Pictures from Ben!!

House -Escuinapa

Kitchen -Escuinapa 

First Zone

Friend in our apartment

Me and Hermano Martin. Recent convert, very cool.

Jovenes (teenagers) en la rama Escuinapa
Left to Right: Elder Baltich, Me, Elder Tingey

Activity in the house of Hermana Lorena, Turned out great!

Me and Elder Morales

Our zone in Escuinapa

Our district in Escuinapa

Elder Jenkins and Me

Catholic Church in Escuinapa

Elder Fellingham

Ride to Teacapam

Elder Jenkins (2nd Companion). His chair broke

Escuinapa

Elder Anderson (1st Companion)

Teacapan

I had an ingrown toenail and I went to the doctor and he injected into my toe to numb it and then he cut my nail out.... pero ahora estoy bien. Estoy contento ;)

House in Juan Jose Rios

District in Juan Jose Rios in Sam's Club

Elder Jiminez (3rd companion)

Juan Jose Rios out of our apartment 

Neblina, Foggy outside

Mom, this is my old wallet it finally gave away. I bought a new one in Teacapan. Compare.

I love you family, mom, melanie :)

My 4th Companion: Elder Casimiro

Our church in Juan Jose Rios

Christmas Party

Beatriz, she is going to be baptized this Saturday at 4:00 pm and I am going to baptize her. She has a good smile.... but this pic wasn't good... HA.

District Juan Jose Rios

Yeah... Our relationship 

My comp now!

4th Comp

Teacapan house
Elders Anderson, Gomez ,Yo

Presidente de Escuinapa y la familia de el

Me and Marin (investigator). I hope he is baptized by now!

January 14, 2013

JAnuary 14 2013!!! This computer is very slow. . . ugh. I am doing well. . . Her in Ruiz Cortinez, We have found new people to teach, some of the older people werent progressing, so we had to move on. But the new people that w have are very awesome, one is named elisio and we are teaching him, he is a mechanic and we gave him a lesson last night while he was working on a car. . but he put a lot of attention into our lesson. He is new, and he is very smart. I am happy we found him, also we have another his name is arturo, he is 16 years old and he is very smart also. He actually has a schedule unlike everyone else here. . . : / its difficult to find people that have a schedule here. But everything is good. The members are really good here, and they are willing to do anything we ask them. They lack a little bit of knowledge though and we have to do a lot when it comes to sunday. The leaders are a little. . . they just need a little bit of help. So we help them with that, and the president is cool, he is very dark brown, i think he is from the mountains he is very native. I am sick. . . so these past five days havent been that great, but i am trying to get over my sickness. . . and it is a little difficult to work. but we are still teaching strong me and Elder Casimiro. . we have had some rough patches with eachother but most of the time we are on the same page together. He is cool, and we have a lot of inside jokes. We are going to have another change in two weeks. This change has been really slow for me for some reason. I think its because we didnt get moved that far, and i am with someone that i already knew before. . . . ITs been slow this past week for me. But we are teaching a lot of people, we have two new families, not so strong but. . . trying to make them strong. .. lots of families dont have unity here and it is sad to see. . . but we are working on unity in the family, and lots of other things. I am doing well, eating healthy. . . being obedient, i need to improve in my studies, i feel like a need to get more organizeed. . . and have a schedule the is better. Other than these things everything is good, I hope everyone is doing well in Utah, david and jackie i am happy for your new house and it will be perfect for your family!!! I miss all of you and i give you all my love. I am sorry this letter is a little short but there is just sooo much to do today. . . . Thank you missy for tyhe pills i feel like they have been helping and i take them every morning. I am grateful for them. Mom i hope your even in Salt lake goes well. !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I wish you the best of luck, Dad I love you i dont know the street names everyone uses street numbers here, and still i dont know. . . i memorize things by picture. . . ha lots of the streets here dont have names so it is hard to tell you. . . I will try to find more information for the next week. . . we live in ruiz Cortinez. The church is in front of a muebleria esmeralda. It is in the center of the city/town. please give mel my love! miss her, tell her to write me. : ) I love everyone hope everyone is great. Love you guys.

