Pictures - March 28, 2011

March 28, 2011

Family! Well the moment you have all been waiting for has happened, officially got cactic'd, cactic'd big time. So there we were, helping one of our Investigators build her new house, but first we needed to clear the land of all the cacti and what not. Anyone notice that I just use the word "cacti?" I am a little impressed with myself. But anyways, I wasn't really thinking, and picked up a cactic branch thing, and threw it out of the way. Two seconds later, looked at my hand, so many red straight up spikes my hand. Darn you, cactis! Apparently the way to get out the needles is to chew gum, chew gum, and then move it up and down your hand to take out the needles. So our awesome idea to help out our Investigator with her house turned into an hour of Cactis Removal from Elder Abbott's hand. So much of other people's chewed gum all over my hands, so gross. But hey, it totally worked and now I am happy to say that I am needle free in my hands! Plus that very Investigator DID in fact make it to Church this week, which is absolutely huge in Mexico. Okay, so that is cool story number one for this week. This is cool story number two: Got destroyed by a little girl this week. We were visiting a less active family that we really like, and they have a couple of crazy kids. Crazier than anything I have ever seen in my life. Well, the Mom was talking to me about whats been going on in her life, and her little girl just starts straight up fighting me. I can't really do anything about it, well, because I am a missionary! The Mom decided to just not do anything, and this girl was just destroying me for like 20 minutes while I was trying to understand this Lady's spanish. Hey brothers, rememeber that one kid who was one of our cousin's kids? The Crotch Puncher? Well, this 6 year old little girl put that kid to shame. I don't know what I did to deserve it, but I still have the bruises to prove that definitely had it out for me.

What else has happened lately? Well, life is pretty good out here in Mexico and getting better all the time. In the MTC I remember them always telling me to just make it to Sunday, and everything gets better, which was true. Out here, they just saw make it through your first 6 months and everything picks up. Those of you who are keeping count, we are more or less at the 5 month mark, which I think is pretty crazy. Things do get better everyday, and I am really optimistic for the future. Definitely the most challenging months of my life, but super rewarding. Nothing quite like it, seriously. It used to kinda just be like, just make it to the end of the day, and then it became just make it to P Day, and now P Day's are starting to fly by and so are the transfers! This transfer is officially over and we are going to find out tonight who has changes. Apparently almost everyone is getting switched up, so it'll probably be a different feel in the district. I'm okay with that to tell you the truth, we've had some fun, but think I am ready for a change. The only two who are for sure staying around out area is me and Elder Valencia who only has one more transfer left in his mission. Elder Valencia is out of my best buddies so that's definitely good news. Going to start Round 2 of Mapimi in a couple of days, and I am hoping to get some much needed work done in that crazy place. It's a little scary being the younger companion though, considering the Senior calls most of the shots, so if you have Shmutz Senior, not too much you can do. I've been praying that I'll get a good companion next transfer, feel like I'm due. But life is good, I'm getting to know more and more people in the Mission and am getting closer to finding my niche. Still get beaten up by little girl occasionally though, but that happends. Hey, guess what, I can kind of play soccer now! I sort of know what I am doing and everything! I used to just kinda feel like I just got hit by the ball really hard and not really do anything, but my soccer game is coming together too. "Everything's coming up Milhouse!"

