And thank goodness I'm not on the coast sweating like a little pig.  I'd love to be in G and G

Practicing teaching

Scripture Power

Treats for his birthday from the Mission President and his wife

Elder A and Elder Pew, the winning companionship!

Taran's zone without him and his companion

my whole mission, and so far so good.  

Thanks for your prayers and support!  I'm really going to need them this week!  I love you all!  

Elder Pew

*Photos from a Zone conference a couple of weeks ago

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

What a CRAZY week!  Let's start with...I don't know.  Update on investigators?  We have a couple of cool ones right now.  We went back to teach a couple that I taught with Elder A.  Their names are A and R.  R's grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles are all inactive members but he's never been baptized in any particular church. He's about 23 and he's super cool.  His wife was studying to be a cataquista (I don't know this word in English) in the Catholic church, but stopped and went to live with him.  They're not married, which is the biggest challenge, but they're always there for the lessons (miracle!)  and they like listening to us.  So we'll see how that goes.  

We found another guy named C who's about 32.  He lived in the US for 15 years and also doesn't belong to any other church.  He's really interested in the Book of Mormon and being forgiven of his sins.  His 14 year old brother is also pretty interested since he's madly in love with one of the youth here in the branch.  

So the craziness started Thursday.  Actually, more like Tuesday.  Elder A's tooth started to hurt really bad, and by Thursday he couldn't take it anymore.  So we went to the dentist and found out he had an infection in his tooth.  It was so bad that she couldn't do anything about it right then, so he started taking pills for the infection so that it goes down a little bit.  Hopefully they'll be able to operate on it this week.  But it didn't stop there.  It was still hurting him really bad on Friday, and to go along with it he had a fever, chills, and his body was aching all over.  Not to mention the diarrhea.  Friday night he couldn't sleep at all because he was so sick, which was awful since we had to get up and 4 in the morning.  You may be asking why--because we were going to the temple!!!  The branch had a trip scheduled that day at 5 am and we had planned to go with them.  But it turns out the van we rented was just a minivan, and more people than we had planned on showed up.  We weren't about to stuff 13 people into a dodge caravan in a two hour trip to Guadalajara, so Elder A and I went in the normal buses with another member (E, the one that said hi to you guys on skype.)  That was good since he was able to sleep on the way.  

Guadalajara Temple

Elder A and Elder Pew with branch members at the temple

The Guadalajara temple is beautiful!  It was a great experience even though Elder A was so sick.  It felt like going home...it's kind of hard to describe.  It was cool doing a session in Spanish--once again, thank goodness for that little old man.  I learned a lot and understood a lot better why missionaries go through the temple before leaving on the mission.  Look for that when you go, Timo.  Anyway, we just did one session so that we could get back to the lesson that we had at 4.  We got back and went straight to the doctor because he was feeling worse. His fever had gotten worse and he had to go to the bathroom every 20 minutes or so.  They just asked us what was happening, did a normal little checkup without testing anything, and told us to go by 4 different pills to cure his intestines.  So we did.  But then Sunday he was even worse.  He could barely walk.  I had to find someone else to teach the youth because he couldn't stay standing in Gospel Principles.  After church we went to the house and he slept for a bit, then we went and left him with a member in splits while I went out with a 23 year old to go teach since Elder A couldn't do anything.  It was a good experience since this kid is finally about ready to go on a mission!  But then that night we had to go to G to sleep over because we had mission conference Monday in Guadalajara and we all went together as a zone in the same van.  That night, Elder J and I gave him a blessing, and he woke up Monday morning (at 4 again) feeling a lot better. He said that now all that was hurting him was his stomach, but his body felt fine.  Thank goodness for the priesthood!  Miracle!

Mission Conference was amazing!  Elder Benjamin De Hoyos of the Seventy was there along with D. Todd Christofferson!!!  I got to shake his hand!!!  He talked to us about repentance and how that should be the focus of everything we teach. He also promised us that in the next few days, we would have an experience to help us know that the Lord is pleased with our service.  It totally happened to me yesterday.  Overall, it was an experience I will never forget.  I know that man has been called of God to be a special witness of Jesus Christ.  The church is true!

