January 9, 2012

Family! How is everybody doing? So Christmas and New Years and everything is officially over back at home, right? Back to School...Back to work....Wah wah wahhh. Janurary was always kind of a bummer, it's the beginning of the longhaul to Summertime. The transition this year wasn't really too hard for me considering we never really stopped working, I guess it's a perk of being a Missionary. No vacations, so you never feel the back at school/work bummer. Gotta look on the brightside as a Missionary. So yes, it's been a super fast and good week for me,Tony got baptized! Check out the pictures! The week of a baptism is great, it goes by super fast, and you get to choose the Cake that the Relief Society President makes. Win-Win situation. So the whole week was pretty much Baptism preparation time. Filling a Bautisimal faunt is so much harder than you think it is. It requires lots of buckets, pacience, and a really sore back. When I first came to Mexico, I thought filling up the faunt would just be like filling up a bathtub, just turn on the hot water and you're good to go. Not true in Mexico. But hey, everytime we have a baptism, my back gets that much stronger. Always a brightside.

So the baptism itself went really well. We shared the baptism with the Elders from another ward, so there were tons of people! I couldn't even get a seat. Just goes to show, if you publisize a baptism right, you'll get tons of people out, it's just like a movie. It really was something special to see so many people support Tony is his baptism. A lot of his buddies from the park came as well to support him, or maybe they just came for the cake, either way definitely a missionary opportunity. Elder Astete was super nervous beforehand, it being his first baptism and all (not to mention with a handicap guy). This is how we did it: We put a char in the baptisimal fount, and then we had three guys in the faunt to help Tony into the chair. It only required 3 attempts before we got him all the way under. It was pretty funny actually, he was so out of breath after the 3rd attempt, thank goodness we got him all the way under. It was great to see how happy he was after his baptism, you could just tell it was as if a huge weight just lifted off his back. Not sure if I've already told you guys, but his Mom was always a faithful Member before she died. Tony said he could feel the presence of his Mom more than he has ever felt since she passed away. Pretty cool, right? After the baptism, I actually didn't get to eat any cake because they were so many people there, Tony's friends downed that cake so fast. Classic dudes. The next day his confirmation went super well, and you could see a definite change in him afterwards. Just goes to show that baptism actually is something awesome. It just depends on how seriously you take it. I've seen baptisms with people who felt pretty much the same afterwards, and I've seen people who have really prepared themselves and it was a huge event for them. Happy to say for Tony, it was one of the biggest events of his life. I really wish I could remember my baptism still, I probably didn't even know what was going on. But thats where the magic of the Temple comes in, we can experience baptism all over again for people who have been waiting for it for years! Man I miss the Temple, it'll be one of the first places I go to when I get back. After In-N-Out of course.

I honestly don't have much to report besides that. It's the last week of the change so I'll definitely have more news next Monday. I'm feelin' like I'll have changes and who knows where I'll be headed. Thats the thing about transfers, you seriously have no idea where you might end up. Our Mission is huge, it covers 3 Mexican States, so there is definitely a lot of variety of types of areas. As much as I loved my time in the little Mexican Ranchos, I think I like staying more in the City. A lot less dust. I'll keep you posted for what happens. Elder Astete has actually been an underrated companion in my opinion. At the start he definitely seemed weird, but we grew on each other and we've actually had a lot of fun. He doesn't really have many friends in the Zone, and isn't really a big fan of the Mish in general, but I like to think I've helped him. He's helped me in a lot of ways actually, I feel like I've been the best Missionary of my Mission lately. We've definitely seen the success in one of the hardest areas in the Mission. Can't complain with two baptisms if you ask me. We'll see what weird-o they stick me with next week. Just kidding.

So how is everyone back at home? I was thinking, we just need Mark and Heather to move down to Southern California and we'll have almost everybody! Except for the North Carolina Abbo's of course. I hope I make enough in the future to live in Southern California. How cool would it be to be like within a couple of hours of everybody in the family? Or better yet we can complete the dream of having everybody live on Via Madera/Via Ceresa. Greg and Devon can live in Bro. Freeman's house. Thanks for all the pictures Brett, I cannot believe how much these kids are growing. It's actually kind of scary. The pictures of Jeff's wedding was a total trip for me. I cannot believe that dude is straight up married! I remember playing Nintendo 64 with that kid. Tell him congrats for me. Well Family, I think that's pretty much all I've got for you's this week. The Gospel is the key to happiness and peace, I know it for sure. Keep doing what you do, I love all of you guys.