July 25, 2011

Hey Family! Another pretty action-packed week in the Mish, and definitely a really fast one. So it is officially the last week in the transfer, and we know one of us (Me or Elder Rivera) is going to have transfers..but who! Is everyone back at home as nervous about this as I am? Probably not, but I expect everyone to at least fake excitement for transfers next week. Transfers are a pretty big deal, you go there having no idea where your going or who you are going with! I could be sent to another Mexican state, (we have three in the Mission), with another dude who I will spend every second with, with new leaders....come on, isn't that nerve-wracking? I think so, but I am not really too worried. Probably whats going to happen is Elder Rivera is going to go to his last area in the Mission, and I'll stay here in La Rosa to show the new guy where everything is at. At least that's what I hope is going to happen, can't say I am ready to leave this area yet. So I am going to work my magic in my weekly letter to President to convince him to let me stay here for one more change, I feel like I can do it.

So these are definitely interesting times to be in Mexico, everyone is just kinda freaking out these days. All of these people are descendents of Mayans in one way or another, and so most of them are convinced the world is ending next year. This is great news for a Missionary, I'm thinking a lot of people are going to want to get baptized before the world ends. Ka-Ching! I have no idea where this whole 2012 thing came from, but if it helps get more people to church, can't really complain. Also it's kinda dangerous around here believe it or not, (lots of gun shots at night time), and so everybody loves talking to the Missionaries, talking about the Gospel makes everyone relax. Other than the food sometimes, I haven't really felt scared here. Lots of crazy stuff happens, but the more you understand the Gospel, the less there is to worry about. I definitely don't know everything, but I know Heavenly Father is going to care of me so I will be able to see the 2012-2013 NBA season. I mean He pretty much cancelled the 2011-2012 Season so I won't be distracted for the last year of my Mission. I don't know about you guys, but through what happens in the NBA I can see a lot of parallels in my life. For example, when the Lakers won in 09' and 10', I had two very, very good years. When the Spurs won in 07', nothing too exciting happened that year. I'm not saying that the NBA decides if I have good years or not, but I think there are some interesting comparisons. I don't really know where that NBA thing came from, but there is a poster of Lebron in this Internet Place and I got started thinking about it. Sorry Mom, I'll get back to the interesting stuff.

It's been a good week, lots of progress going on in La Rosa. I think I already told you guys, but President Flores is really focusing on activating menos-activos right now. We are all working together to make a Temple in Torreon happen. You wouldn't believe how many members there are in Mexico (it's like a secret Utah), but so many of them are less active or don't pay their tithing. If we can get more faithful tithe payers and more worthy Priesthood holders in the church, we just might be next up for a temple in Mexico. It would really be such a cool thing for the people of Torreon, normally they take a really long bus ride to get to the temple in Monterrey, but in the future they should have one within 20 minutes away. Having a temple nearby just kinda makes everything better, the people, the city, the members, everything! I hope I can do what I can to help build that Temple here, it would mean a lot to the people here. Anyways! What are some of the interesting things that happened this week...we painted a house! Apparently we did a good job on the first house we painted, and now suddenly everybody wants their house painted, so we are pretty much painting at least once a week. We brought Edgar with us to paint (our recent convert), and it was really good times. Although I think I still have some paint on the back of my arms, can't really tell. Also we had some new changes in our Ward, the Bishop called Ward Missionaries! I have no idea what that means exactly, but we have 6 new people who if we plan it out right, can really help us activate people. Should be a cool thing.

How is everyone doing back at home? So let me get this straight on exactly who is having babies this year: Kev and Rach, Marv and Heather, and Mike and Vicky, right? And we already know that Mark and Heather are going to have a girl, right? Wait, don't we know that Mike and Vicky are having a girl too? Sorry I should totally know this, but I get mixed up with all the family members I have and am going to have. Either way I am super excited to have more Abbott girls in the mix, we're due. But sounds like things are going very good back at home which I love to hear. Mom make sure you reserve the Conner's home theater in November of 2012, I want to watch both the new Harry Potter's back to back. Everyone I've talked to here loved it, and there are tons of Harry Potter posters everywhere. Turns out Mexicans love Harry Potter too, who knew?

So things are going good for me out here in Mexico. We should have a baptism or two coming up, and even more good news, I just heard that we are going to eat at Carl's Jr today. Ah man, that sounds so good, I haven't eaten anything all day! Okay, better get going, but love you guys and I miss you all. The church is true, and we are super lucky to have it in our lives. Lots of people think of churches just as organizations that all pretty much say the same thing, but it's not true with this one. Everything really good in my life I owe to the church. Alright, have a good week family, take it easy, and to remember to snolf it every once and a while.

Love,

Elder Abbott