July 16, 2012

Family! All these Mondays are coming and going so incredibly fast. Guarantee you guys totally lose track of time too and are like, "why does Tyler write me like every other day?" Yep, thats kinda how I feel these days too. It's like Tuesday-Saturday is like one big day, Sunday, and then Monday. Basically three days in the week for me at this point. And I'm always in a tie. Always! It'll be so weird to be hanging out in shorts and a t-shirt again, but oh man will it be awesome.

So it's been kind of a crazy week actually, we had changes! Presidente came to town a few days ago to give us the low-down on all the new mission game plan, and what we're going to do all day instead of knocking doors. But as Presidente was leaving, like literally out the door, he mentions, "by the way, some of you might have changes, just so you know." Changes are a pretty big deal out here. When you have changes, everything gets turned upside down all over again and you pretty much have to start over. So naturally we were kinda curious about who would have changes. Turns out we get a cal that night and Elder Calderon is outta here and getting shipped out to Torreon. I happened to be doing divisions with Zone-Leaders at the time, so that made things more complicated, but we worked it out. So happy it wasn't me that got sent to Torreon, it's a million degrees out there. Out here in Zacatecas, I gotta break the sweater out from time to time, it gets chilly. But anyways, that same day my new companion, Elder Vargas, got here. He's from some impossible to pronounce state of Mexico, somewhere in South. But the truth is that I'm a bigger fan of this dude than Elder Calderon. Calderon is cool, but it's never fun being senior companion to a junior companion who has a year in a half in the mission. Elder Vargas has like 9 months in the mission, thats much more doable. And since he got here, investigators have been kinda coming out of the woodwork and we're starting to make things happen. We've got three mas-o-menos sure baptisms for this change, just gotta get two of them married, and the other one just has to come to church one more time. I've been the witness to some many weddings out here. I never thought I'd be signing my name on a Mexican Marriage Certificate. As you guys can probably imagine, it's a cool feeling. What else is new? So we haven't stopped knocking doors yet, we're still waiting here in Zacatecas for the Stake to figure out the missionary work game plan. A few stakes in Torreon have already started, but out here in Zacatecas things are a little slower, but I'm sure we'll make things happen soon enough. Is that what they do back at home? The only fun time to knock doors in Yorba Linda is when it's Halloween, and even that can get a little tiring after a few 100 Grands and Almond-joy. Hopefully all the missions make this jump soon, it can really make some big improvements in the Church as a whole. If the members get a little more involved, we could double the number of members in the world in no time. Callin' it.

So I guess thats my life right now, can't complain. And so yeah, I've had Steve Nash and the Lakers 2012-2013 season in the back of my head for the past week or so, but I don't think thats a bad thing. Alright, so sometimes it gets a little overwhelming when people out here tell me about all the cool things happening...Steve Nash trade, new Batman movie, new games, music, etc. And here's the truth, I am super excited for all that, but at the same time I feel like I have a better understanding of what really is important in life. I'm not just going to be the exact same ol' Tyler when I come back, I guess I've got a better feel for priorities in life. Don't worry, I'm not going to be super weird when I get back and totally freak out at Greg when he drinks his Green Tea, but just make some personal changes in my life afterwards to keep the same spirit I've been feeling going. But anyways, how excited is everyone to see the new Batman movie? It looks incredible. Christopher Nolan is one of the sure-fire guys for me in this world, along with Vampire Weekend, Peter Jackson, and Bill Simmons. If they come out with something, you know it's going to be awesome. Also I would put the Prophet on that list too. #1. Hope everything is great back at home, and people are livin' it up in summer time. The Church is true, and it really does make a difference in the way we live. I love you Family, keep on truckin'.

Love,
Elder Abbott