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