How is everyone doing at home? Thanks for all the letters from everyone, I am pretty sure I am getting the best missionary treatment our family has experienced. I've gotten like 3 letters from Greg, and like 2 from Randy! Mike has only said "your dead to me" like twice too, which isn't too bad I think. By the way Rando, everytime Twilight comes up for one reason or another around the mission, I always say my brother loved those books. But isn't that cool your talked about in Mexico? Even if your in the same conversation as Edward. So pumped about Marvelous's new Yob and Greg's new house. It's cool to see those promises fulfilled of the people I love being taken care of during my mission. I definitely don't want to take credit for anything, but Heavenly Father has definitely blessed this family a ton. Can you believe that Abby and Papa are going to go on a mission?! Tell them you want to come to Torreon, Mom and Dad! So hot, straight up desert, and people drive like absolute maniacs. You would love it Mom! Well, glad to hear everything is going good back at home, and sounds like things are getting better and better. And of coursse BYU is out of March Madness, is anyone really surprised about that? I never got to see any games, but I think we all got a little too excited about a 6'2 dude from BYU. Lakes will pick him up late in the first round or in the second round of the draft, and will play 5 minutes a game with DJ Mbenga. Okay to be honest, I would love to have Jimmer, I am a fan to tell you the truth, I think he's from New York which makes him way cooler. But say, for example, if he was from St. Geroge, just terrible. How are the Lakes doing? Better, right? End of the season is coming up, and where are we? How is Bynum playing? Have they given him a robotic leg yet? Someone told me that Derrick Rose is the MVP favorite? Derrick Rose is such a stud, I think the Bulls are my favorite team in the East.

Well, I think that's all I've got for you guys this week. I do write you guys a lot, don't I? Like I said, these P Days are starting to fly by, and I am running out of interesting things to say. And I really hope I can avoid cacti this next week, one experience is good for the story, but a second time would just be awful. I am definitely learning a lot out here in the mission. My life before the mission was pretty perfect, and everything was going really well. My whole life I have lived in a comfort zone and never really had to humble myself. All that changed during my mission. Suddenly I didn't have all my friends, or my family, or could even really communicate with the people, and everything was new. I think I am learning a lot of important things that are going to help me throughout my life, like how to self dependent. Something really important in your mission, sometimes you just gotta pick yourself back up and have faith in Heavenly Father, rather than a friend or a family member. Stuff that I am definitely going to carry with me for the rest of my life. Well, the church is true foo's, and I love all of you. I know we have tons of Birthdays in April, so in case I forget any of you, Happy Birthday! All of you rock, and I honestly feel like I have the coolest family in the world. I am a very lucky and blessed person to have the life I do. All of you are a huge part of that, so thanks! For everything. Keep in real family, and keep praying!

Love,

Elder Abbott

March 21, 2011

How pumped is everyone for this email right now, on a scale of 1-10? 1 being the Patriarchs talk after my farewell, and 10 being Black Sea Barricuda. I love the idea of people getting that pumped for my emails. From what it sounds like, there almost as popular as Jimmer Fredette. Who the heck is Jimmer Fredette? Well, to be honest me and him high fived in the Cougareat once, that was pretty cool, but I still dont buy it. We can get into that later, first I am going to tell you guys about whats been going down in Mexico. Well, I am still alive. Mexico has to be one of the sweatiest places in the world, I work up a sweat writing in my journal. Its kinda like visiting Randy and Sandy in the Summer but with less weird people. Burn! Sorry, I didnt really mean that Randy and Sandy, your house was the bomb. Except that time I went running for a little while which turned out to be my closest near death experience. So hot, running through a graveyard, I thought that was going to be it. Well to be honest I dont really know why everyone loves my emails so much, its pretty much just whatever pops in my head as I am sure you guys can see. Well right now I am in Beremijillou, so many dots in that word, and looking forward to making some Quesedillas with Elder Levie afterward. I am pretty sure I have mastered the quesedilla here in Mexico, there is so much more than goes into it than you might think family. Oh, and I am also learning great things about the Gospel and life in general, not just Quesedillas.

