Week 88 in Mexico, Week 11 in Sahuayo

Hola!  So far this week was pretty good.  To start off I was a little sick, but I was able to get better fast.  This past Tuesday we went on splits with the zone leaders to be able to get to the leadership training meeting faster.  It was pretty fun, the meeting was really cool.  We talked about the difference between administer and minister, and why district leaders are important.  Then we got back here in Sahuayo that night at like 9 o clock.  The next day we went to go visit Alfonso and Oliver, and they introduced us to one of their friends also.  We have been able to teach lots of people because they introduce lots of people to us.  Then Friday, we went with this one brother who gave us lunch, then we went to go visit people.  We were able to visit some old investigators that received us.  And some of them accepted baptismal dates.  They weren`t able to go to church, but we have appointments with them to keep teaching them.  

So the church services were good yesterday.  Not that many people went, just 33, but there were a couple that were sick, others that couldn`t go because they were in other branches.  There were a couple of investigators that went to church, but the only two that are progressing were Alfonso and Oliver.  There was another one that has gone to church here a couple of times, but it turns out he doesn`t live in our area, so we sent the referral.  Also, here in a little bit we are going to go and play Frisbee which should be pretty good.  Then, tomorrow we are going to have the district meeting here in Sahuayo, and the zone meeting next Tuesday, we are going to invite some members to go so we can do some practices with them.  It should be pretty interesting.  

Hey!! So here are some pictures of, the house of prayer, the baptismal box, and me eating popcorn in the morning.  I put hot sauce that they put on pretty much everything here.  It's pretty good.  

Yep, people get baptized in that box. The house of prayer say the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints on the fence.  There are some class rooms, its actually pretty cool on the inside.  There are 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, and like 3 other rooms, and the branch presidents office.  The baptismal box is on the outside and the baptisms are also outside.  Actually, the door that on the upper right hand side is an apartment for a non member family.  

The last picture is at the leadership training.  It was fun to see one of my old companions, and people I know from the mission.  

Elder Carey

Week 87 in Mexico, Week 10 in Sahuayo

So far this week has been pretty good.  Lots of things happened.  The week started off with the district meeting that we had Tuesday.  After that everything went by really fast.  We have been working with Alfonso and Oliver a lot.  Sadly they weren`t able to go to church this week, so their baptismal date got set back a week.  We were able to see them last night, and they told us it was because their parents were there.  We were able to talk to them and to their parents.  They really want their parents to get to know more about the church, it was a cool experience because they were sharing their testimonies and stuff.  Besides that during the week we went with some members that showed us to some of the less active members that are here.  It was pretty good overall.  We didn`t have a lot of lessons, but we did get some stuff done.  Besides that, one of President Egginton`s counselors went to church yesterday, and said that he is going to start going to church more often here, so that should be good. 

So also, when we were teaching Alfonso and Oliver their aunt was there and she seemed very interested.  We are going to see them again this Thursday so we hope she can listen to us as well.  Besides that, we visited other investigators, but they just talked a lot and a lot, and we lost a little bit of time with that, but we are going to try and get better at that, because people here talk a lot.  Besides that this upcoming week I am going to go to Guadalajara for a leadership training meeting, which should be good. 

I woke up this morning with a stomach bug.  Actually I think it might be food poisoning.  We ate something called carnitas.  This member invited us to eat yesterday.  Basically, its pork meat that they cook the whole pig at the same time, and its sort of meat, sort of fat.  Its not my favorite, but we had to eat it.  It wasn`t actually that bad, but today in the morning, I got a little sick.

Here is a picture of our district meeting.  When we have district meeting every Tuesday we have to get up at 4:00 am to catch a bus that is a 3 hour ride.  Sometimes the meeting is in our area.  This meeting was in Guadalajara.  

Elder Carey

Week 86 in Mexico, Week 9 in Sahuayo

Hi everyone!  Hows everything going out there?   The big news, is that they finally talked to me about the flight back home.  I told the secretary that I wanted to go by Utah, and the said that she would try get one like that for me.  Besides that, valentines day was pretty good here.  They do celebrate it here, but we didn`t really do anything.  I think that they just had a gift exchange in the young women.  But that was it.  

I`m doing pretty good, we are both healthy, and happy, actually here in a little bit, we are going to go play Frisbee with some of the youth from the ward here, so that should be good. 

Other big thing that is happening now, is that the pope is here in mexico, and tomorrow, he will be in the mission.  So that should be pretty good.

The family that was going to get baptized on March 12 isn't going to be able to now.  They thought the dad had a heart attack or a stroke or something. They told us that he is now doing better, and that nothing really bad had happened, but they couldn`t go to church because the father was working.  We were able to find 2 other investigators, brothers that now have there baptismal date for March 12.  They went to church and everything yesterday, so they are progressing pretty well.  They are pretty good, other missionaries actually taught them like a year ago, but they say that they want to be baptized and that they already have testimonies of Joseph Smith, which is great.

