Week 83 in Mexico, Week 6 in Sahuayo

Hi everyone! So far this week has been going pretty good.  To start off, lots of cool things have been happening here.  We had a worldwide training transmission this past Wednesday.  There were like 5 Apostles and a couple other general authorities there that taught us more about the way to teach with the spirit, and other important things as missionaries.  Also, this week we are going to have a conference with Pres De Hoyos, the area president, in Zamora, with 2 zones there.  It should be pretty good, and we are pretty excited.  Also, yesterday, President Egginton came to church here in Sahuayo.  There is also an older couple that is serving here, the Anderson's.  They also came to church with President.  Elder Anderson talked to us some while President was talking with some members, and he told us about some of his experiences as a member of ward counsels and stuff like that to help the branch.  It was really interesting and I think it will help us here in Sahuayo.

So during the week, we went to go look for a referral that we had in a little town close to Sahuayo.  Well it was pretty cool what happened.  We were looking for this sister that had told us to go teach here kids because she was already a member.  We got to the little town, and we  asked in a little store if someone knew where the street was at.  No one knew, so they asked us who we were looking for.  We told them the name, and then, a little kid sticks his head out, and was like "That's my mom!"  and so he showed us the way to his house.  Honestly I don´t think we would have gotten there without him, because it was on the other side of this huge grove of trees, and it was pretty far away from the little store we asked at.  The picture is of us walking in the grove.  They told us that a high school had planted the trees a while ago, and they are pretty big now, so it must have been a long time ago.

Here is a panoramic (from my companions camera) of part of our area, with another picture of almost all of our area.  Last Sunday, we went all the way to this little town behind that big mountain on the left side.  That is where we found the family of 6 from the referral.  Its a little big, our area, but I like it.  Lots of space to work.  Also, recently I´ve heard that the dollar is worth like 20 pesos now, so the value has gone up, and now I can get more for less.  

Elder Carey

Week 82 in Mexico, Week 5 in Sahuayo

Hi everyone!  Okay, so this week has been really good so far, we have been working a lot here.  This week we started off, and we did splits with the other elders in the district, but this time, all of us were working in the same area, for a change in the division format from president.  We also were able to go with a less active sister Saturday, and when we went, her granddaughter was there, and she told us she wants to know more about the church, and she has already been to church 2 times here.  Also, yesterday, this family went to church, and the parents of this new investigator also went to church and we taught them as well.  Then, yesterday, we went to go contact a referral.  It was a little far away from our little town, but we got there, and when we found the referral, they let us in to teach them, and it turns out that it is a family of six, and the referral came from one of the daughters that lives in the united states.  They all accepted the teaching very well, and we put an appointment and stuff for Sunday, and a baptismal date for March 12th a day after my birthday, so I hope they get baptized that day!!

So that was the big thing that happened this week, it was a really cool experience, and it mostly surprised me, because in two days, we had 10 new investigators.  Oh, also, there was this guy that got to church by himself yesterday, so we also taught him.  It was pretty cool.  So, also,  I´m sending a picture of something that happened here in the area.  We were going through a sort of farm like place, and there was a dead dog hanging from a tree, we think it was because of rabies or something, but basically, my companion had a pamphlet of the plan of salvation to teach it.  Then, the next picture is of some real Kraft mac and cheese that I made the other day.  So I´m trying to cook a little bit more, because I´m a little tired of cereal and toast all the time.

Oh, I also remembered that during the divisions we had, we also decided to make smores.  So we didn´t have a camp fire, but we found something that worked, and, I also found some blueberry muffin mix, that can be used to make pancakes.  A different elder told me it works so I bought some, and also some chocolate chip muffin mix.  It was pretty good, I liked it a lot.

Elder Carey

Week 81 in Mexico, Week 4 in Sahuayo

Hi everyone! Hows it going out their?  So far everything has been good here.  This past week we went to Chapala, with the zone leaders for a couple days, and we also had interviews with President.  It was a pretty good week, we got some really nice pictures of the lake and stuff, but we weren´t in our area very much this week.  This upcoming week we are going to go do splits with the other elders in the district, but all four of us are going to be in their area for a day or two. 

I´ve also got some pics from the splits and stuff.  The first picture is from the wise man day, that is the bread dessert that they eat here for the holiday.  The tradition is they put a plastic baby in the bread some where, and who ever gets it when you cut it, is suppose to make tamales on the 2nd of February.  I actually got one, but I don't think they will make me make tamales. The next picture is with a family that is in chapala, and we were there with the zone leaders.  The last picture is of the lake in the morning, and here are the pictures of the sunrise in chapala lake.  The next picture is of an ice cream we ate, its sort of hard to explain how they do it, but basically its a cold plate, and they pour cream on top, and mix it with the ingredients that you want, and let it melt again, then freeze it again and grind it off with a spatula type thing, and its super good.  Next is a pic of me sleeping after the interviews, we were really tired because it was after the splits, and we had stayed up one night to play monopoly.

Elder Carey

Week 80 in Mexico, Week 3 in Sahuayo

Hi everyone!  Hows it going?  Happy New Year everyone!!  Its been pretty good here so far.  New years eve we went with a member who is a chef and he made us a dinner type of thing.  It was pretty good.  Besides that everything is pretty good.  The day of the wise men is the day after tomorrow, so thats pretty cool.  Lots of stuff going on.  Other big news, the branch is now part of a district, before we were just part of the mission.  So that's good.  We were also able to find some new people this week.  We have been talking to a lot people, and we were able to find some this week.  Actually we have some appointments today with future investigators. 

Also this week we are going to be on splits with the zone leaders for a couple days because there are interviews with the president this week.  Our area is a little far away.  Their area is by that big lake, and there are tons of American members there.  Actually the district president is from Canada.

Okay, so the pictures here are from the zone meeting we had, something that happened during the splits we had, and then this statue at the top of the hill in the city.  Then a picture from the hill of the city.  

Basically what happened was that we had Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday normal, and then Thursday we went home early for new years eve.   Friday was the zone meeting and we started divisions. We had to get home early again.  Then Saturday and Sunday were normal.  It was pretty funny for new years eve and stuff.  They party a lot here.  we got up early new years day to go to the zone meeting, and when we left the house ate 6 o clock to go, there were still parties going on.  Then, here they have this idea about getting rid of hangovers.  They go and drink milk straight out of the cow, with chocolate, and more alcohol, and then go eat this stew made with meat from the cows stomach, and go sleep till the next day.  We saw lots of drunk people, but nothing happened, it was pretty interesting. 

 

So far the area is good, we have been able to find people to teach, We found a young couple at the beginning of the week.  The sister is very prepared.  She has read every assignment that we gave her, and has prayed and everything.  She wasn´t able to go to church though, because of some problems with her husband.  We´ll start working on that.  There is another sister who has been an investigator for a while.  She is very nice and loves to help us lots.  She has given us food a couple times, but the only problem is that she has had a hard time getting to church. We are also working on that.  Also, in the picture, it is of us giving service, helping this brother work on his roof, I got pretty burnt on that white patch on my arms, but it was worth it.

This next picture is of me in a combi, or van that they use for transport here, it was super full, so my companion took a picture.  It was new years eve, and there were people buying things all over the place.  It's one of the old Volkswagen vans.  That is sort of what they do for transportation here.  Okay, so here is the last picture.  It's of more service, we mixed cement and laid some bricks.  In the last picture, I was holding on to a bag of tostadas for the lady that was in front of me, because she had a ton of bags.

Have a great week.

Elder Carey