Alright lets go over the week recap. Whats been going on? Well, have I told you guys about Jonathan? He is this 14 year old kid who rode his bike up to me my first day in Mapimi and starting speaking English! You have no idea how awesome that was. Well, recently we started teaching that crazy kid, and he has a baptizimal date! And this other day we went with Jonathan to a cool musuem in Mapimi, where Pancho Villa lived much of his life I might add, and who do we find working at the Musuem? Jose Ramirez! Who just accepted a date a couple of days ago. Jonathan is for sure going to be a future missionary, we were the ones who contacted him while my companion was en El Bano. But alright here is the truth family, things dont always work out magical like the way it sounds, we were really pumped about our investigators, but when Sunday rolls around....where are they! Not a church thats for sure. People are so strange, we can have the best lesson ever and they are just soaking it in, but once Sunday rolls around suddenly there is a house to build in a place I have never heard of (Jonathans excuse) or your wife is sick (I actually believe Jose). But no worries, both of these dudes still rock and things are going good with them. Can you guys believe its already around the end of this transfer? My first transfer in Mapimi, Land of the Brave, is coming to a close. But I am 99% sure that I am going to have another transfer here, so let the magic continue. I am doing my best in this area, but my companion is starting to lose steam, so I really hope these investigators we have progress to get him excited. Mapimi is kinda infamous for slowing down missionaries, but I am not going to let it happen to me, I am putting Mapimi back on the map. Well, for the first time on the map. If there is one thing Mapimi likes, its the Virgen Mary. They have all these things called Dances all the time, which are these weird tribal dances which have something to do with Mary. I wonder who decided that worshipping Mary was a good idea, and dancing to her was the way to do it, probably someone from Mapimi. Still they are really cool, and occasionally they give us food, so cant complain. Oh yeah! Hey Jacky and Jacob, are you ready for this? Guess what I ate the other day? A Fish! I know that doesnt sound really cool, but man was it terrible. It was literally a fish on a plate, it could have been alive for all I knew. Apparently the insides were cooked, but I had to cut straight into that guy and all the bones and stuff to get to the meat. Not to mention all those crazy organs. The head was still there and everything! The guy that gave it to us went to town on it, straight up taking bites of a fish head. Think Golom in Lord of the Rings, and that was more or less our Saturday meal. Hopefully you guys are looking forward to the day when we go out to In N Out as a family in November 2012, where I will eat a million double doubles.

So life is good in Mexico, learning something new everyday. This definitely isnt one of the easiest missions in the world, tracting in a straight up desert, but man is it cool. I have experiences I would never, ever have had at home everyday. The people here really are the best, even though they like to drink a lot, they just make me laugh a ton. A few Elders in my district are taking an English test right now and it is the funniest thing ever. One of the questions was like a job interview and the question was Why do you think you would be good for this job? And Elder Valencia said, Just Ask My Family. That was it. Aw man, love these Mexicans. Gerg! I heard you were thinking about renting a house! That pumps me up big time. If you wanted to you could charge 5$ on the weekends for the neighborhood kids to see your pets. Extra 2$ to see Viper eat a Fish. But I also love all of you guys too, so whats been going on? How is life North of the Border with your American Dollars? March Madness should be in full swing and Becky is probably destroying everybody. We all know BYU is not going to win, and Jimmer will get dunked on by a black dude who can really play, but if BYU does win...I am changing my name to Elder Jimmer. And apparently the Lakes are doing good too these days? Thats just wonderful news. I was thinking the other day, what are the chances of us signing Chris Paul or Dwight Howard next year? Come on! Just trade them DJ Mbenga and Phil Jacksons big chair after he retires. I am hoping this Laker legacy is still playing strong when I get back. But I think the fact I am on a mission is only going to help the Lakers, they told me that people I love will be blessed during my mission, and Pau definitely applies to that. Most handsome Spaniard I know. As for my personal game, I finally figured out how to play against Mexicans. Its very dangerous, and you will get punched in the face if you try to drive, but I realized I am taller than them. I am just going to be honest with you family, I destroyed this morning. Being in a place where you cant really understand everybody and everybody thinks your weird because your White, you have to find confidence where you can. Found it!

