Elder Connolly Mexico letter #18

Hola FAM!

 

Ok, first things first,-- number to call me is 01-999-9-82-11-83. and call me on SUNDAY, DEC 25 at 3:34 and 45 seconds, 21 milliseconds... en PUNTO, Salt Lake City Time!! haha just around 3:30 SLC time, it will be 4:30 time here. we got 40 minutes. and yeahhhh... thats thats.

 

I'm starting out with the Q´s

 

1.  What is your situation this week with your comp gone home?  WHERE ARE YOU?

OKKKKKK.... so I got transferred, and you will NEVER guess where I am!!! CUBA!!! Cuba opened up last Monday and I am part of the first group of missionaries ever to go to Cuba, me and 31 other elders from our mission. It's absolutely crazy here. The food is tight, their accent is crazy different and very hard to understand. My area is Moco.  It's like 20 minutes out of the capital and the beach. Its really humid and hot, and wow, just different. And I love IT HERE!!! and best part is that none of this is true!  I am still in Brisas, with another gringo from our neighbor ward, and right now we´re working both areas until the end of the transfer, 1 more week. His names Elder Sorensen, he's from lehi, and he scored the winning goal against East soccer team to go into OT my senior year in the first game of playoffs, with 10 seconds left in the game....... then had the assist on the header goal in OT golden goal the first 2 minutes.... a day East high soccer will never forget... and on his state ring, it has inscribed on it ¨10 seconds¨.... I kinda hate him. Haha!  I'm over it though, he's a stud!  He has been in my district since my birth in the field and working together with him is way fun.

 

2  STORY OF THE WEEK

welllll, I'd say the story of the week was with this lady we found named Dori.   It was our 3rd door we had knocked on Saturday, and honestly, going up to the door, I thought, there's no way these people are gonna be interested cause they have alot of money/their house is huge.  But we still went up and knocked it.  The garage door opened, and we went over, and Dori was standing there.  She let us in the backyard, and we started to contact her and teach.  She already had a solid testimony of prayer because 30 plus years ago, sister missionaries had taught her and her 3 niños were taught all the lessons but weren't baptized because their dad wouldn't let them.  But he died 6 years ago, and I guess we´re the first people to knock her door since that ha!  I guess the other missionaries before me thought the same thing that I did! Haha!  We taught her the gospel of Christ, baptism, and the promise of eternal families, and she accepted a baptismal date for Jan 7.  I feel like she has a doubt that we still need to dig out of her, so it´ll take some work this week, but we have it on lockdown ha. I felt sooo good walking out of the lesson with her. It was sooooo awesome.  People are always ready to hear the gospel, you just need to find them. and I thank those 2 sister missionaries that planted the seeds soo long ago that made it all possible.  It really made me realize that all my work with investigators like Carla, Rachal, Carlos and all the others that we didn't get to see them in the baptismal font, might pay off with someone 30 years from now who will get to see them IN DA WATA.  If Dori gets baptized, I'm looking up those 2 sisters and tellin-- them, ones from Oaxaca and the other from Vera Cruz. Planting seeds is 99% of missionary work.

 

 

3.   What do the Mexican people do to celebrate Christmas?

They pretty much just worship Mary.... and not Jesus. Kinda backwards.  Its ¨Maria-mas¨ here. and actually they don't really do the whole gift thing, like you get presents on Dec. 25, but on January 11.  It's weird--I forgot why, ha.  But we´ll see how it really is. We have a bunch of rules we have to follow this week. We have to be in the house by 8pm on Christmas Eve, and we can't leave the house, except for our church, on Sunday Christmas day until 4pm, then Im heading over to a members house where you guys are gonna call me.

 

SoooIi haven't been in my house since Thursday, we have both houses, we can choose which house to live in ha. We´re probably gonna spend Christmas in my house, but who knows, it depends on the appointments we have.  ummmm what else... we hope to have a baptism this Saturday, we´ll see.

 

Well, I gotta go, hope you like the pictures! laterrr. talk to you on Christmas!

 

-elder C

Elder Connolly Mexico letter #16

Hola fammilia!

Okkkk, wow, I forgot to tell you mom how much I loved the packages you send. I love the pillow, got my retainers(my teeth are straight again! but very sore...!), STROP WAFFLESSS!!! AHHHH, nutella, love the stocking, and I started opening the day by day packages, opened dec 5 today! I loved Dec 1, the cd with testimonies from past and present prophets and apostles—tell the Woods thanks for that one!!!! Also I got some mail last week with east high newsletter and some notes! Thanks! You guys rock!

PUESSS.... IT'S DECEMBER!!!! But wait!!! there is no snow.... ok-- I have a request... send me snow! If anyone can figure out a way to successfully get a cube of POWDERY snow from slc to mexico, enough to make a 3 ball snowman, I will personally give my bank account numbers and passwords to you (that have nothing in it... right now...) it will be worth the 5 minutes that snowman that would last before it ¨in the sun it melted, melted, melted-- in the sun it melted, small, small, smalll...¨ the contest is on!'

Ok for real though, mom, if you could send me my friends mission home addresses. So Denmark mission, Russia Yukaterinburg mission, New Hampshire Manchester mission, and Magala Spain mission, and also Fort Lauderdale Florida mission and Tokoyo Japan homes, that would be great. Maybe more, I'll let you know. And its Espen, James,

Grayden, david hales and David Osborn  and Russell if you wanna just ask their moms.

Sooo it hit me this week that, duh, i get to talk to you guys in like 20 days, cool huh!!?? haha for real, I forgot. and  have some details about it. sooooo

1. it will be Christmas Sunday after 4 pm
2. You are going to call me. I have to get you the information, we´ll set a time and you call the number I give you at the time
3. We have 40 minutes

So I am excited. I'll get you the info next week. the only thing that is going to be hard is that Elder Griffith, my comp, is leaving next Friday Dec 16. The pres gave him and the other missionaries in his generation Christmas at their homes-- otherwise they would leave after the end of the transfer which is Dec 26, and be home Dec 28 haha. soooo presidente, in his amoroso misericordia, gave them Christmas at home. Good news for Griffith, the only thing is I don't know what is going to happen to me for the remainder of the transfer, about 10 days. It could be a special exchange, I leave or someone comes to me, I could be in a 3-some with the Zone Leaders, orrrr I could be alone...not. haha. More on that when I know.

What else...what ellse... oh we´re teaching some people!! We found this kid named Ulysis, and we took him to the First Presidency Devotional last night, which by the way was AWESOME!!! This time, I could understand A LOT more haha.  It was last night at 6 slc time, I think, if you guys saw it or not I don't know-- but it was cool. REMEMBER CHRIST in CHRISTmas! - Pres. Monson. They also have another movie they made, it was cool. Eyring and Uctdorf talked as well. AND YOU´LL NEVER GUESS WHO SAID THE CLOSING PRAYER AT THE END!!!! SUSAN BOYLES TWIN FROM GENERAL CONFERENCE!!!! HAHAHAHAH I was dying, it was soooo funnnny!!  But back to Ulysis—he is way excited, and I think we found him at the PERFECT time. We´ll see what happens this week!