January 7, 2013

Okay here is my letter for this week! We are doing well, We have moved over to Ruiz Cortinez now, The people are very nice here also, and their are more members, IT is a suprise because Ruiz Cortinez is more small. The members are very strong here, And it makes me soo happy to se that they are. Their are also lots of inactives, But we are going to start reacivating them!! one by one, And i know that we can. We have a plan and we are making Ruiz Cortinez more organized,!! : ) I am happy i am here, and i know most of the members here because when we were in juan jose rios we had divisions with ruiz cortinez. So it is nice that i dont need to get re acquainted with everything. I know pretty much where everything is also, It is easy to find things here, We are tryign to work with a family here and they are the closest to having a baptism soon but still very far away in the lessons. They are the familia de la paz. very poor also, but we are trying to put together a service project for them. We are teaching other people also, but no one in specefic is really close to having a baptism. We have found new investigators about three, Cesar, Javier, and hmmmmm????? others, ha. Cesar is in his fifties, has blue eyes, and looks like brother benson that lives down the street from us, in saratoga springs. . . and he has a big family, They are very interested, but didnt take advantage of our invitation to come to church this past sunday. But we are trying with them, and JAvier is 22 years old and he is very bright, but he thinks he has to work all the time. He understands everything we talk about, and he is our other main investigator, We have rosa and her husband, they are very friendly good people. Living together, not married, about in their late forties, rosa has a smoking problem, but comes to church everysunday, and they like it when we come and teach them, we try and give them goals to change, but they wont change. . . . the husband likes to gamble and yeah, they are very nice we are trying to work with them also. but not progressing. This is whats happening right now, Me and Elder Casimiro work really well together, we are good friends. He is from Xalapa vera cruz, We have three more weeks together, and things are going well. I hope everyone had a good new year, 2013 crazy huh!!!!!!!!! Still alive, The world didnt end, I hope mom is doing okay, really busy as usual i assume, Is she okay?? Dad love you, i hope school is going well., Starting up again after the winter break, I hope you have safe trips everyday back and forth from work. Especially in this winter, It sounds like its pretty cold, It just makes me laugh when the people here ask me are you cold? ha No in utah its 8 degrees below 0. : ) But it is a little chilly here in the ights, i wear a sweater. I am doing well, healthy, learing a lot. Me and my companion are trying to wake up earlier every morning to study language together,, he is trying to speak english and learn english. I have been waking up on time, im going to buy an alarm clock today, the ells fargo one broke, and i bought another one, It didnt last a day because it was way cheap, haha, right when i opened it, it fell, and broke on the ground. . . . We use the cell phone alarm, but i feel like i need something that is more powerful to wake me up in the morning. : ) i really want to wake up and start exercising but it is really hard for me for some reason. . . . i dotn know why, we are usually really smoked by the ed of the day, and in the mornings. . . i have blisters again, and their is nothing much happening other than trying to teach new people. There are lots of people here and they always go out to work in the fields in the morning. Lots of agriculture around us, There are airplanes also they dust the crops, it is really cool to watch.!!!!! I am learning more in the scriptures everyday, and i am greatful for them. I wish i had more time in the day to just be able to sit down and read my scriptures. . . Joy I am happy you and your family returned safely. HAppy you had a good time in california. MEl i love you happy new year to you also, : ) : * : * : * Another thing that i would have done mel before i left on my mission is that lots of missionaries have music,! It is always good to be able to listen to music while you are in the apartment that you have, They have like a little ipod nano( the new touch screen ones are nice. with mini speakers and a wall charger, and i wish i would have saved up and bought one before my mission. But i would say to buy one before you leave and put some good music on it, like church music. You cant have headphones so you need to buy small speakers, but you can put EFY music, or orchestra music or tabernacle choir, Idk appropriate music for the mission, : ) I love you, keep studying in pmg and your scriptures,! I hope everyone is doing well in the family, !!! I cant beleive the weather is below freazing. I love everyone and this letter will be a little shorter today, There hasnt been that much going on. But i love everyone. !!!!!!!!!!!!! Adios