So if you feel like praying for my investigators, see what you can do about Jose Ramirez, Jonathan, and Alejandra. There our big 3 right now. Well I miss all of you guys and am really excited for the day when we can all be together again, but my mission is the best adventure of my life. Not always easy, but always worth it. Man I had it good back in the day. I am really really happy I have this church in my life, I was imagining the other day where I would be withtout it, and the truth is I would be a total Schmutz. You guys totally know that. Thank goodness for this church, and thank goodness Great Grandfather Abbott decided to join it. This church really is the true church family. What does that mean, true church? Its not really a competition or anything, but the fact of the matter is is that this is Christs Church. This is how we fulfill his and Heavenly Fathers promises. I am a big believer in Eternal Life and I know its something I really want for all of us, and thats a big reason why I am here. Enjoy life everybody and enjoy your delicious American food for me. Miles, eat a bag of pretzels in my honor. I love all of you guys and I really appreciate all the support I have gotten from everyone this whole time. Have a great week, the church is true, and BYU will be out of March Madness by the next P Day. Calling it!

Love,

Elder Abbott

Pictures - March 14, 2011

March 14, 2011

Heya! Its Tyler! And after 20 minutes I officially figured out how to send pictures on this contraption. So unfair, the girl next to me has a computer that looks like its from the future, and mine would seriously struggle with Monkey Island 2. But no worries, I really feel like these pictures should work, I feel like I have earned it. Okay, so things are good in Mexico! Can you believe its already been a week since your latest installment in the life of Elder Tyler Abbott? I can barely believe how fast the weeks are going out here, and from what I have heard, Its supposed to only get faster from here on out. Man, I am running out of time! Well, as you can see, we had a baptism this week! That of course will be the first thing I tell you guys about, except I am a little distracted right now because I think whoever used this computer before left their instant messaging thing on and somebody is getting angry about me not responding. Gotta love that red X in the corner of everything on the computer. So anyways, baptism! I might have told you guys about Valente last week, but I really dont remember, so we are going to go over it again. Valente has been investigating the church for over a year now, and has attended church pretty much every Sunday that entire time. When I met him a couple of Sundays ago, I had no idea he wasnt a member, and then he told me a few weeks later that he was ready to get baptized. Of course I didnt really understand what he was trying to say, so I thought he asked me if I remember MY baptism, so I told him about my baptizm for 10 minutes before I figured out what was going on. Besides that, the whole experience was crazy cool. I have no idea what I did or if I helped him out with his decision, but either way we had another baptism in Mapimi! That is always a big deal, Mapimi averages a baptism once every 2 or 3 transfers, and this transfer we have had 2! Bam! Dont worry im not getting cocky, if anything life is more humbling every single day. But the day of Valentes baptism was a great day, we had 6 baptisms as a whole in our district! You can ask one of the brothers for all the missionary lingo sisters in law, and you too Mom. But anyways, apparently our district has been kinda on fire lately, and the President himself made a special guest appearence to our 6 person baptisimal service. The President of our Mission, not the President of Mexico.

Okay, so I have already told you guys the highlight of the week, and now I am trying to think of other exciting things. I want this emails to be loved for 2 years, so I gotta bring it every week. Oh yeah! Did you guys know that every Thursday we have a Noche de Hogar? Which means family night. We may not have mutual, or institute, or relief society, but man do we have Noche de Hogar. Every Thursday we plan a cool spiritual thought and play a game. This week we went for a David and Goliath feel, and had a pretty awesome turn out. Mexicans are really competitive though, especially when it comes to stuff about religion. So that just made it all the more fun. Remind me to show you the video I have of it in 2 years, you guys will love it. The only thing is that we have like two branches in Mapimi, the family night branch, and the actually go to church branch. We can never get everyone to attend both, they kinda just choose you or the other and call it good. Thats okay though, we like to look at the glass half full in Mapimi. We officially broke the 15 people in church last Sunday, not too shabby for Mapimi standards family.