Rachel....soo we haven't been able to talk to her for 3 weeks straight now...and when she has been home, she won't come out, she won't answer our calls and won't come to church. I thought we were gonna put her in da wata...but for real, it is frustrating. It is really never a done deal until they are baptized.  Also with José, we stopped by his house to teach him the other day-- he forgot about the cita and as we showed up, he was in the middle of building an alter for Mary for their house... ahhhh. It's just sooo frustrating. people here are verryyy flakey...I'm still trying to love them, but it's pushin' a few of my buttons sometimes.

Flip,  I had alot more to say, but I am getting kicked off. Love you fam. more next week! HAPPY BIRTHDAY EM!!!

-Elder C

Elder Connolly Mexico letter #15

HEY FAM!!
What's crackin'?

Ok! before that, Dad, send me a picture of you and the biggest fish you have caught, and also send a copy of that picture of me and my salmon on the Clearwater River. Thanks! I have a lot of investigators that are/were pescadores, or fisherman!  They will love them!

Ok, first things first, SIBS and MOM (and mom make sure they do it...) haha it would be realllllllly cool if ALL you guys would send me a picture of you guys at the temple on your wedding day-- like at the temple door, with the fam, or whatever.  Like Jeff,  that one of you and Nat where it looks like you jumped 8 feet high in the air due to excitement with your arms up, flexing at the camera, you know what one I'm taking about? haha.

We had a wayyy cool capacitcaion con the presidente last Friday!  I love my mission president!  He's so tight!  Just powerful-- and I learned alot: more rules... more tips with references and getting members involved, more confidence--I had to give the spiritual experience/lesson en español at the beginning!---and just alot more. And as a gift he gave us all a picture notebook that the AP's made with a picture of the temple on the front and a sealing room on the back to show the investigators and let them know that baptism isn't the end, but the end goal is to take your family to the temple. It's really cool, and you are supposed to fill it with pictures of converts you have baptized and later go to the temple with them, but I don't have any.....yet... but I do have parents and 10 bros and sis´s that have! so if you guys could send one, that´d be great, and you can't decide between 2, send both and I will pick :) gracias!!!

Well this week was good.  I had a thanksgiving dinner!!!!...NOT!! ha. but I had a lunch!... of rice and beans ;) ha. Well I didn't have a thanksgiving meal, but it was still a good week, and it was very fulllllll. I had 2 divisions, had a capaciation, lots of walkin and knockin and.... I can't remember any other big events.... but it was a good week.

1.  How many packages have you received?
Yes, I got one on monday, and the Christmas one at the capaciation on Friday—I loved them!!!!
2. Do you need anything? 
ummmmmm.... nope. maybe next week, I thought of stuff that I needed but they aren't coming to mind right now
3.  Can you send pics?
I sent a letter FINALLY last week, sorry. I am so bad at sending and writing letters by hand. My bad--. and I put like 18 pics in it from my camera for the calendar. Also you can print off the ones I sent before. My sd card has a virus from these computers, and now I can't view them... so dumb, so I am scared to put in the other sd cards and ruin more, I haven't lost them. I think I am just going to buy more SD cards from now on. I don't trust the computers here.
4. favorite story of the week DMD
Welll, there's always a bunch. but one that was cool was actually a train reaction one-- haha. So we started divisions, and I was with the ZL—he is pretty cool. and it was right after the capaciation where we are alllllll stokedddd to go out and work again cause SOMEHOW  cough ( the SPIRIT!!!!) just drives us to go baptize the world! haha but we started just talking and talking to people, and within like an hour we had 8 new investigators and citas set for the week and got a bunch of references, which led to references and mores citas tomorrow and Wednesday and it was reallly cool--- just bang bang bang.

We are going to have a greattt week this week. I can feel it. I wish I could write more, but i gotta go! Love you all. Hope all is well back at home! thanks for e´er thang!

Elder C.

E. Connolly Mexico letter #14

Querida Familia!

I had an interesting week. First off, we had a baptism fall through... Rachel didn't get baptized. The thing that is sooo frustrating is your excitement and joy get crushed sooo fast when things like that happen. Things will be going sooooo well with an investigator and then all the sudden something will happen, or something nothing, and everything changes... we are hoping to get her baptized this week, but it could be the next. I tell you,  I have never felt the power of Satan more.  I haven't experienced it myself, but I have witnessed it in too many people.  I  know he is real.

As for José, he is still doing good-- he didn't come to church this week, but he is ¨pained¨ in his words that he let us down.  We waited for him and he never came. It is sooo hard to get people to the capilla at 8 in the morning when few have a car, a bus ride cost money and takes from 20-30 minutes, and our area is HUGE.  But I think he´ll be fine, I hope and pray.

More about José-- we almost lost him on Wednesday. We showed up to his house and he had a concern. After conference last week, he was really feeling something, the start of a testimony.  So after, he called his mom, a bien duro catholic who lives in Compeche, and he told her what he was doing, investigating another church, and she flipped, threatening everything.  He told us he can't lose his family. We started a fast the next day and prayed specifically for him that his family would still accept him if he acted on what he found out to be true.  So far, he hasn't brought it up again and he is still progressing, and actually his daughters may begin being taught soon.  Fasting is unbelievable!   My testimony of fasting has gone up like 500 X on my mission.  I  read in the scriptures in like every instance that all the missionary studs like Ammon, Alma, Aaron and Helaman ¨fasted and prayed many days¨--Alma 17:2-3 and many more. No duh--they had the spirit.

I also had a life changing experience this week.  We were on our way to the capilla to teach a lesson there.  We crossed the road by our house,  and I passed this man on my left and greeted him and kept going. About 8 seconds later, behind me I heard the terrible sound of skidding tires, broken glass, and a CRASH!-- so loud, within 1 minute the whole colonia was outside.  The man we had just passed just got nailed by this speeding car and he was laying on the ground about 30 feet in front of the car with a shattered windshield and dented hood and we were the first people on the scene. I was freaking out and didn't know what do to. A blessing came to mind, but it wasn't possible with like 70 people out of their houses running over to help.  We just watched for a minute as the poor man tried to move. I felt so crappy and hopeless-- the rest of the night I was in vertigo, not being able to think about teaching or whatever.  Ii don't know if the guy is alive or not, but it just hit me how fragile life is and how things can happen soooo fast! It seemed so surreal to witness it. It also made me wonder if I missed a prompting to contact the guy, which would have interfered with his timing and would have been alright. I just felt terrible. please be careful family and friends, look both ways before crossing the road, wear your seatbelt and ¨don't do anything stupid¨ (dad´s advise to me). I am DYING to see you ALL in 19 months. ¡Cuídense MUCHO!

This week was a little downer, but things can only go up from here. T hanks for your love, prayers and support. me apoyáis mucho, y estoy muy agradecidos. ¡LES AMO con todo mi corazon!

-Elder C

Elder Connolly Mexico letter #13

MI HERMOSA FAMILIA!!!

So---- first off, I'm still here in Brisas, my definate home for Christmas 2011..whooo whoooo!! Haha!