December 31, 2012

This past week was good. : ) I am happy i got to talk with everyone on the phone. and I was really happy for the next week, no ha i still am happy i got to hear all about everything. And how everyone is doing. I am so grateful everyone is okay, and doing well. This past week was a little bit slow with everything because of the holidays. . . we had our activity as a mission. well part of the mission. We had our activity with three or four different areas, and with the president and his wife and family. There were about 60 missionaries. It was very fun, we played games and ate, and had spiritual moments, and a testimony meeting. I bore my testimony, :) and it was a really good experience. Everyone was sore the next day because yeah everyone is out of shape. . . . pffff my legs and my arm hurt from the games we played. We played dodgeball, and other games. This activity was really spiritual for me, Hearing all the missionaries testimonies was really spiritual, and it makes us all just want to go out and work harder with our investigators. Its really good to have zone meetings and activities for the missionaries i think. It brightens things up out of the field a little bit : ) Then New Years is tonight and i have no idea what we are doing because it has been a little crazy here in the mission. Me and Elder Casimiro are being transfered to Ruiz Cortinez. They are putting missionaries back there again. and it is us!! and so this morning and last night we packed everything up and a member helped us move over there. It was very nice, and I am tired. . . . Ha the house in ruiz cortinez is still a mess from the last missionaries. . . which was my companion now, and another. . . . . . hah. But It was very unexpected, My trainer Elder Anderson is now here with us, he will be in Juan Jose Rios with another missionary. He isnt a missionary, It is called a verano missionary. He is 18 and he is seeing how the mission life is for a month. Thats what they do here in Mexico. . . so i dont know. I have never heard about missionaries that are younger who serve for a month. but This is whats happenning right now. So Elder Anderson is our district Leader, My trainer from Escuinapa. And Elder casimiro is still my companion. and now were in Ruiz Cortinez. so we will work there the last three weeks of the change. It is exciting to be able to work somewhere different. But i really like Juan Jose Rios. . . . I will miss here. I am excited to say that i had my first baptism in Juan Jose Rios. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : ) : ) : ) It was Beatriz!! she finally has finished everything and is now a miembra de la iglesia de JesuCristo de los Santos De Los Ultimos Dias!!!! She was baptized this last sunday at 9:30 in the morning!!!!!!! before church started. The thing is, we Had her baptism the 29th and everyone came to see her get baptized which was only like 6 people. . . . : / but it was still beautiful. and we had the baptism. . . . but their were no other priesthood holders their to watch her get baptized. . . . It was only me and my companion there. We had realized that we needed another person to be there to watch the baptism that was another priesthood holder. soooo we went to beatriz house and told her after the baptism, and called the district leader, Then he called the zone leader, then i think they called the assistants. . . . . haha to find out if we could have this baptism like this, without a second person. . . watching. . . and they called back and told us we need to re do it. . so the next morning Beatriz woke up early, and she came to the church and we had it again. The Water was freeezzzinngggg!!!!!!!!!!! Its not a font that we can heat, , , we tried to use our iron. . . but it didnt heat fast enough. and so we just baptized her in very cold water. twice. : ) yup my first baptism,,,!!! : ) ha i am soooo happy for her. She makes me so happy and I am happy i was the one to be able to teach her also. We finished the lesson with her and she has grown sooo much. And it makes me happy to be able to see the progress. I have pictures, and i am not going to put them on the computer. . . i am sorry. . . . i will print them and send them in the mail. . . i dont want to lose my pictures again. . . The baptism was very nice, and she is very happy. I am happy for this month with these holidays and I wish everyone a New Year. Dad thank you for the info on the catholic church. Love you, Mom i hope you enjoy the books!!!!!! of pictures!!! and mel ugh my baby pictures. . . . hah I hope your mom had a wonderful wedding!!!!!!!! I am sooo happy for them, was fast! but Its good and for the best. Tell chris i say hi, love him and i love you more. wamh, ; PLease post pictures of your moms wedding. doing well healthy, David thanks for the work out, love you and your family. Miss everyone, and i hope you are all doing well. hope you all have a good new year, and YESSSS i received three packages at the activity. The one from Joy joy with candy, and the one from mom with the calender, and sharpies, and letters, and the one from melanie that was brown, and had lots of wrapping paper, (brown) : ) Thank you for the packages. very very much!!!! Ther is still alot of candy. . . . and the little kids her know where to find it. . . ahhh cada mañana. . . . . Every morning the little kids that live beneath us come up and are like chillin, whatever you put in their hands they will steal it. Ther was a little boy about two or three years old, and i was standing and he came out of nowhere and reached into my pocket and stole candy. . . . . without asking. 3 years old. . . . . : ) he was very cute, it was obvious that he knew there was candy in my pocket though. .he was searching all my pockets and he finally found it. hah. Anywways thank you for helping me feed the kids in Mexico. : ) no hah. I am full of treats. . . and still eating. This is what happens in this season, dad knows, we cant stop eating even when we know were full. I love everyone!!! I hope you have a good New Years!!!!!!! I miss everyone. Stay healthy, Stay safe in the snow, I pray for everyones safety alot.