So this is usually the part of the letter where everyone kinda zones out, right? Baptism this, Mapimi that, but just imagine yourself here with me because all of it is actually pretty exciting. But anyways, time for something more interesting, how are you guys!? I got a chance to get some letters not too long ago, and man do I love my family. All of you just rock. Theres not getting around it, just the best family ever. I think about you guys a lot, and people still freak out when I tell them I have 6 brothers. Some of the elder ladies ask of my brothers are single, which I quickly answer no every time. But isnt that cool to think that you guys are talked about somewhere in Mexico? Come on, get pumped! So my NBA source in Mexico, (my good buddy, Jose) told me that the lock out is finally going on? Is this true? I am not exaclty sure, and really want to know. If so, I am glad that it is happening now, when I cant watch it anyways, and the Lakes could use a nice vacation. So do I always bring up Lakers everytime I ask how everyone is doing? I think I do, but if you are a part of this family you know how Lakers are more or less a part of us, and so bringing them up is just inevitable. Other than that, anything new back in ol USA? Man, I gotta work on more exciting questions for you guys. I definitely hope everything is going great for everybody and everyone is loving life, enjoying their toilets that actually flush. Gergorious, was that no class? I say no class all the time in Spanish by the way, you would not believe how much it comes in handy. People sometimes ask me if it was hard being the youngest of 7 boys, and everytime I laugh and say no, it was the best thing ever. It probably should be hard to be the youngest of 7 boys, but nope, my brothers are my best friends. Did you appreciate that brothers? I think I am allowed to be cheesy, I am a missionary.

So life is going on for me in the mission field and I am learning something new everyday. I never realized how much there was to learn about the world, but its a lot more complicated that it seems as a kid. But thats the beauty of the mission, I dont have to worry about that kinda stuff and can just focus on two things, the Gospel, and people. Its really nice to just get down to the basics of everything and focus on the important things in life. Me and one of my buddies Elder Levie had a cool conversation last night on where exactly would we be if we never were exposed to the Gosepel. To make a long story short, I would probably be a total shmutz. I know you agree, family. Man am I grateful to have this church in my life, sure I made tons of mistakes, especially everytime we played No Dice, but I know I wouldnt be half the person I am today without the Gospel. Same goes for my family too. We have so much to be grateful for, there definitely is no family quite like ours. How fun are those weekends when we can all get together and have good times? Well family, what would you say if we can have that for all eternity? And no kids getting their grump on? The knowledge I have about the Plan of Salvation is the greatest knowledge I posses, life is so much simpler and better when you have a good understanding of it. Anyways, even though this letter probably wont go on my greastest hits letters, I am going to end it like the Lakers beat the Celtics last year, much in the clutch.

I love all of you guys, and I know the church is true. These two super simple things, are some of the two things I have really learned in my mission. That sentece sounded kinda weird didnt it? Well, you get what I am trying to say. You guys rock, and you gotta keep on rocking. To quote Grandpas friend who is actually an Alien, ya aint seen nothin yet

Love,

Elder Abbott

March 7, 2011

Heya! Another week of magic in the ol´land of Mapimi. Except right now, I am actually not in Mapimi, I am in the slightly less magical land of Beremijjou. Say that ten times fast. I am pretty sure I spelled that wrong, but thats okay, people rarely spell things right in Mexico, but you get the idea. So as I am writing this letter, they are actually playing Rush. That´s right, not even kidding. Who knew that people totally loved Rush down here too, Mexico surprises me every single day. Each day is seriously do much different than the day before, sure we visit some of the ol´eternagators (investigators who take forever), but also we end up in some of the random places with the most random people every day! This is such an adventure man, in fact, you just might say it´s the.....Greatest Adventure, the one that lies ahead! I can´t remember how the rest of that song goes from the Hobbit, but I am sure it applies perfectly. That´s actually one of the ways I practice my Spanish, I just tell my Mexican companions the whole stories of movies and books from America totally in Spanish, I am currently on Harry Potter 6 with my companion, but I don´t know what is Spanish for snogging. Actually, that´s probably for the best I guess. Speaking of which, Mexico has some seriously problems with PDA (Public Displays of Affection, just so you know Mom and Dad), just very little shame here. But few things are more fun than trying to break it up and give them a pass along card, I am convinced a baptism will come through this.