This week was good. I don't know where to start. First off, the work is good. We have 2 progressing investigators now, 2 dropped... well not really dropped, one is 14 and the other is 17, and neither of them have the permission of their parents to get baptized-- so dumb. We´ve been teaching Arif, the 17 year old for about 2 months and now his mom won't even let us teach him until January, when he turns 18 and there's nothing we can do. It just kinda sucks. If I'm here still, I'll get to baptize him then.

Carla is doing great-- still not progressing because she isn't married, but going to church and really changing and likes it.  We need to work on her husband  (but not husband)  but he is never there, he works literally all day selling things on his bike.  By the way, I am finally beginning to trust the bike vendors—ha! -- they sell some pretty good stuff  and its wayyy cheap.  Also the stands that sell tortas and stuff.....wowwww, sooo good!   They ride by our house while we are studying in the morning, ¨E- Looooo-Tee-Ssss!!!............ E Looooo-tee-sss!!¨ or ¨tammmmmalllllliiiiiiiieeeeesssssss a tressss Peeeeeeeesssssssoooooossssssss!!!¨ ---every 5 minutes, or just ¨ppaannnn¨ haha. Anyways, more on them later.

We found another fam!  The dads name is José and he is really excited about the church. It was our stake conference yesterday and he came with us and we are so hoping that he will be baptized!  The families are just awesome! We have 2 others that we are still working on, but not as likely to progress, but we´re trying!

We had our interviews with the pres this past week, but turned out not being in our house!! haha sweeeeeeeeeet. and 1 of the new rules set by the pres is about our ipods....more than any worldly music you have on it, if you didn't buy it or have the hard copy, erase it. Which is about all of my music except fictionist and 1 Guster cd I bought the hard copy of....but those, being ¨worldly¨, still had to go. haha even my ipod that i gave to Sam to fill up on his computer of all church music... so I erased EVERYTHING!!! on my 1, the other one is going this week. so I literally have nothing. MY DREAM of having my playlist of all my favorite JAMS playlist ready to go on the way home from the airport post mish....is gone.... haha. I'm kinda sad, not gonna lie. but It's all good—it's a good thing really . I am starting over new. (hint mom... send me music, expecially a guy named Steven Sharp Nelson, he does arrangements of hymns and is amazing. )

Well something else, I started the bible for the first time last week, reading the new testament and in Spanish. I also took the advise of the mish pres and am memorizing a scripture a day. Pres Monson said if you memorize a scripture a day for a year, he promises you will have photographic memory. I wouldn't believe it but I't's from the prophet... I'm doin' it!!! And what about a scripture a day for 2 years? Haha!

I'm out of time, love you all. Have a good Thanksgiving, and don't do another epic BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPPING SPREE without ME!!!! haha jk        Elder C.

Elder Connolly in Mexico--letter #12

My Wonderful FAMILY...

I'm scared!! Flip!  Next week is transfers and I really don't want to leave this area.   Things have really started to pick up and I'm gonna be sad if I don't get to baptize the people we have found. We found another family last week, and I think we  will get to baptize them if I can hang on and survive transfers. Part of me thinks I will be leaving, but I don't know. Ahhh!!!

The daylight savings actually made the work a lot harder-- now it gets dark at like 5, and in our area, this city runs on sunlight, so as soon as the sun goes down, the beer comes out, and you are either drunk or have locked yourself in the house.... tracting and teaching has gotten a lot harder. It is necessary to set citas in those hours, and take as much time as you can buscando por más en la tarde. (what does this mean?)

Well flip, I had an amazing week. and it was verrrrrrrrrry full. To start out with, we had a capacitación con el presidente that was just awesome and excited all of us out, and we were on fire for the rest of the time. but wowwwwwwwwwwww, there are sooo many dang rules... already and this week pres droped a few (about 15) more.... ahhhh, the sad life of a missionary, so locked up but yet soo happy....?? huh??  haha, it feels really restricting, but whatev, I have kinda turned it into a game and have fun with being obedient!  Ha!

@e have a few progressing investigators aside from the 2 families, and 1 her name is Rachel, and she was an answer to my prayers... holy cow, she has NO doubts when we teach her, except she drank coffee and té, but when we taught her that, she dropped it immediately ha. It kinda makes it hard sometimes haha, what do we teach you if you have no needs!!?? haha :) I love it, I can't stop smiling! She is just sooo ready, why can't they all be like this?? And  Carla came to church yesterday with her 2 daughters! Ahhhh I loved it, but we have to get her married first before we can baptize her, that's the tricky part...

this week also consisted of my:

• first shoe shine
• first capaticación
• first sewing job with my kit
• and first time I've been this happy
• oh and, we haven't had electricity since last Wednesday!   Haha!

OH the mish, too much fun. I  love it. Thanks for all your support and love and prayers, I'm out! later!

-Elder Connolly

ps, I still can't get my camera to work, I'll send some pics from my printer mom,

Elder Connolly Letter from Mexico #11

HELLO FAM!!

Ok first off.... the mystery $500 pèso fedex package was a present from Mr. MAC with a new backpack... and also got the other package! I was wondering why you sent smoked salmon though-- hahahaha, I was like, ¨looks like where makin' salmon chowder¨ haha!  No really I am excited!  Thanks! And thanks for the random gifts, various butters of peanuts and almonds, and beef jerky ha, very much appreciated!!

OKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK

wowwww what a week!!!  So here was my schedule for the week:

Tuesday: did an exchange with a new missionary, so  I was the senior comp ha, we are both greenies.  It was a lot of fun, and I learned a lot running the lessons and picking where we went.  We found 2 news and taught 5 lessons!   I was proud of myself!  Ha!

Wednesday:  Welllll,  we were supposed to have interviews with the president Thursday morning IN OUR HOUSE!!!  So we cleaned allll morning haha!  Then guess what?  We get a call from the APs, and 65 elders from 5 zones in Cancun and surrounding areas were being evacuated from their areas because of an approaching hurricane and coming to Merida and we have to host 2 more elders in our home for at least 5 days, and we were to pick them up in 2 hours.... OK I WANNA KNOW HOW BIG THIS HURRICANE WAS THAT CAUSED IT!!  Someone? in any case, it was a flippin'  blast.  We hosted 2 elders, 1 gringo and another Mexian that were just awesome.  And since they were here for 3 days (got cleared to go back Saturday) and worked in our areas, we found a TON of new investigators,  I think over 12 for the week. Our stats JUMPED up this week haha!  it was tight.

Also Wednesday, we had our noche de barrio, like FHE for the ward!  It was alot of fun haha, I think I told you about it last week.  It went pretty well as planned, the ward members that came did it then the institute class did it!  Haha-- it was hilarious!

Thursday
 I did splits with Elder Gomez, one of the Cancun elders, and it was awesome.  We found 3 new people and taught some lessons.  It was alot of fun!

Friday
We did service starting at 5pm until 9pm for building the house!  We messed around with the mashettes( swords thingys, spelling?), tossed around 40 pound cinder blocks high and low, cut down trees, and prepped for the actual  roofing of the house the next morning.  Since I haven't  really done any physical labor since June,  I was way sore haha!  All ofmy calluses have fallen off on my hands, and I got some nasty blisters back haha'1  It was great—I  actually miss working hard physically.

