October 24, 2011

Family! Alright so I got some exciting news for alls of you...I have a new area! I definitely didn't see that coming considering I just had one change in my last area, but I guess President had a different idea. So for those of you who can remember the names of Spanish colonies, I was just in Insurgents, and now I just got moved to Independencia. I'm literally ten minutes away from my old area, but this one has a completely different vibe. Right now I am in the straight up city/capital of Durango and it is absolutely nuts. I have McDonalds, Burger King, and Subway in my area! Usually you had to take a bus for like 45 minutes to get one of those kinda places, but now Uncle Tyler will be eating McDonalds with all the richies of Mexico. It's true, you have to be pretty dang successful to be able to go to one of those kind of places. What McDonalds is for Mexico, is like what Olive Garden is for us. No kidding. So anyways in this area there are huge sky scrapers and Catholic Cathedrals...it's a way different vibe than anywhere else I have been. But the thing is is that apparently this place hasn't seen a baptism in over a year and half! Not to mention I am opening the area, which means me and my Junior Comp are both came from different areas and are brand new to the place. I'm not even sure if I know how to get back to where we live, definitely should be an interesting first couple of weeks. So my companion is a pretty young Missionary from Peru that I actually haven't even met yet to tell you the truth. I will be picking him up at the bus station in a couple of hours, I'll make sure to tell you about him next week. I have never ever lived with some guy from Peru, guess I can put that on my list of things I never thought I'd do, but happened in the Mission. Hey you guys should try to Google Earth my area, I feel like it would work. Just type in Durango, Durango and look for all the giant Catholic cathedrals. Then look for some guys walking around in white shirts, because that will be me.

It was a pretty solid last week in Insurgentes, my last area. I actually spoke the other day in Sacrament meeting, and it was probably the most boring talk ever. I was asked to speak about Patriarchal Blessings which I thought was kind of a weird topic. So I just made the best of it and studyed up on all those things I heard about, but never really knew what it was. Those words you here like Tribes, Abrahamic Covenant, Lineage, stuff that never really interested me too much before. So I guess I just got into studying that and wrote the worlds most boring talk talking about why Ruben lost his birthright for forever. I'll be ready to be a High Councilmen with you Dad in no time. But anywho, we baptized 4 people in total last change, not too shabby right? I feel really good about the people we baptized as well, all of them should stay active in the church and go on to become the respective Sis. Edwards and Sis. Jensens' of their ward. We also had these two awesome dogs that followed us everywhere we went and would literally wait outside for us during lessons and what not. Apparently these dogs have been following the Missionaries for forever, the members call them the "Perros Misionales," Missionary dogs. I'm going to miss a lot of the people from my last area, but I'm excited for this chance to do some good in this area. I feel like President is expecting a lot out of me this area and finally bring this area a baptism, so keep ol' Tyler in the prayers, family.

So how is everything back at home? Mom and Dad are officially back from the coolest trip ever, which means I hope everyone will be ready come Sunday to watch 700 slides of the trip. I would actually love to see all those pictures, should be a little more interesting than slides of Idaho Falls or something. Other than that sounds like everything is pretty chill at home these days which is always good. So did Jacob break his arm or something? I saw the pictures that he was in a cast, what happend to that guy? Too excited playing Mario Kart? Well keep me posted with everything thats going on family, we've only got one more year of this Tyler living in Mexico thing, so lets stay strong with the letters and pictures sending. Anyways sorry if this letter is kinda boring, the next one should be better considering I plan on getting totally lost every single day in this new place. But I love all of you fools and I'll talk to you next week!

Love,
Elder Abbott

PS - Forgot my camera, I'll send pictures of the baptism and everything next week

Pictures - October 17, 2011

October 17, 2011

Heya Family, it's been another quality week in ol' Mexico. Although I feel like Mom and Dad had a cooler week than I did. Have you guys seen their pictures? That looks like the greatest trip of all time. Even greater than driving 7 hours to St. George and swimming in that one cool indoor/outdoor pool. I'm not going to lie, I have some pretty magical memories associated with that one pool next to Grandad's place. Anyways, I may not be exploring Rome these days, but I expect you guys to be just as excited for my letter. It's actually been a pretty boring week to tell you truth, so I might not be the most exciting letter in the world to tell you the truth. So you remember me telling you about my foot? Well we went to a doctor later that day and it turns out that I broke the cartilidge in my foot? I'm not exactly sure how that works, but I was forbiden to walk all of last week! Basically the most boring week of my life actually, but me and Elder Toone managed to have some fun with it. Happy to report that I read half of the Book of Mormon! I started a tradition that I am going to read the Book of Mormon in English every night before I go to bed. I figured it was something I wanted to do after the Mission, so why not start it now? Also very happy to report Mom, that I finally finished that Lakers puzzle you sent me? Sure you gave it to me last Christmas, but the most important thing is that I did it and I really enjoyed it. Probably just goes to show that I have a lot of time in the Mission when I enjoy a puzzle that much. But it's all good. My Companion and I did divisions as much as we could so we could get some work done in our area, and even though I couldn't walk this week we had a pretty good week. We have four people on date to be baptized this Saturday, so everyone pray for Uncle Tyler that all four of these people will be baptized. I'll make sure to send you guys all the pictures next week.

