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