Saturday
Finished up service starting at 7 to 9, we had to finish early cause literally from 10am-9pm at night, we had appointments and a backup appointment every hour except around lunch time. The Cancun elders left at 5 in the morning and gave us all their citas, and then to add to ours, we had a good full day... then we got an extra hour of sleep that night :)

and Sunday was great—darn, I am running out of time—ha!

There wasn't really 1 highlight of the week, although this week was probably the longest and hardest week, it was the funnest.  We did find 1 girl, her name is Rachel.  Wow-- it was sooo amazing to see how ready she is.  It was like ¨come on, you have to have a DOUBT!!  EVERYONE DOES!!¨ It almost felt like it was too easy to teach her.  She was accepting everything and we have a baptism date set for her and everything.  Also Rachel´s brother was the point guard at Texas longhorns college basketball team a few years back, pretty dope and wayyy random! Haha!

And fam, I finally DID IT! I hit the 80 Kilogram mark! A solid 177 pounds! And this time I'm not jokin! –I am on the rise!

Love you fam, thanks for the letters, packages, prayers and support!
i gotta head! laterrrr

-Elder Connolly

ps, I have LOADS of pictures from this week, but the computer isn't working, so I'll send them next week.

Mexico Letter #10

 

MEXICO CARTA #10

Welp... here we are with email #10... ten weeks, wow it's kinda going fast! It's already been 2 months.... it seems like the outside world is going soooo fast though too haha. anyways... onto the letter….

FAM,

I had a great week,, here are some things that happened...

• my shoes have got mold...what can I do? haha
• my backpack broke
• the shower water was cold again... wow it is starting to get cold here! at night, it freezing!!! I'm gonna buy a blanket today, I've been using my towel! Ha!
• That's all the points I can think of off the top of my head.
• 1 more!!! duh.... I got the package from home... but guess what? I forgot to tell you NOT to use FEDEX mom!!! use just priority US postal service, I think. If you sent the other package already via FEDEX... bummer ha. I don't know how much you had to pay to send it to me but I also had to pay $500 pesos, about $45 US dollars, to receive it... haha It was a bummer, there goes literally 1/3 of my monthly money. I haven't gotten it yet, just paid for it, I get it tonight, so I don't know if it was worth it yet.... haha jk, but I'm excited! thanks!

We also had another baptism, which was great, last Friday! His names is Alex, a 9 year old who's mom got baptized 2 weeks before I came. The work is goooood ;)

Okay,  I had a bunch of cool experiences this week, I had the opportunity to give 3 people blessings, and one specifically, the first, was awesome. I walked into the bishops office and a priest was in there and the bish was about to give him a blessing. He turned to me, told me I was going to do it. I was shocked, and kinda scared. I didn't know the things to say, like before the blessing in Spanish, so he talked me through it then just stopped and I went on with the blessing... I had no idea what the boys' reason why or what was going on in his life before I gave the blessing.  I just kept my mind blank, said whatever came to my mind, struggled to string the words in correct Spanish, closed it, and the kid left.  I was wondering if I had done a good job or not and the bishop turned to me, and said in Spanish, ¨What you said was exactly what he needed to hear. You didn't know why he needed a blessing, but I do. It was perfect.¨ It felt really cool.

We found a family! YEAHOOOO!!! I have been praying sooo hard to find a family!!! We were walking by on the dirt road and I  was looking at this house on the corner, and when we came to the front of it, there was a lady washing her dishes. We yelled, buenos tardes and kept walking. About 20 seconds later, I stopped and realized we needed to go back. I quickly made up an excuse that would help me start a convo... it was lunch time, I was just going to go back and ask her if there was a place that sold tortas that we could buy for lunch... so I went back, the convo about food places near by turned into the gospel and we set an appointment for Sunday, yesterday, and taught her and her 2 daughters.  The father works all day every day, except a hour at 5, so we hoped to catch him, but he wasn't there. We went with 2 young single adult girls in our ward, one who is leaving on her mission in 3 or 4 months. As members. they really helped—I don't think the lesson would have worked if they weren't there. I have realized how important members present during lessons are!

Wow! We have a lot planned to do this week. First off, its daylight savings this Sunday! One more hour of sleep  ¨the celestial kingdom joy¨!! We are building a house! I am stoked! and also we put together a Noche de Barrios, like a big ward FHE at the capilla on Wednesday that is going be a giant reenactment of Lehi's dream. I am veryexcited!  Also I have a few divisions, or exchanges. We have a HUGE day tomorrow with citas, we found 4 new investigators on Saturday alone. Things are just going good, and I am happy ;)

I loved the  mail I got last week! Jared Lisa and Laura Matt, you guys ROCK!! I loved that thanks, all the drawings/notes are posted on the wall in my house. THanks dad for your words of wisdom and mom your warnings of health risks, I understand the danger of Denga, we´ve given many blessings to members this past week that have it, including the Bishop and Sandra Luna ha. Also got a package!!! ;)


Pics: I play soccer with my district and some other Mexian guys that are there every p day at 6 am, it's such a blast. Its like a cement hockey rank, so you can play off the walls and stuff,  its bien potente, I love it. So, that's our playing field! Ha!

I love you fam, more next week! Have a good halloween! andTtodd and Annie—have a happy birthday, I can't believe Todd is gonna be 17...wow.

LATERRR!!
-Elder Connolly

Real Mexican food!

Elder Connolly Mexico letter #9

 My Wonderful Family...

WHAZZZ GOOD!?  Things are good here in Mérida México ha---only difference was my shower water was LOTS colder this week ha, we had a LOT of rain! We had about a 3 week drought of little or no rain, but it unloaded this past week. So that was fun!

I swear I sit down at this computer to write home and my mind goes blank! Haha—let's seeee.....(looking through my agenda....) wellllll, the main focus of this week was to find new investigators, so we had plans to contact and knock doors a lot. But with the rain is was hard—it's pretty much dead when the rain comes. Everyone goes in their house and locks the doors.... and the street are empty. Sooo, we changed plans and visited a lot of less active families that the bishop gave us to visit. Yesterday, in our whole congregation that was only probably about 25-30 pèople.... and the week before wasn't much better. So, we´re going around trying to reactivate some families... we had some powerful lessons, 2 in particular were just awesome, and both families didn't come... ahhh!! –it's frustrating!  It's just really hard to get people to church at 8 am in the morning when the ward boundaries and our area is just huge, and no one has a car to drive themselves except the bish and a few families. I hope it gets better when we have 11:30 church in January, if I'm still here....

Your Q´s

1.  Have you received letters #1 and 2 yet?
I think so?? haha Idont know. I got the one with news clips from Danny and the thon, and the east boys newsletter. If Ididn't get, I'll probably get it tonight.  I wish we could get our mail before I email home... oh well.