So I don't have any super interesting experiences that happened, but I guess I can just share a little bit about where I am as a Missionary. So I'm getting dangerously close to that year mark and I guess I've just kinda been thinking a lot lately about everything. I guess what they say is true, the Mission does go by faster than you think it does, and apparently it goes even the second year. I'm starting to realize that I don't have tons of time here in Mexico, and I don't have tons of time as a Missionary either. I feel like the first year of my Mission was kind of about me growing and learning, but in this second year it's going to be all about sharing that with my amigos in Mexico. The first year of my Mission had a lot of challenges, but I'm coming out of it a stronger person and I've learned a lot from all the tough times. So my goal is make year number two better than year number one, and come home feelin' good.

How is everyone doing back at home? Halloween should be in full swing by now, which means all the nieces and nephews are probably going nuts. So what is everyone dressing up as this year? I guarantee at least one of my neices or nephews will be a pumpkin, classic baby costume. I also guarantee Sister Youngberg will be dressed as a pumpkin as well, now that is a classic costume. So tell me the truth, is the Via Madera Halloween Street Party dead? If so, I plan on bringing it back in the future. I remember being super, super excited for that Street Party and it never disappointed. This will be my first Halloween, or Dia de los Muertos here in Mexico. I'm pretty curious to see how it all goes down here, or if it's even a big deal, I'll let you guys know all about it. Also this week is the last week of the change and I'm really hoping that Elder Toone and I don't have changes. We get along well and we both have similar goals in the Mission and we're trying to work towards them. I'm hoping President gives us one more change together so we can keep up the success here in Insurgentes, and get better as Missionaries.

Okay Family, better get going. I'll try to have some more interesting stuff to write about next week. But just so everyone knows, life isn't too shabby down in Mexico. I hope everyone is doing really well back at home and wants to send their Uncle Tyler some of their left over Halloween candy. All of you guys are awesome, the Church is true, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is a 100% successful guide to happy and eternal families. You guys rock.

Love,

Elder Abbott

How's it going Family? Another action-packed week in ol' Insurgentes, Durango. Do you want to hear about it? Of course you do, my letters are always super interesting, right? Okay so maybe ol' Tyler's letters are getting sort of boring, but whatever, I'm pretty sure it's a commandment for you guys to read and enjoy my letters. So first and foremost, I am happy to report that he I got my very first baptism here in Durango. That's right, Fanny held off the temptation to drink Coffee and was baptized her last Saturday. This lady is a total stud, she let us just dump all of her coffee down the toilet so she wouldn't be tempted to drink it. So just goes to show, if you ever any form of an addiction, just flush it down the toilet and all is well. My companion baptized her and the whole service was pretty awesome. Check out the picture I sent, she brought a super good cake with the words "Padre Celestial Gracias," you guys can probably figure out that Spanish, but it means "Thank you Heavenly Father." Can you imagine a cooler Investigator? I don't really like to choose favorites, but I think she was the most prepared person I've been able to teach. Plus that cake tasted really, really good. I think every baptism should involve a cake afterwards, we would definitely get more members out to support the new converts. I think I'm going to make it a tradition.

So that was definitely the highlight of the week because other than that is was kind of a slow week. I think I might sort of broke my foot actually, it has been hurting me really bad for like the past two weeks. I've been working and walking on it since, but I think there is something wrong with my foot. President told me to go get some X-Rays tomorrow, so that should be fun. Getting X-Rays in Mexico is definitely something I have never done before, everyday is an adventure out here. I'll let you guys know the status of my foot next week, so be excited for next weeks letter. So this area and Ward is really starting to grow on me. It's so much better to be in a Ward rather than a tiny branch with 10 members. Being in a Ward guarantees you'll get some quality food everyday, you can bring investigatores to activities, and the members give you people to teach! Plus, tons of members either own or work at a restaurant and they give us pretty amazing food for free everytime we pass by. That is something just wonderful as a Missionary. The whole Mission is having a big focus on getting the members work with us in the Missionary effort while I think is a really good idea. Looking back, I had tons of friends from school who would have been pretty perfect investigatores if I told the Missionaries about them. I never even really thought about it before my Mission, but I guess I never really understand just how important baptism is before my Mission either. So I guess my invitation for you guys is to invite some of your buddies to church with you. Probably a lot of your friends are already members, but invite the ones that aren't to church and let the Missionaries loose after that to teach them. Promise you you won't regret it.

So Mom and Dad are in Italy right now? That is so nuts. So let's review, ever since Tyler left on the Mish, Mom and Dad have been to both Australia and Italy! 90% of the vacations I have taken in my life have been either to Utah, or Idaho. Come on, those are probably in the top 10 most boring States in the Country. But thats okay, in all honesty I have had really good times in both of those States throughout my life. But still, I think I'd prefer going to Italy to tell you the truth. Mom and Dad deserve it though, raising 7 sons. Dad has been working hard for double my lifetime. So Mom and Dad if you get this letter in Italy, live it up and enjoy every second of it, you deserve it. Also, got the video Brett sent of Jackson, Fish, and Joseph dancing to that song on the Garfield Halloween special, so wonderful. I'm more than sure than we danced it up to that song as kids too, it's nice to see that some things never change.