So things are good for ol´ Tyler in Mexico. Is it getting to that point where Tyler being on his mission is kinda old news, and no one really cares anymore? See, that´s what you´d think would be going down by now, but not with my family. Last District Meeting we had, the Zone Leaders came too and they had letters! Literally 20 were for me, and like 2 for other elders in the district, don´t worry I wasn´t lame about it and showing them off, but it´s nice to know I have the coolest family ever. Thanks so much for all the letters, all the emails, and everything for me, you have no idea how much you guys help me out when things get tough. Occasionally when I didn´t have the best day, I´ll break out in old letter from Brett or Mark or something, and suddenly everything is all good times again. I love all of you guys, and miss all of you, but people feel the same way about their families too, and they deserve to be together forever as well, so I´m here. But anyways, life is going good in Mapimi, whose current president is actually named Moroni. Who would have figured. Even though Mapimi is kinda notoriously hard, we´re finding little bits of success here and there. Either way, you just gotta keep going and finding more people, there´s never really a times to take a break during the mission. We´re respondible for a lot of souls around here, so we do our best. Even if half the Country is drunk, but to be honest, there usually more willing to talk to missionaries after they drank a few, there always nice enough to offer us some as well. Gotta love that Hispanic Hospitality. Don´t get me wrong, but I can kinda see how modern day Latino´s fit the description for Lamanites. Like if you were to read about how the Lamanites were, and translated that into modern day times, it would fit perfectly. Just a whole different style that what I grew up with, but I like it and I am learning more about the culture everyday. I´m also eating a ton.

It´s crazy hot here by the way, and it´s only supposed to get hotter from this point on. I am getting closer and closer everyday to looking like a natural Mexican, and I am able to fool some people sometimes. Until they realize I am really not that good at Spanish, and the eyes are kind of a dead give a way. But Mom, you should be proud, people will believe me when I tell them I am half Mexican, and half Asian, how many of your kids can say that. Well, nothing too crazy happened this week that I can remember. We were going to have a baptizm last Sunday, but Valente was called out of town for work, so we should be having it next Sunday. Baptizms are really hard to come by in Mapimi, so having 2 in a transfer is actually a really good job, so I´m happy with the way thing are going. I am learning a lot about people, my companion probably wouldn´t be my first choice of companions, but I am learning how to be work better with people and get along. That´s huge for the mission, if it´s bad times with your companion, everything just becomes so much worse. I have had to show a lot of patience, but things are pretty good.

How is everything going for everyone back at home? With all of your working plumbing, and kitchens, and air conditioning, and cars, and all of those things that would be really nice to have. Just think about me every time your not taking a bucket shower. Fropm what it sounds like, everything is going well back at home, and Lakers are on a 4 game winning streak. A couple of nights ago we were visiting an inactive family, and guess what they were watching, Magic versus Bulls! I got to watch the last 30 seconds of it, and it was fantastic. How good is Derick Rose these days? Does he miss the opening layup of All Star stuff like Chris Paul does? Oh and hey, this is for you Jackson and Jacob. Guess what I ate two days ago? How delicious does breaking your fast with a little Cow stomach and Cow feet sound! It was just terrible, no getting around it. Thankfully I bought cereal the day before, because I was starving after a 24 hour fast. Those are especially difficult out here, you exhert a lot of energy walking like 10 miles in the desert every day. But that´s okay, I ate a cow´s foot, how cool is that?