Mission Conference with Elder Christofferson

It was also super fun because I got to see all my friends from the mission:  Elder D (who's in Auditorio!), Elder B, Elder C, Rockford, Elder S, Elder E, Elder R, Elder A, and many others.  Also, we were combined with the Guadalajara East mission, so I saw Dakota Murdock from Lone Peak and my friend Mason from my BYU ward (see photo attached).  It was great.  

Elder Pew and BYU friend Elder S from the Guadalajara East Mission

We talked to a mission doctor who told us that he thinks Elder A has a parasite, so he told us to by a certain pill for that and it seems to be working.  Monday morning about 4 different members called us to ask how Elder Atoche was doing.  It's been really cool to see all the support we have from them.  I'm so grateful that they're so wonderful!

That was my nutsy week.  Still don't know if there'll be 2 more missionaries in S

this transfer, so maybe this will be my last week here.  How many times have I said that?  We'll see.  But it's been an amazing experience.  I love you all!  The Church is true!  Christ is our Savior!  Have a great week!

Elder Pew

May 13, 2013

I don't really see the point in writing a big letter describing what I did this week because, well, I talked to you all yesterday and you already know all the big news.  So I'm just going to send some pictures if this computer lets me.  

Other item of business: Next week I will be emailing on Tuesday instead of Monday.  I can't say why yet, but next Tuesday you'll find out.  He (or she) who guesses correctly will receive nothing, but it'll be a fun game to play anyways.

The computer is not reading my memory card, so I'll send some older pictures from my USB drive.  Sorry.

Me with R (his friend Breton's cousin) and his companion and the Christmas Posa

El Centro during Christmas

 Makeshift raincoats

The active volcano in Guzman

 Elder V and Elder J with Elder R and I at District Conference.  

 

So I [mom] will share some things we talked about on Mother's Day so you know some fun things going on there!     First I'll share some thoughts Taran had about what has helped him as a missionary, as far as preparations are concerned:

Go to seminary, learn scripture chase scriptures—I use them everyday

Study the Book of Mormon, know the Book of Mormon, have read it all the way through (some elders have not)

Going to the temple often before the mission

Teaching lessons in the family, in quorum meetings and mission prep

Learn Preach My Gospel

Family prayer, scripture study, devotionals and family home evening

Know how to cook and be independent in every way possible

Have a job, know how to work  

These are things some of the moms in our neighborhood wanted to know.  

He told us that they had a Zone Conference last week and they had a test on scriptures and Preach My Gospel. Taran and his companion won so they get to go to the Guadalajara Temple as the reward!  Pretty Cool!  I asked him if the members there go to the temple often since they over 2 hours away and he said that they plan a branch temple trip every month so they will go with the branch next time they go!  Pretty cool!

He also found out that they will be sending 2 more missionaries to their area!  I was happy to hear that since I felt like it was a lot to divide their time between branch needs and being a missionary!  He also said that they are getting 31 new missionaries in 2 weeks most likely he and his comp will train, is what he is thinking anyway.  I know they got 9 visa waiters last Monday!  Busy times!   He said that they will open 13 new areas!  I amazing!  

He said that he had not felt well the past week due to not sleeping well when he went on splits with another elder in another area.  The elder didn't have a pillow so he felt like his nose got super clogged laying flat.  I am sure you are all glad to know that!  I actually told him to take allergy meds because it might be that.  He agreed--the allergy doctor he saw before he left on his mission said that he may have similar allergies there as here because parts of his mission have similar climate.  He said that it's usually pretty temperate as far as weather goes like it's hotter here but it's dry here and there.  He said they get sweaty because the lack of AC.  He wears sunscreen and uses Aloe Vera if he gets burned.

He said that being a district leader isn't that much more for him than his normal stuff.  He loves his mission President and his wife.  They are amazing, which we thought.  

He loves the food misses ice cream a little bit, their ice cream is watered down.  He wonders if he will be able to eat without a tortilla when he gets home (in over a year) since he loves them and eats at every meal.  

He got all our packages.  I have been sending them in small packages and so not as expensive as the flat rate but I do put pictures of the virgin Mary all over them!  He was wearing a tie when we skyped that had been my dad's that I sent him for Easter.

It was so fun talking to him!  He has a Mexican accent!  We were teasing him about it.  The kids all had stuff to say to him which was fun.  He ended the skype with his testimony in Spanish.  That boy can speak his Spanish!!!  (He said that it took him a few months until he could say anything he wanted and understand everything...pretty awesome.)