2.  Have you received package #1 yet. 
No, hopefully tonight! I am excited!

3.  Tell us about your new companion--siblings?  personality? Work ethic?  It sounded like he is a harder worker than the last. Griffith sounds pretty American!
I sent a picture, he's in it. ummmm I dont know. He is pretty tight, just a little different. He loves music and plays the electric guitar (remember he's a total metal head-- haha, pretty interesting), So we talk music a lot, but he has a little different taste. He is the oldest of 5 kids-- lives like 1 block from the Denver Colorado temple, he went to BYU Idaho for a year. He always talks, which is alright and fun, but sometimes he gets un poco molestando.....(annoying) ha. He is a great teacher when we are teaching, definitely knows how to be bold and stern. But what I don't get is that he has a fear of contacting people on the street.  He just can't do it! ha, I don't know how he's gotten new investigators for the past 22 months.... so I have to do that, or we knock doors. But, in Mexico, It's all about contacting people in the street. He still has some drive and is looking like he will finish his mission out strong these last 2 months. The end of the transfer is Dec 28, but Pres Salines is giving him and the rest of the guys in his generation Christmas, because if he was here for Christmas, it would be 3 Chrsitmas´s in the field because he entered the MTC Dec 16 2009. So yeah, all is good with him.

Well I talk a lot about Sandra Luna, but she's not my ONLY investigator I have spiritual experiences with haha. But the highlight of the week was our baptism yesterday, bien temprano haha, 7am in the morning. Mayra got baptized! This one was my FIRST legit baptism haha, but neither me or Griffith baptized her,-- she chose Elder Higgensen to baptize her—ha!.... its fair I guess, I took someone else's before.. :) but yeah that was really cool.

So-- real spiritual thought, I thought I would share a new testimony I have gained this past week: fasting. Ok so I've always fasted and stuff, but this past week I paid the fast offering for the first time ever I think... or from what I can remember! haha and really tried to get something out of it. and I did feel like the Lord did bless us, we found several very hopeful investigators and just things are going better.

Well I'm sorry, I'm kinda in a hurry today.  We have lots to do still and I am kinda frustated because I spent a while of my computer time writing my email to the pres. and when I went to send it, it deleted..... ahhhh!! So sorry. I'll write more next week.

Peace out Fam! Love you!

Elder Connolly

These are my buddies from my zone, Elder Ortiz, is the one with an orange tie, he is sooo funny and Elder Higgensen, just a stud, is in the blue tie, then me and Elder Chavez.

Elder Connolly Mexico Letter #7

Hola Familia!

Mom, if you haven't sent your package yet, send NUTELLA!! and also will you send my retainers for my teeth? I decided I don't want to wear braces again when I get back from my mission..................

Dad, is East Golf over yet?  How did they do?

BOOB´s is having her BABY!!!! WAHOOOO!!! Has it come yet? Mom's email sent last week said it would come next week... which is this week... so I am curious, send pictures!

And do we have a new President? Is Obama still it? Isn't elections sometime around now? Let me know, I am curious. How Mitt Romney is doing and stuff.

Ok, this week was crazy!

First off, Conference was good-- the parts I understood.... I think I got the voice of the translator of all the speakers pretty well down... I did go to all 5 sessions, including Preisthood-- it was great. During the first session, I kept getting side tracked because the second speaker , her name was Barbara something, was Susan Boyle´s twin or look-a-like!! hahahaha, It was bad. I couldn't focus. It is sooo easy to get distracted when it's a foreign language and it's just not the same to hear it from another voice. It requires 110% of your attention, thus impossible to get all of it when you are learning. I started by taking notes, but was getting to distracted trying to write notes and listen, so I just listened after the 2nd session and I understood a little better.  I can't wait to get the Ensign with the conference talks-- I think we get it eventually.

Second, today is TRANSFER DAY!!! and turns out I was a part of it. Chavez got transferred. Yes, I got a new companion, His name is Elder Griffith. He´s an American but guess what!? He looks exactly like CHUCK!!, our neighbor Chuck McCarty hahahahahaha. He might as well be Mexican, he can't speak English haha-- for real though. He is from Colorado and I am his last companion--thus: I am going to KILL him (that's what you say when your someone's last comp, not literal killing....)  It was random, but I'm not too shocked though, I think Chavez knew he was getting transferred for a week. and in a way I am kinda glad haha. Elder Griffith, so I'm told is ¨bien importante¨, which means ¨a great missionary¨, mas or menos-- and I am already learning a lot. I just got him an hour or 2 ago so I have still got a lot of learning to do and we'll see how I like him next week.

Spiritual Thought:
Wow, I could not understand the discousios de la Conferencia muy bien, pero sentí el spíritu muuuuuy fuerte cuando MO-TAB cantó, holy cow. It was really cool, I don't think I have ever felt it more during the singing. It was soooo frustrating trying to put all my energy into trying to understand, but then when the singing of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and that primary choir sang, it was very preaceful. and it just so happened to be the only part of conference in ENGLISH!!! haha so anyways, that was the coolest part of this week, for sure!!

well with the time I have left, I will talk about my daily schedule, cause you asked for it about 5 weeks ago.. haha. wake up, obviously at 6:30am, and exercise, run, eat, whatev- you want to get ready until 8. Personal study at 8-9, then comp study from 9-11am, then language study from 11-12. That's how it's supposed to be at least. With Chavez, our studies followed that schedule maybe.... 4 times in 6 weeks.
Then, we leave and go teach the rest of the day, only to stop at 2 pm for a meal with the members everyday but P-day.
Sunday, our church starts at 8am, temprano.... I love 11 oclock church, that's when conference started and I loved and missed it! haha
and Monday, claro, is p-day, where we do p-day stuff until 6pm, where we meet at the stake center with our zone for district meeting.

So, our zone is gonna be wayyyy different. Elder Jergensen, our Zone leader left to be AP-- he's a stud, I am going to  miss him. Our zone is getting 5 hijos, or 5 new missionaries, every district leader is new and we have a new district, so there are 4 now because they are opening a new area. Our zone will be very young, most of us will be under a year in the mish, I am excited to see our zone tonight.

Well fam, hope all is well back at home, I love and miss you all! Thanks for your prayers and everything on my behalf!

And the pics, are with my buddies from my zone, elder Ortiz, who I talk about lot, who is going home tomorrow, is the one with an orange tie-- he is sooo funny. and Higgensen, just a stud, is in the blue tie, then me and Chavez. I am sooooo glad Higginson is still here and didn't get transfered.  He was Chavez´s comp before me and he has been in Brisas for almost a year, his first and only area!!! haha then when he got transfered when I came, he moved a couple of streets away in the other ward! Same Chapel! hahaha, very unusual, but now he is DL and training so he´ll be here for awhile. and you know all about Chavez. the tall guy in the back of the one with 6 of us is Jergensen, who was my ZL but now is an AP, just a great missionary. And Elder Parra, is the other short Mexican, who is now the senior ZL. I love these guys, and I am gonna miss Ortiz and Jergensen.

