Week Something or Another: Already Co-Equal‏

(From 7/22/13 email)

So, changes happened today! Elder E left this area, and now I'm with Elder M. Also, I'm no longer Junior companion - we're co-equals. Not entirely sure what that means.

But that's okay, 'cause we're going to baptise five people this week! We were going to baptise 3 yesterday, but one of them never showed up (sixth week in a row), and the other two... well, one of them wasn't feeling well (and I think she might've had some doubts still, about Joseph Smith - but she's accepting him a lot more now, which means she's also accepting the Savior a lot more) and she wanted to do it at the same time as her son, so they postponed for a week. They still want to get baptised though, and they're really good, too - what other investigator offers to feed the missionaries before they're even baptised?

The other two are both named R. And both of them went out of town... BUT WE STILL ARE GOING TO BAPTISE FIVE THIS WEEK!

Also... well, that's about it in terms of people we're working with. With the help of the Lord and the Spirit, we'll also be able to baptise three or four more this week as well. If that is to happen, though, there will need to be at least one trip to T.

Also about the son of the sister I mentioned. He loves Minecraft (kinda unfortunate for me. I miss that game), and knows how well I draw. So, to help motivate him (interview, in specific), I offer drawings. Of Minecraft, Despicable Me 2, or things like that. THE DRAWINGS HELP! :D I love being able to use my talents to help out.

Anyways, I got other e-mails to write, so I'll see y'all later.

Love,

Elder N

P.S. I should've turned on flash. OH WELL:

WEEK 21: ATTACHMENTS‏

(From 7/8/13 email)

Turns out, President W was on a first name basis with Elder Holland (but then he became Elder Holland and wanted to show the proper respect). And he's hilarious.

This pic is of terribly translated things I found in T (the place where we marry people; long story that I'll forget someday but that's okay it's not that great).

So that's all I got time for. Exceeeeeeeept... IDK. That's about it. I think I'm allergic to cats now, so that's new. No idea when that happened.

Also yeah. I don't know; not really much new happened this week.

Except we brought an amazing family to church and the brother of the mom, a guy who we (not me, C) baptized a month ago and gives us free hamburgers on occasion gave his testimony during the meeting. That's all for this week, 'cause now I'm out of time.

LATER!

Week 20: No, I Need to Two-Up you.‏

(From 7/1/13 email)

"You just need to one-up me, don't you?" asked Elder E.

"No, I need to two-up you," I replied.

---

"What a tanning-bed jerk!" - Elder E

---

You all know about the Mexican Novelas, right? (Editor's note: they're the same thing as our soap operas.) Sometimes, when we're ordering foods, the people are watching them. We then follow up by insulting the actors, the characters, and the rain falling out of holes in an off-screen bucket. We've said a lot of funny things during these short periods.

Anyways, pic this week:

Ripped shirt.

YUP. Things are going good here.

Go on a mission, give your missionaries references, and be sure to be nice to that little raccoon eating your lunch right now.

LATER, Y'ALL!

Elder  N

(Really) Week 19: My Saturday Breakfast‏

(From 6/24/13 email)

Look at this deliciousness:

Pancakes. With peanut butter. With syrup. It was so delicious. Thank you Mom for sending me the peanut butter.

Anyways, this week I'm telling you about food. Why? Because people like giving us food. We have a recent convert with a burger stand. He makes us burgers. We also have an investigator that makes plátanos fritos. Basically, fry a sliced banana, throw strawberry jelly on it, chocolate sprinkles, some creams, caramel, and an occasional deep-fried banana, and you've got one delicious desert. They're right next to each other, too.

But anyways, there's more. President V has reached the end of his service, and that means President W (a friend of Dad's Uncle R) is arriving. Changes are coming!

Well, what else have I got? ...I still don't miss hills. Found that out last week.

I also drew a monster. He's called ebenezer and it must always be written like that. ebenezer ruins everything. you'll find out what he looks like next week.

Something that I find funny is when it rains. It cools down quite a bit here, and whenever we meet some locals around here while it's raining, they see me and Elder E in our short sleeve shirts and they almost always ask, "¿No tienen frio?" meaning, "Aren't you cold?"

