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