So anyways, life is pretty good in Durango, Mexico despite the fact my foot is kind of dead. I hope everyone is doing super well back at home and enjoying the blessings of living the Gospel. I love how simple that is, just live the Gospel and follow the commandments best you can, and you will for sure have a very happy and fulfilling life, and you'll be with the people you love for forever. Thank goodness I went on a Mission, not sure if I would have really come to understand that otherwise. Sure the Mission is super hard, and there are for sure days when you wake up and really don't want to be a Missionary, but I know it's all going to be worth it in the end. Until then, I am just trying to do the best I can to helps out in this great work. I love all of you guys, keep the prayers of for old Unco' Ty Ty, and everyone send me pictures of all the kids' Halloween costumes. Some of the kids gotta continue the traditions and dress up as either a Ghost Buster, Indiana Jones, or Roger Wilco. And somebody should do that somewhat scary costume that Mom and Dad did when I was a kid. Me and Mom pigs, Dad, butcher. Good times. Alright, have a good one foo's.

Love,

Elder Abbott

October 3, 2011

Hey Family! Man it's been a really fast week, and a lot of interesting things went down so I'm going to do my best to remember all of them. But first and foremost, does anybody know what today is? Today is the third of the months, which means Elder Abbott has just finished another months in his Mission! That's right, exactly 11 months ago I was hanging out with Kev around BYU feeling really weird because I was already set apart as a Missionary, and later that afternoon Rach dropped me off at the MTC. Is that just me, or does 11 months seem like a lot of time? It's all gone by so quick, but at the same time it does seem like a long time since I've been home, so I don't really know what to think. But as the time goes by in the Mission I can tell I really am learning a lot of things. Not just things from the church (I've at least tripled my knowledge of the church since I started my Mish, but thats not saying much, I really didn't know anything before), but I am also learning just life things. Honestly from the things I've learned so far here, I feel much more ready to start my own life and be successful. Don't get me wrong, there is a still tons of things I need to learn how to do. For example, and maybe Mark can relate with me on this, I have never, ever changed a diaper, I'm not looking forward to the day when I have to learn it. But it is a good feeling knowing how to do little things like that, guess I'm just becomming a more well-rounded dude.

So anyways, what has happened this week? So Fanny wasn't able to get baptized last Saturday because she drank tea a couple of days before. Wah, wah, waaah. But that's okay, she explained that there literally was nothing else to drink, and she felt about it and promised to never do it again so her date got moved for this Saturday. No worries. We also had Zone Conference this week which was very educational and very, very long. I did learn a lot though and I got to see Tarabilda for the first time in a long time. We had a combined Zone Conference and he is in the Zone right next to me, so it was good times to see him again. After Zone Conference (do you like how many times I've said Zone Conference?), two really cool things happened. Firstly, all the companionships now get portable DVD players and all these videos to watch and study, I thought they were kidding when they first told us about it. But nope, we've got a little DVD player in the house and Elder Toone and I enjoy a nice Church approved movie a few nights a week. Second cool thing was getting letters and packages and what not. Big ups to Marv and Heather for sending me some seriously delicious snacks, and a giant picture of Urkel. What more could I ask for for my Birthday? Marv and Heather, you guys rock.

Another great part of the week was visiting Jose. Jose lives with his older brother Edgar who is around 35 years old, member of the church, and one of my favorite guys in the ward. Well anyways we went to visit Jose the other day and Edgar had a bunch of cardboard and we asked what he was doing. He told us that he was building a computer. I thought he was just joking, but his face was definitely not kidding around, that man was determined to build a computer of pure cardboard. I asked him if he had any plans or anything, and he handed me a piece of paper with just a hand drawn computer on it. The people here in Mexico are kind of crazy, but I can't help but love them. Anways, the highlight of my week would definitely have to be General Conference. President gave us permission to watch all 5 sessions with or without investigators (before we had to have one to go). I watched 10 hours of conference over two days, and it was pretty awesome. I'm at the point of my Mission where I'm just grateful to be sitting down, and it's even better when I get to listen to the Prophet and the Apostles. I never appreciated General Conference back in the day, but now I really do love it. The things they say are the best possible advice we can receive that always makes us better and our lives happier. They definitely focused a lot on Missionary Work, it felt cool to be doing exactly what the Prophet and Apostles want me to be doing.

So that pretty much was this week. I hope everything is going great back at home and everyone is living it up. I miss all of you, but I know for sure I will see all of you in not too much time, so I'm just going to make the best of my time in Mexico. And hey, can everyone remind me one more time who exactly is having babies within a couple of months and if they're girls or boys? Marv is having a girl, Kev is having a girl, and Mike is having a girl too, right? I'm calling it right now, the next 10 Abbott babies will be girls and our finally will finally be sort of evened out. Okay guys, better get going, but I love all of you and want to hear from all of you's. Keep on truckin' family.

Love,

Elder Abbot