Well, I am super interested in everything everyone wants to write to me. Getting letters from any of you pump me up so much, so that includes all of you Neices and Nephews! Hey Miles, whats your problem foo? Write me! Anyways, if you ever feel like making your Uncle Tyler happy, or your brother Tyler, or your son Tyler, keep the letters coming. Oh and by the way, playing basketball with Mexicans is one of the single most scary things of my life. It´s not very hard for me to get to the basket, but when I do, It´s almost a guaranteed punch in the face, or just ramming me like a Bull. Every time! But that´s okay, I am still playing some of the best ball of my life. Soccer too! We had a zone conference activity thing today, and guess who scored 3 goals? Yo! That´s how you say ¨me¨in Spanish. Just hoping my knee doesn´t explode again anytime soon.

Okay, family, I think that´s all I´ve got for you guys this week. Besides, you guys are probably getting tired of reading this things every week anyways. But I want you all to know that I know the church is true. If have you the time, read what King Benjamin said in Mosiah, those are just awesome. The Book of Mormon is without a doubt true, which means everything else is true too. Keep up the good work in the States, and remember how good you have it. I love all of you, but I try my best to not think about the day when I walk of that airplane and get to see everyone again too much, but man can it be tempting. Keep on trucking family!

Love,

Elder Abbott

February 28, 2011

Family! Man am I using the oldest computer, made by the great company
Alaska, whoever they are. It took me half an hour to make it this far,
wish me luck that this email actually works. Lousy Alaska. So yes, I
am still very much in Mexico and every week is always so different. I
really never know what to expect everyday, thats one of the coolest
things about the mission, so different every single day. Especially
when it comes to hitch hiking, which is something we have to do quite
often in the middle of nowhere. The other day, your not going to
believe this, a 10 year old picked us up in HIS car! Thats like Miles
picking up two Elders. He was actually probably a better driver than
Kevin and we arrived to our destination safely. Heavenly Father really
does protect his servants. I realized miracles and everywhere, and you
just need to look for them. We´ve had plenty of little miracules
happen to us everyday, like for example there is this family we´ve
been working really hard with to progress, but we´ve never been able
to find the father of the family. Then one day, we´re looking for a
ride back to Mapimi and a giant semi truck pulls over to help us out,
and who is driving that semi truck? The Dad! Little things like that
happen all the time, and I am sure they happen in all of your lives as
well, you just got to look for them. Really, if you just take a second
to look around at everything, you just can´t deny that we have a
Heavenly Father and the church is true. Just think about it.

So this week has been a pretty good week. Yes, we officially have the
first baptism in Mapimi in over 5 months! Apparently Mapimi is kinda
of a notoriously tough area in the mission, and I think we broke the
curse with our first baptism last Sunday. I´m sending a picture of it,
hopefully you guys get it. It really was amazing, his name is Jesus
Tranquillo. His brother is the Branch President in a nearby Branch and
his brother got the opportunity to baptize him. Afterwards when he was
saying a few words, he just fell apart. You could tell how much it
meant to him to finally have his brother baptized after over 30 years
of trying, while he was speaking he just realized he couldn´t talk
anymore because of all the crying and just gave his brother a hug. Not
a dry eye in the room. So like I said, miracles everyday. I also got
the chance to confirm him and give him the Holy Ghost. Which by the
way, is the second time I did that in one day! We had a cool litle
girl get baptized as well, and she got confirmed naturally. Safe to
say, Sunday was a pretty awesome day. But the day before that I ate
the single hottest thing on the planet. It was like this Hot Tomale
soup, my tongue hasn´t felt the same sence. But don´t worry Mom, I ate
the whole thing! It was so painful, but I knew I had to. That´s
another thing about the mission, you just learn to eat like a monster.
I´m pretty sure I´ve come to the point where I can choose not to taste
things, and just put it in my mouth. And this one is for you Jacky and
Jacob, guess what your Uncle Ty Ty ate this week? Cow Tail!