We were able to go and have splits with some of the members in the branch here too, and visit some less active members.  Some of the visits went really well.  The inactive members were very talkative.  One of the inactive members my companion went to use to be the branch president, and he went off about there is nothing you can teach me.  He know everything because of all of the callings he has had.  He is one of the members that is stirring the members up, so there is a lot of anger.  We are going to have to work on that. 

We have been visiting lots of inactive members, and we have several investigators that are progressing nicely.  We are working with the branch bishopric to organize something for the young adult.  There are a lot of young adults here, and if we could get them involved that would be awesome.  Things are going great.  We are staying very busy.  

The first picture my companion tried to take of me sleeping, but I woke up just as he took the picture.  The 2nd one is of my companion sleeping.  The last picture is of our zone conference.

Elder Carey

Week 85 in Mexico, Week 8 in Sahuayo

Hey!! Yep, so far things are going good this week, 

Last week I told you I was in Guadalajara to get my new companion.  His name is Elder Arroyo.  He is from here in Mexico.  A town called Aguascalientes, like 2 hours from Guadalajara.  There was no missionaries that came from the US.  I was in Guadalajara for all of Monday and most of Tuesday.  Monday night all of the missionaries (the trainers and the trainees) stayed in the mission home.  They ordered 2 huge pizzas from Pizza Hut.  There was like 40 pieces of pizza.  We stayed up and played Egyptian Rats Crew.  It was a lot of fun.  We had meetings most of Tuesday.  We didn't get assigned our companions until about 2:00 pm.  I was sitting by my companion during the meetings, so we got a piece of candy.  Me and my companion get along really well.  He is very prepared.  He is 18 years old, and a good missionary.   Here is a picture of my companion and I the first day, right after the meeting when they assigned us as companions.

So we got here Tuesday in the night, and we have been working here.  Its a little different because I don´t know the area as well as I thought I did, but we are getting the hang of it.  I don't know if I have told you about the family here that owns a bread shop.  They give us all the free bread we want.  It is sweet bread, and it is really good.  They fed us dinner on Tuesday.  They are a great family.  

One day when we were out working, and had to take a bus.  The traffic was so bad it took us an hour and a half to get there, when it should have taken a half hour.  Satan was hard at work.  There is this older lady that we run into every now and then.  The first time we saw her she said "I can tell you are not from around here.  It is very dangerous, you should not be out past 6:00 pm."  Then the other day when we saw her again she said "Where are you going so handsome?" She is 50 or 60 years old.   

Sunday we didn't have as many investigators come to church as we would have liked to.  We did have some come, so that was really good.    

Here are some pictures that my companion took during the week.  The first was us crossing a stream to get to an appointment, the other is from the other day when we got back from church.

Elder Carey

Week 84 in Mexico, Week 7 in Sahuayo

Hi!! I´m going to be training, so now i´m in Guadalajara, and tomorrow I wll recieve my new companion!  Last Monday after writing, we saw some traditional dances from Sahuayo.  They basically put on a big mask and dance around in circles, look it up on the internet.  They are called Tlahualiles, I think.  

So here are some of the masks that we saw.  Also, here are the pictures with the brother that took us to see his strawberry field.  We ate a lot of strawberries this week.  it was really good.   Also, we have been working a lot with the less actives.  This week we were able to find more people to teach, and lots of people went to church.  We reached our goal of 50, and there were still a couple that didn´t make it.  I guess its been pretty good here.  Its starting to get a little hotter here, and we need a fan soon, but I think we´ll get one here soon.

So here is a picture of the bus that we took to get all the way to the brother that gave us strawberries.  The week went by super fast, because of all the travelling we had to do.  I think this week will be the same.  The conference that we had was super cool and spiritual, we talked lots about how the spirit is so important in teaching, and that without the spirit, its impossible to teach. 

Hi everyone!  So far this week has been pretty good.  This week we were working pretty hard.  So to start off, I don´t have a lot of time to write this week, because we got here late.  Basically, we just had a meeting with president about training, oh, thats right, I will be training this transfer.  So this past week we worked a ton, and we also had a conference with the area president, president De hoyos.  It was a super good meeting, and I learned a lot.  We talked about the worldwide transmission that we had, and how to apply it to our lives, and teachings as missionaries.  Besides that, it was pretty good.  We put a baptismal date with one of the granddaughters of a less active member, and she is excited about that.  We also were able to go with the Rocha family, the referral from the US.  We also were with another elder for 3 days, before he had transfers.  My companion is going to open up a new area in a stake close to ours.  Besides that everything is going good. 

Love Elder Carey