Well Enjoy
Teen Bean Familia,
Elder Connolly

Letter #6 from Mexico

 

 

Mexico #6 Good times just keep on Rollin´ ... HOLAAA FAAMILIA!!!! Ok.... its safe to now say this because I'm not the only one thinkin' it..... If I knew what I know now and I got my call to Boise Idaho, I'd be SOOOO down... haha! On Wednesday I had to go get a new Visa, so I got to see all of my generation again from the MTC. It was sooo fun! We have all been here for a month now and talking to them was just hysterical! When I first got here,  I wanted so bad to go outside of Merida, like to a pueblo, and the first day when I got my assignment to Merida, I am not gonna lie, I was a little disappointed, and I was a little jealous of the others that went to Vaca and Tulum and wherev. But seeing them on Wednesday, it made me be thankful for where I am... haha. I'm still way excited to get to Pueblo or a poor jungle place, but I'm actually glad I started in Merida where Walmart and other places are so I can adjust a bit with the food. So, anyway, onto the week. OOWOW! , this keyboard Is so bad. the ¨a¨ ¨i¨ and ¨w¨ button don't work half the time, so sorry if there are mistakes—I'm not gonna fix them anymore! Answer the Q´s... 1.  How are the lessons going--? Pretty good, wow, we had a ton of cancelations this week, it was a bummer, some days we didn't teach 1 lesson... but others we found a lot of people. We focused on contacting these this week, with a goal of 103 contacts. We were well short of it, but it still helps to set a high goal. It is motivating, and we got a few new investigators from it. 2.  Spiritual Experience of the week My spiritual experience of the week is with a man named Jorge-- we met him on the sidewalk as he was cleaning his motorcycle, and we talked to him for about an hour. He has a family, a wife and 2  kids, but after talking to him for a bit, he showed us picture of his girlfriend... he has a lot of chastity problems.....  I think this was probably the best lesson I have taught on my mission so far. I can't remember everything I said, but I used 4 pictures:  the pic of our fam, the pic of mom and dad, the pic of Em at the temple and the pic of the Merida temple. I was pulling stuff out of nowhere, the spirit was there and who would have thought my best lesson would be a law of chastity lesson. If I had more time, I'd write more. It's all in my journal-- by the way,  I finished my first journal last night-- onto my 2nd one tonight!  But it as a really cool experience!! 3.  Language coming better? Way good, I am coming along. Some people say I'm learning fast, and others say no-- so I don't know how to  gauge it. But finally I have an ear for hearing everything, just now how to learn the words. It is hard to explain, but it kinda just clicked this past week. 4.  Getting used to your new Hammock?  and are you sleeping well? Yes ha! and I used my sheets I brought with me last night as a pillow! Oh my! I slept sooo much better! I'm starting to figure it all out. I love hammocks ;) 5.  Do you take those Phillips colon health capsules?  Do you still get sick? No, on the way here, the bottle opened, not only those, but alllllll of my pills, everything... so I don't have pills...that are clean.  I saved what I could but the Phillips ones were all smashed in my bags on the plane ride here. It's ok, I don't need pills. I've only taken 2 pills my whole time here, and they are the ones the members gave me. If Mexicans are fine,I' ll be fne. I pray for my health every time I pray.  I'll be fine. 6.  Did you say you will be in the same apartment till Feb? Well I guess you never know-- the elder before me was here for 5 transfers, 7.5 months, or who knows, I could be out of here in November, who knows? My bet though is February, that's at 4 transfers, but could be 5 as well. 1.  I called Mr. Mac about your back pack and they will replace or fix it--They need to know what is wrong--exactly--it would be good to take a picture so I can show them.---Make it look broken and even write on it to explain.  I will see if they will give me a new one. GOOD, they should give a new one, and pay for the shipping to get it here.... another elder has the same backpack and his is broken too. It is just the strap hook that you connect to the backpack. It is busted. It still hooks but it falls off, I've gotten used to it, but it's just a little things that is so annoying... 2.  Just get a Costco or Sams Club there--it will cost that much here. Ok, sounds good! Well I am finally figuring out the addresses system here in Mexico. It is really weird... sooo if SLC had it, each neighborhood would have their own street numbers. They are called colonias. so in my area we have 10 colonias, and when we have an address, we have to go to the colonia, or neighborhood, then go to the street number, for example Calle 20. Every colonia has a calle 20 (for example), so it is just different.  It's not like SLC where the whole city has 1 universal address system, 1st east, 2nd east, 3rd east... whatev. It'd be like Harvard- yale having it's own calle 20, federal heights having it's own calle 20, foothill having it's own, sugarhouse having I'ts own... soo on. I'ts kinda dumb ha, but I guess when you figure it out, if makes sense. So, I  was talking to an elder who leaves next week, it is his last transfer, Elder Ortiz-- oh my gosh, he is the funnest guy I have ever met.  But I was talking to him about his misson. What was crazy to me is he started his mission at the beginning of my senior year.... soo all my memories of senior year, all my memories of that summer, all the memories at the U of U and at BYU then leave on my mish, and he's still here... holy cow, that was a long time ago. I asked him if he was excited to go home and his response was kinda cool. He said, ¨yeah, I'm excited, but I'm kinda not.¨ He said, ¨I  like the missionary life—it is the easy life. All   have to do is wake up and help people.  That is all I have to do!  There are no problems --  no worries. I am gonna enjoy these last 2 weeks and if I work hard, my wife is gonna be that much cuter ;)  ¨ hahahaha. direct quote. But for real, what he said is true, all we do is just help people, it is the easy life.. I have been thinking about it lately.  Anyways, just something cool. So, I  got a picture of my whole zone I love my zone!  Just some homies.  I was afraid I wouldn't meet a ton of gringos because I thought all my companions were going to be mexican, but I have made plenty of friends that will last after my mish.  I'm stoked. And I am soooo excited about conference this weekend!  What I am not excited is that I have to hear it all in Spanish... I amm way disappointed. I  hope I  will be able to understand it. And hearing the voice of a translator than the real voice of the prophet will be different... oh well. It's an experience! Just like the rest of a mission is! Well fam, aside from this stupid keyboard, it was a great week. God speed and have a good week! cuidense! Teen Bean! - Hasta Luego, in maya ha Love you all! -Elder Connolly

Mexico Letter #5

MEXICO #5!!!! ( its a good one ;) )

OKKK FAM!

OK FIRST OFF, I heard about the Utah BYU game... (from a Mexican, no, I didn't check epsn.com or anything). I didn't even have an idea it would be this early in the season. Wow... this is a great time to be on a mission-- NBA lockout so no NBA and the game wasn't even good... I don't even care that BYU lost 54 to 10-- go Utes!  Haha!

MY FAVORITO WEEK IN THE FIELD SOOO FAR!!! I had some good things and some bad things, but you know what?- it happens sometimes!

So, wow, I' m just gonna name this email ¨TODO¨ because just about everything on a mission that can happen... happened... I think?? haha I wish I could just send my journal entries home because they are in a lot more detail and explain alot more but with this timer going up and the pesos counting up with it, I gotta keep it brief. I type my fastest! And I hope is makes sense, ha!