Mapimi still isn´t the easiest of areas in the world, but I love it.
We did have quite an interesting experience the other day with a
family we have a good feeling about. We visit them at 8 at night
pretty much everyday, and teach n´ pray with them. Except when we
visited them last Saturday, Manwell the Dad, had a bit too much to
drink that night. It was pretty rough. We had to stay there for a
while to make sure he wasn´t going to do anything he was going to
regret, and Concha the Mom really wanted us to stick around with her
and their 5 little kids. Drinking is the absolute stupidest thing in
the world. But anways the people here are great, and that is actually
what makes it so hard. None of them know how to say No and always say
Yes to things there actually never going to do. On paper, we should
have like 200 people at church every week, but instead we have 12. And
only 4 of those (including us) are priesthood holders. I have become
very comfortable with public speaking, considering I speak almost
every week. I´m like a boring high councilman. Just kidding, Dad.

So enough about that, lets talk about you. How is everyone doing! I
really can´t wait to get mail, but the truth is I get mail out here at
the absolute best, once a month. So if anyone of you ever feel the
urge to email me, feel free, because right now those are a lot easier
to get than mail. I love hearing about everyone´s lives, and I have
the feeling we´re going to get mail next Monday, so I´m pumped for
that. From what I have heard, life is good ol´life back in the States.
I heard that the King´s Speech won for Best Picture, which also sounds
like a movie solely about a high councilmen speaking. Why does the
academy love the most boring movies? Inception is in my top ten of all
time, and totally deserved it. But I heard Inception won a few awards,
so I feel a little better. As for the Lakes, whats new? I could have
sworn I read on a random Mexican TV we walked by that Mike Bibby went
to the Heat. If that´s true, the Heat are so lame. Why can they just
keep signing guys who are totally good? They are so desperate for a
ring, which means they´re worried big time that this whole Lebron
thing isn´t going to work out. There going to go to crazy extremes to
win a ring, so they will sign whoever they have to. Too bad they´re
going to lose, by a half court Lamar left handed hook shot. Calling
it.

Kev, what are you up to these days? Have you finally finished your
50th year of school? Marvelous, I made my top ten bands of all time
the other day. I want your top ten´s of Bands and Video Games, fool.
Bert, how are your ol´neighbors doing that watch your kids? How is
Jacob´s basketball team, they could probably have a better record than
the Nets had last year. Gerg, how´s life? Do you ever stump for wood
it still? Randall, are you the president of Sunbelt yet, or Watts?
Mike, I´m pretty sure it´s fly season, are your zip lock bags full of
water up yet?

And Mom and Dad. You guys rock. Thanks for all the support from
everyone, you really don´t know how much it means to me. I realized
the other day how much prayers are probably behind me everyday from
all of you, and I really appreciate that. You´re all a big part of why
I love my life, and the success I´ve been able to find in my mission.
I miss all of you, but relax, I plan on having 70 years of glory with
all of you after my mission. I found the key to the mission is
perspective, I read the other day in a talk by Elder Nelson how
important an Eternal Perspective is. So that´s what I´ve been doing,
keeping everything in that kind of perspective, and suddenly the
mission doesn´t seem so long and it makes everything better.

Well, I think that´s all I´ve got for all of you. Just so you know, my
district is awesome, so that´s good times. Oh! Another quick story.
This week we came up with the idea to have Family Night for the branch
every Thursday at the church, we is more of a giant box, but that´s
okay. We watched the Joseph Smith movie, and there were way to many
kids there. Half way through, I took them outside to run around
because they were being just awful. Apparently the investigators we
had there got something out of it, especially in the end with out the
ninos. So like I said, everyday is an adventure.

I love all of you so much, and appreciate everything you´ve done for
me. I´ve looked up to all of you my entire life, and have learned so
much from you, I wouldn´t be half the person I am today without all of
you. I know the church is true, and the fact we have prophets and
apostles in the world today is the coolest thing. I love reading their
talks, they are guaranteed to make you happier and live better lives.
For sure.

Love,
Elder Abbott