December 24, 2012

Okay everyone, Here is my letter for the family!!! Mom is travelling right???? I hope she is okay because i didnt see a letter from her. esta bien. Love you mom hope your traveling safely. and dad love you too, I am sorry ther is a lot of snow.and you cant play golf. Melanie sent me pictures of the snowfall, and there is alot. !!!! Hmmm i hope veryone is being careful on the road.!!!!!! And i love the pictures of baby austin and baby tom!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tom is big, he has a big head, he looks like danny, they are both bald. but he is sitting up all by himself in the photo!!! and austin looks like jackson and conner!!!! when they were babies. Jackie i hope you feel better!!! Mom i am sure you have been traveling for a couple days?? i am sure you are really tired. If you flew in sunday! and i hope everyone had a good sunday. I always think about the family on sundays because thats the time when we spent the most time together.!!!!! I miss our sundays. and i was telling our tradition to my companion today that we have waffles every sunday after church. Ha he waqs like what!!!!!! but this morning we wokeup and did opur things fast, washed our clothes fast, and everything. We had breakfast with the president this morning. It was fried chiles and other things, and tortillas. . . . and tea, (herbal) ha.. . . I have been drinking a lot of herbal tea lately, lots of people drink it here in Juan Jose Rios because it is cold here. Its cold in the mornings and in the night, but in the day its warm. The cold here is like an annoying cold, and it nips! but i usually dont wear anything because i am accustomed to worse. : ) and everyone asks me You dont think its cold??? and i say pfff. . . no go to utah right now. : ) no i dont say that ha but its true, They dont know. Everything is well here. Todos de los mexicanos estan listos por navidad y hay musica nivideña en todos lados. Hay muchos personas afuera de sus casas durante el dia, comprando y todo por navidad. Y la verdad es muy divirtido. Este semana pasada nosotros dos, Yo y mi compañero, pues todavia somos infermos. Solamente un poco. Yo tengo algo diferente con mi estomago, y mi compañero, el tiene agripa. . . Entonces, no sabemos que yo tengo, vamos a ver el doctor la proximo semana. Espero que si. Pero todo esta bien, Solamente despues comiendo yo sentio mal, y es acerca de mi estomago. Y ya no me gusto. Pero yo sentio bien cuando no estoy comiendo. Translate: ) david? our translator of the familia, arabic or español. or Mel can. Anyways. Todo esta bien. I cant wait to talk with everyone tomorrow. I am way excited!!!!!! We found a familia here, that live in Utah in orem, and they are visiting and i am giving them a package to give to you. They are things that i dont need here in the mission and they slow me down. It is just more weight to carry, and its easier withought these things. I put a letter on the tope so when you get it read the paper first, You should get it in the following week, They are leaving the 26 to drive back to Utah and the mom promised me she would give it to you guys. I am happy it is such a blessing. !!!!!!! : ) Well this last week was kind of slow. We didnt have very many lessons. . . . and our numbers were down with our goals. but these dont matter to me, It is just a way of saying that this past week wasnt the best. . . I and elder Casimiro are still trying to figure out what we need to do. . . Here. There are many problems here in Juan Jose Rios with the members and everyone. . . The assistance of this last sunday was 13 people. . . . ridiculous I know. But we are trying to work with the members because the members arent as strong as they can be, and we need to go back with the basics and teach everyone and really help them. I dont think we can progress and keep adding people to the church here if in the first place