• Tuesday I had an exchange, or division with our ZL, he's a Gringo and a very gooood missionary. I LOVED IT!! I wish he was my trainer because I really learned more in those 10 hours I was with him than my whole time with Chavez.... oooooh Chavez..... wow.
• We had to drop our first investigator....and it was 3 of them.... it was tuff... but everyone has their agency, and you have to accept it. I tried!
• We found a new guy, and he is AWESOME!! Holy Cow, his name is Orlando, he works a lot and was in Compeche this weekend, so he didn't go to church, but we hope to have him baptized in 3 weeks. 
• this just popped into my head, my back pack is already broken!!! I dropped 130 dólares... USD dollars on that stupid peice of junk and it didn't last more than 3 months in one peice in the field....whatev, it still functions, but it's just disappointing, NEVER SHOP AT MR. MAC!! ha
• we re-contacted a lady here, she has 7 children! and probably are the poorest people I have taught—wow!  They are alll sooo cute, and very shy kids. They have so little and their house is smaller than my room at home. They also have 7 dogs, 4 cats and chickens. It is crazy!  It really is humbling. We set a baptismal date for 3 of the kids (all the ones over 8) and the mom and they were going to come to church yesterday, but when we went to their house to pick them up to walk with them, the dad wouldn't let them go... They have so little money and he thinks all the church wants is their money. E. Chavez´s dad is a donut maker, so Chavez knows how to make all these doughnuts ha, sooo tight!  Sooo, we are making plans to teach them how to make them, and sell them to make a little more money. Who knows, might work?
• I GOT MY FIRST BAPTISM!!!... what? haha yep, I got to put on the white pants and tie... yesterday. It was very random and I never even taught the lady, but my comp is DL so when we did the interview on Saturday, I met her and he asked who she wanted to baptism her, she said me... haha!  I was way shocked, but happy to do it. so yeah... #1 I guess! Maria del Carmen Canche Colli... I don't know her very well but I will ALWAYS remember her name! ha!

Well onto the letter. I have a few requests...

1. Will you send Peanut Butter?? Like the biggest tub they have at Costco!  Maybe 2? haha its way expensive here, if they even have it at all...
2. Send a pocket sized ENGLISH Book of Mormon, and Spanish, if they have it. But Imean the ones like 4 inches by 3 inches, small.
3. Also I need the Joseph Smith video in Spanish, and a few other DVDS, it's called ¨José Smith, El Profeta de la Restauración¨. they might sale it at the distribution here, I will check and verify next week.

OK, mom, did you check up on a Costco joint membership? and Sams club? See what you can do, I might just buy one. And a SAMS Club, It is very cheap, like 33 USD bucks.

Well what else happened this week...  oh, it was the 4th of July of Mexcio last week, Sept 15... pretty lame, NOTHING like the celebration we have in America. Ha!

A missionary here just got his call to New York City, New York. 2 things:

1. It's very rare to have a Mexican missionary leave Mexico because the cost of a mission in pesos is WAY too expensive
2. I am kinda jealous, state side food is callin' my name!! 

And guess what? Our ward has 2 missionaries out serving right now and guess how many in the next 12 months??? 15!!! FIFTEEN missionaries, Isn't that cool?  There is a huge group of kids that age and like 5 sister missionaries a little older as well. It is so cool the majority of the girls here all serve, of the young couples I know, all the wives served. Literally everyone serves- we had the opportunity to talk to the primary again—we do that every week. This week we talked about how to prepare ha, they are only like 4 - 10, but it was cute to hear their ways they were preparing already.

So spiritual experience this week... there was a lot actually. This week was my FAVORITE week of the mission. One with Sandra Luna again, we watched the Joseph Smith movie with her whole family, and had a 20 minute lesson and testimony sharing that was awesome. but I think my favorite was with Orlando. It was awesome! The lesson was no more than 12 minutes, very short, very powerful and probably my favorite lesson. We invited the spirit with prayer-- he had a problem with baptism again because he thinks his Catholic baptism was valid as a baby. We explained 3 things..

1. you have to have the proper Priesthood authority
2. the choice to do it (you don't as a baby) and know what you are doing
3. baptism by immersion, following the example of Jesus Christ.

And we used 2 Nephi 31, invited him to be baptized and he accepted! So that will be cool, I hope he follows through! This will be the first baptism we have that I was present for the whole thing-- like we found him, worked with him and see him get baptized.  All the others we have planned still were progressing before I got here. So yeah, ended with prayer and we were on our way. It was awesome how the Lord had prepared him-- he said he had been thinking a lot about his spiritual life lately and wanted to change! I hope so much!

And of course the baptism was AWESOME!!   I'll attach pics of it to this! It was E. Chavez and I and Maria and her daughter.

Funny thing, all the envelopes I brought from home are now sealed shut with nothing in them because of the humidity! haha,  I have to buy more. and mom I am sending a letter home the slow way. I am putting a tracking device on it, so you can watch it, I'll give you the tracking number next week—it's cool, it costs a little more but worth it, my comp says the letters get to where they are going with a lot higher percentage with it too.

AND GUESS WHAT!!!?? We get a laundry machine in November!!  It's the one we´ve been using in the past but the members are getting a new one and giving it to us. It really is ghetto haha, but it works and is better than hand washing, which I had to do last week..... and it took forever... the mission is just an EXPERIENCE!! and I LOVE it!! :)

The food is soooooo.... gooood?   haha no I love it, it's just different.  My stomach is getting more and more accustomed... the dumb thing is I can't get full, I honestly just can't eat anymore because it is soo fatty. So there is room in my stomach but I would throw up if I tried to eat more. It is a bummer because I am hungry like 5 hours later and we only get 1 good meal a day, and quesadillas can't keep me sustained forever... ha. I have eaten meat here that I NEVER would have touched back at home, and I never knew was even edible. Let me tell you though, it's a lot easier to eat in the dark-- if you can't see it, it goes down a little easier... and I am gaining weight still.

Well I best be going! ... peace fam! I love you all! Thanks for your letters, I had 11 emails in my inbox today!  I didn't get to all of them, I'll write back when I can! or hit you up on the Postal Service haha. Thank you so much for your prayers, love, letters and support! U Da Best!

-Elder Connolly

Letter #4 from Mexico

MEXICO!!!!! #4 with pics!

¿¡Bosh Onda Familia!?
(¨¿Qué Pasa?¨ en Mayan or ¨Whats up?¨ in English... haha)

Holy Cow... where to start-- ok first off, I did have a moment of silence on Sunday morning for Sept 11... my companion didn't give respect...¨nobody cares....¨  wow... messed.  I AM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!!!!!

anyways, about me, this week included ALOT!! (aside from THE WORK itself)

• I got like 7 dearelder letters last Monday night! It was awesome! And like 4 of them were written back in June and were waiting for me to get them haha. One from Kate- said like 'RICH! you made it to the MTC! Awesome! Was the first night just like Eris´s story in the white bricked room??" hahahaha it was awesome.
• Oh, by the way, Dearelder letters to Mexico are FREE! and to answer your Q mom, they are printed off in Provo, then sent here in a box with everyone's together then distributed, and it takes 2 weeks to get them here.