No. No we aren't. They're freezing their faces off, wearing these thick and heavy coats (or at least a sweater), and we're thinking, "This is perfect! Why can't it be like this all day and all night?" Well, I can't read Elder E's mind... yet... but I know I'm thinking it. I love the rainy season.

Well, that's about all I think. Pancakes, hamburgers, fried bananas, ebenezer, and freezing locals and melting Americans. And a new President that will come. Pretty good week.

I also drank at least 5.5 liters of apple soda this week. One 3 liter bottle and one 2.5 liter bottle that I can get refilled for like... 10 pesos or something.

I should probably stop before I get diabetes.

And also I talk in my sleep.

And also not really that was all.

Elder N

No not really. HI!

Week 19: The Things I Do to Get to the Door‏

(From 6/17/13 email)

C is pure buildings. These buildings have gates on them that get in our way when we're trying to get to investigators. Sometimes, they also block the doorbells, so you need to get clever to get to them. That's me stretching as hard as I can to hit the doorbell switch with my pen.

It then turns out to be a light switch, and now I need to turn it off. And my pen doesn't reach that far, so what do I do?

Light switch, meet chair. Chair, lightswitch.

It was a lot easier with Chair than with Pen.

So yeah, things here are great. I love not having to climb hills, the members are great, and the chapel here has filtered drinking fountains and carpet!

CARPET. That stuff is incredibly rare here.

Also, if you have a Patriarchal Blessing, go read it. There's some great stuff in there. And you never know what you'll figure out and I'm so hungry right now.

That's about all I've got  this week.

LATER, Y'ALL!

I still wonder what that Yakult stuff is.

Week 17: C, C‏

(From 6/10/13 email)

CHANGES JUST HAPPENED and someone here has a ringtone that makes the original Wild Pokémon Encounter sounds.

This is my new companion, Elder E:

Yeah... the upload was taking too long. It´s an attachment. Also any strange punctuation is due to me being unable to change the Keyboard settings.

Anyways, I´m now in an area called C in the Zone of C. No more N for me. As I gave a farewell to my converts, I couldn´t help but already miss them. And I just found the apostrophe key. It's annoying.

Anyways, C is like the opposite of N - NO HILLS. This makes me smile, because in case you couldn't tell by my past e-mails, I'm kinda tired of hills.

But enough about that, what about the week?

I went to T on an airplane-bus (basically, a bus that was like an airplane in comfort and style - they even had an on-ride movie) to resolve a visa issue that I didn't need to be there for (woke up at 4:00 to get there on time. Fun.), returned to T to get the papers finished up, and got a free pound of french fries covered in cheese, salsa, and ketchup from a member. They were delicious - and then the same night I found red cream soda. Turns out, it's actually Peach Soda. Who knew?

Anyways, that's about what I've got for this week.

Later, y'all, and have fun!

Elder N

...Those fries were so delicious...

Week 17: T‏

(From 6/3/13 email)

Couples can't get baptised if they're not married. You get sent home if you baptise an unmarried couple that are living together. Yeah, it's that important. So, there's got to be something we can do for that, right?

Yes. The hard counter: T. That's where we go to get people married and stuff. So, in order to baptise a powerful couple, that's where Elder W and I went during the last week. And who do I see there?

None other than my amigo from the L G Ward, Elder A M! (Friend from old ward, serving in a neighboring Mission!)

And then we baptise these people! 

They are so incredibly powerful. I'll have to tell y'all more about them later, because this story is fairly long. And great.

Anyways, this is the last week of my second transfer in the field. After this, I've got 14 transfers left. On top of that, I'm probably leaving the N area - so that also means that I'll be going into new territory soon.

I hope it's a peublo. I miss small, sleepy towns. City life isn't for me, it would seem. Even if I am on the outskirts. Everything here is still cool - we've got CostCo and McDonalds and everything else in the city, which is nice.

Anyways, thanks for all the support, and you're all amazingly awesome!

Elder N