the members arent fortified. . . . Which they are not. . . So we are trying are best and we have plans to change a few things and find specifics that we can do to help the people here. We also have ruiz cortinez yes dad! and we take a bus their. It is like 15 minutes away in bus, and there are more people that go to church there than juan jose rios. There was 30 people there the las sunday. . . . And the mission closed Ruiz Cortinez. And we dont know why. but It is still our area and we still go over there. We choose specific days to go and work there for the whole day and It is fun to have more divirsity than working in the same place todos los dias. I am happy we are here, and I an elder Casimiro work well with each other. We have a lot in common and i am happy we knew each other before the change. It was a bit of a suprise but It is fun and we have gotten to know more about each other in this first week!!! The time is flying by. I have great news!!!!!!!!!! We are going to have a baptism this next saturday, And it is Beatriz!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is ready, and it has been officially announced in the church and all the members know. (the 13 members) that go. . . hah but It is set in stone now: )!!!!!!!!! I am so happy. Elder Casimiro acts like i am going to be baptizing her. . . we were looking through the baptismal clothes today and trying to find one my size. . . and for Beatriz. And so this will be my first baptism, She was a little prepared before i got here and then we finished teaching her everything. I am sooo happy i have part in the teaching also!!!!! I am sooooooo happy for Beatriz and her decision!!! She is really awesome. and she knows a lot. We still need to see how her interview goes first. And if she pases the interview then she can be baptized, but she should pass it. She knows a lot. And she knows its true. !! She paid her tithing this last sunday and everything is done. She has done everything!!!!!!! : ) I am excited for her.! It adds to my testimony everytime i see an investigator grow and understand more about this gospel. and i am soo happy that we were all raised in this wonderful church. I have a testimony and it has been held inside me for a long time. . . I only remember few moments in my life where i have shared my testimony and here in the mission I can share it whenever I want. I know that Joseph smith was given the proper authority to start this church again on the earth. and i know that through the power and authority of God he restored the exact things that jesus had when he was heree on the earth. and through time we have the fullness of the same gospel today. There isnt any feeling in my soul that this isnt true.I am grateful that i have gained my own testimony of these things. And i know that we need to keep adding and building to our faith each and everyday of our lives to help others understand what we know is true. We are preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ. Especially in these times because lots of things are changing and we are seeing them occur right now in front of us. and We need to do all we can to acheive all that is posible before la segundo venida de Jesucristo. El es nuestro salvador y redentor. el prince de paz y lo se que todos esos cosas son verdaderas. Este navidad El es nuestro rey y espero que podemos hacer los cosas buenos para mostrar El que realmente somos hijos de el. El fue nacido en un pesebre, el hijo de dios!, por que humano, todo de nosotros no sabemos. somos hombre. Y eso es la razon porque siempre necisitamos aprender mas cosas que son de dios. Y un dia lo se podemos ser glorificados y perfectos, como nuestro dios. Si seguimos con que lo que es correcto. Te amo mi Familia. Mi amor por ustedes es muy fuerte cada dia y esta creciendo. Estoy agradecido por todo que me ha enseñado I love you everyone!!! i will talk to you tomorrow.