• no electricity for about 36 hours, really the only downfall was no fridge, and planning at night... other than that, it wasn't too bad
• we got locked out of our house the whole day Sunday, my comp locked the keys in the house, and it wasn't until about 11:15pm (about an hour and half of trying) until we were able to make a device to pick the lock.... haha we should of just paid the 50 Pesos to get it opened. but it was Sunday... :)
• the hardest thing I had to do this week was eat a rotten tomato....wow! tomatoes and onions are always the first thing I eat at meals so I can get the hard stuff out of the way first then enjoy the good stuff, welllllll I somehow got it down through my gagging without letting the member hear me, then after my comp went to eat his, he said they were rotten....and he didn't have to eat his. wowwww!! solo mi suerte.....
• with sooo much rain, the mosquitoes are really bad, I've gotten used to about 100 new ones every day, and I'm not joking. Pray I don't get west nile or whatever they have...
• I got 3 new ties :)
• I GOT A NEW HAMMOCK!!!! YEAHHHHH WHOOOO!!! it´ll due for now, it's way better, not the colors and stuff I wanted, but I really don't care anymore
• I'll be in BRISAS for 3 more transfers, so like until February or something
• I've learned a ton of Mayan, I love it! I love the Mayan people, you can pick them out of the group really easily, they have a distinct people and their clothes are all handmade, they are awesome- like 20% of my ward is Mayan, it's awesome.

Ok mom, I transferred money from my savings to my checking, it got denied today shopping at

 

 

Walmart, I  had like a dollar in it haha. I had to use it because

• electricity late fee bill
• I bought more missionary badges
• bought my hammock
• and we take the bus too much

all adds up to about 80% of my money for the month and still have about 18 days until I get more.... soo I used my credit card- I can pay it off online banking next week, or you can do it, whichev.

OKKK onto the work!

Well it was a GREAT week this week
We´ll start at church, we had 5 people in our gospel doctrine class this week (which means that they came to church), only 2 of them were investigators, 3 less active members.

Mayra- we set a compromised baptismal date on October 3rd? I believe, so that´ll be the first baptism!

The family of 3 we´ve been teaching- I don't know what's happening with them- they haven't been very open to us teaching them this past week and made it very difficult for us to set an appointment with all sorts of excuses, but we´re still working with them. It's sad, I want them sooooo bad to come to church and be baptized!  I'm trying my best!

Orlando- we found this guy! He's cool, but we found him Saturday and actually haven't taught him yet-I  hope all goes well with him this week!

Sandra Reyes- she is the most animated little ball of energy I have ever seem!!-especially for a 32 year old woman! haha. She is crazy awesome though, she got baptized a few weeks before I got here, and is a primary teacher. We are working on her son who is 9 and boy friend hopefully- we´ll see.

Sandra Luna- She is amazing! She was baptized a week before I got here, and she is sooo strong, She´ll be the Relief Society president someday ha. She has a REALLY cool conversion story- I wish I had time to tell you all but its kinda long. Long story short, she works in Compeche, 3 hours away, every day! She works VERY HARD for her family- the definition of a Mom. And since she's hardly home, the missionaries found her husband, taught him for 1.5 months before they taught her. One time, she was home when the missionaries came, she saw them and knew the church was true, just a overwhelming feeling. She had a baby die that only lived a few hours about 4 months ago, and every night she would cry herself to sleep because she´d have dreams of it. But since she saw the missionaries, and she knows that families are eternal, she has been soooo strong. There are a lot of cool details missing, but you get the gist of it. Her husband and family aren't members, and we visit them at least 2 or 3 times a week, still working on them.

My spiritual experience: is from Sandra Luna ha!-- She is AWESOME!   So every Sunday, the missionaries (me) talk to the primary. The primary is awesome here, and they teach missionary work and going to the temple EVERY SUNDAY without fail, for the first half of the hour. They all know from the time they are 3 that serving a mission is the goal. Anyway, we walked in 3rd hour, and  the teachers asked Sandra to share her conversion story to the primary. With tears in her eyes as she told her story (the one above plus more), the spirit was sooo strong, and it actually was a testimony builder to me. I've learned that hearing peoples testimony and sharing your own strenthens your own, probably more than anything else sometimes, so anyways, it was amazing. I challenge you all to share your testimony today!

1.  I want to figure out how long it takes to get mail--compare Dear Elder with regular mail--how many letters have you gotten?  Have you received any Dear Elders?

Probably about the same, I don't know. They send the dearelders from Utah in a package, they take 2 weeks to get here, so I don't know

2.  updates on how Spanish is coming
wow It is frustrating, but it's coming along, I talked to some other gringos who have been here long.
3.  Have you been sick since that one time and do you take those Phillips tablets?
Yeah, I was sick this morning.... I'm sick alot haha..... soo its normal.
4.  THIS IS BIG:  DID YOU GET YOUR LARGER HAMMOCK?????  I HOPE SO!
YESSSS, I LOVVVVVVE ITTTTT!!!
5.  Any spiritual experiences this week? 
yeah, the one above was the best

Dave- So do you remember the Oaxaca Cheese?? haha its like THE CHEESE to buy-- in the store haha, like over half the cheese options are ¨Oaxaca Style Cheese¨ and its kinda like string cheese. It's pretty good. and I met a guy from Oaxaca, and he was the branch pres while you were on your miss I think!  President Mision Flores was your Mish Pres right? Then his name was HMO Santiago, in the Rama Mitla from 1994-97. Is that after you were there?

Speaking of Cheese, I have learned the way of the QUESADILLA haha- bought stuff for it last week and was out by like Friday! I had 15 in 3 days... so today I stocked up again ha. It is definitely gonna be the food to keep my weight, which I weighed myself at the mail yesterday, I'M GAINING!!! I'm not losing! yeahhooo! 75 KILOS!!

Speaking of food, I had my first Hamburger in Mexico, and WOW, just like American-Mex is nothing like authentic mexican food, Mex-American food is NOTHING like authentic American food. I can't wait to have a Five Guys Burger again....

I´ve learned to be ALOT bolder here, It's something I've always been bad at. I learned toooo well from Dad and Mom that contention is of the devil. I never thought any of the Connolly kids would make good lawyers and argue for a living......  :) haha. but it's something about having this Badge on that gives you power with authority to challenge people and invite them to make commitments, change their lives and come unto Christ. Just somethin´ I have notice this week.

And I heard all about Bri´s concert! Sounded awesome! I so wish I could have been there!  Mom said that it's the 2nd and LAST BIG event I´ve missed.... and wedding and this... NO MORE!!! haha just kidding,-- just be sure to send pics if i miss anymore! I can't get worse than Teej, who missed 3 weddings!

AND DANNY and 1ST PLACE IN THE MARATHON!!!  Are you kidding me!? haha wow!!! GO DAN! You are amazing! I've been running a 5k almost every morning here, first marathon when I get back, ITS ON!!! haha

Well FAM, I finally found a computer that accepts my camera, so I am sending pictures! Enjoy!

LOVE YOU ALL.   ¨¡¡Teen Be´aan!!¨ - Mayan for ¨¡Hasta Luego!¨ or ¨See ya!¨ ha

-Elder Connolly