Tuesday, February 28, 2012
February 27, 2012
Family! So guess what, I am officially in a completely different place which seems really far from where I was. I guess I am now a resident of Zacatecas, Mexico! I am pretty much as far as you can be from Torreon at this point. In fact, my whole mission I have been moving farther and farther down Mexico. It's like different levels of the Mission. Torreon was level one and probably the easier to baptize, Durango was level two and it was a little harder over there, and now I'm in level 3, Zacatecas: the Catholic Capital of Mexico. No joke, apparently Zacatecas is like the Catholic Mecca of Mexico. Is that offense to say? I feel like I'm allowed to say it considering I've been in Mexico for over a year now. You guys should google maps Zacatecas, it's supposed to be pretty cool. I still haven't seen too much of it, but I'm looking forward to get a feel for the place.
I'll back up a little bit. The last week of Elder Astete and I was actualy pretty good, and we had some cool people lined up to come to the Church. Naturally they bailed on us. Rats. My main focus the last few weeks was just to strengthen the area, and I feel like I left it much better than how I found it, so not bad, right? It was a confusing last week of the change because we had no idea who would have transfers considering me and Elder Astete got there at the same time. Usually it's kinda easy to get a feel for who's leaving and who's staying, but this was a total mystery. But as always, the call came in late Sunday night, and now here I am in Zacatecas. My area is called Guadelupe and I know almost nothing about it, except for the fact we have a washing machine in our house, which is huge. Oh, my companions name is Elder Garcia and he is from some place in Mexico that I forgot the name of. He has about three months in the Mission, and I am his second companion. I guess I'm kinda old now considering I'm hitting 16 months this Saturday, thats kinda nuts. But it'll be nice to be with a dude who's fresh in the Mission who can help me keep going strong. But oh boy am I already tired, changes are always super tiring.
I'm definitely going to miss my last area, Indenpendencia though. It was my favorite area thus far even though it was super hard to baptize people. I feel kinda weird right now being in a whole different place, I feel like I really hit my niche in Durango...but time to start all over again. I guess I never really liked changes much in life, and the Mission is full of them, so I'm adapting. Hope you guys like all the pictures, the last one is a picture of Zacatecas I took right when I got off the bus. Oh speaking of the bus, they put three movies on! The first one was this terrible romantic comedy, and then it was this movie about trains with Denzel Washington, and the last one was The Tourist with Johnny Depp. Totally didn't understand it, but it seemed cool. Speaking of which, Oscars just happened, right? Sounds like it was a pretty boring year for movies minus HP. But still, gotta love Oscar Night at Abby manor. I should be around for the next one.
So how is everyone doing at home? Hope everything is going awesome as always. Well I havel like no time, but I'll fill you guys in next week. The Church is true, and that's awesome.
Love,
Elder Abbott
I'll back up a little bit. The last week of Elder Astete and I was actualy pretty good, and we had some cool people lined up to come to the Church. Naturally they bailed on us. Rats. My main focus the last few weeks was just to strengthen the area, and I feel like I left it much better than how I found it, so not bad, right? It was a confusing last week of the change because we had no idea who would have transfers considering me and Elder Astete got there at the same time. Usually it's kinda easy to get a feel for who's leaving and who's staying, but this was a total mystery. But as always, the call came in late Sunday night, and now here I am in Zacatecas. My area is called Guadelupe and I know almost nothing about it, except for the fact we have a washing machine in our house, which is huge. Oh, my companions name is Elder Garcia and he is from some place in Mexico that I forgot the name of. He has about three months in the Mission, and I am his second companion. I guess I'm kinda old now considering I'm hitting 16 months this Saturday, thats kinda nuts. But it'll be nice to be with a dude who's fresh in the Mission who can help me keep going strong. But oh boy am I already tired, changes are always super tiring.
I'm definitely going to miss my last area, Indenpendencia though. It was my favorite area thus far even though it was super hard to baptize people. I feel kinda weird right now being in a whole different place, I feel like I really hit my niche in Durango...but time to start all over again. I guess I never really liked changes much in life, and the Mission is full of them, so I'm adapting. Hope you guys like all the pictures, the last one is a picture of Zacatecas I took right when I got off the bus. Oh speaking of the bus, they put three movies on! The first one was this terrible romantic comedy, and then it was this movie about trains with Denzel Washington, and the last one was The Tourist with Johnny Depp. Totally didn't understand it, but it seemed cool. Speaking of which, Oscars just happened, right? Sounds like it was a pretty boring year for movies minus HP. But still, gotta love Oscar Night at Abby manor. I should be around for the next one.
So how is everyone doing at home? Hope everything is going awesome as always. Well I havel like no time, but I'll fill you guys in next week. The Church is true, and that's awesome.
Love,
Elder Abbott
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
February 20, 2012
Family! How is everyone doing? Another week just went by pretty fast in the Mish, and just like every week, I'm gonna do my best to try to remember what happened. The first thing that comes to mind is that I went running for the first time in months! We woke up at 6 in the morning to go running, and it was awful. Actually it was awesome for the first 5 minutes, and then suddenly not so much afterwards. I found out that day that even though I've been walking everywhere for the past 16 months, it doesn't mean I can run like I could before. I adopted Greg's philosphy of the "run/walk" within 10 minutes of the run. But still, it felt good to get out there and really stretch my legs again. I'll get back in running shape again when I go home, and can go running with the iPod. It makes all the difference.
So hey, I guess it was Valentine's Day last week. I didn't realize it until it was night time, and like 15 people tried to sell us roses. I finally asked one of them why in the world I would need a rose being a Missionary and all, and they told me it was dia de San Valetine. It took me a second afterwards to realize it was Valentine's Day (like every other day around here is some Saint's day). So how was everyones Valentine's Day? Valentine's Day breakfast is one of the greatest things of the year, especially when it's waffles, they just taste better that day for some reason. Pretty sure I ate Froot Loops that morning, and I actually remember them tasting especially good. The magic of V-Day. Other than that, nothing too crazy exciting this week to tell you the truth. We're still kinda scrambling to find investigatores, and we still have no idea where the heck they are. This is the last week of the change, and whether I get changed up or not, I don't want to finish this change without leaving some good opportunities. So that'll be the name of the game this week, finding some people who will listen to us. It'll be good times. Oh, today my companion bought Monopoly Deal in Spanish. Who knew it existed in Spanish? I definitely didn't, but we found it this morning, and he bought it. We've been having Monopoly Deal tournaments almost every night since I got it for Christmas. Such a great game, it's playing Monopoly, but it doesn't take four hours to finish it! Win-win situation.
It rained totally hard here a couple of days ago. You'd think more people would have let us into their houses with it pouring rain and all, but still not that much luck. The main people who let us into their houses are super old ladies who probably like have no human contact and just want to talk to somebody. It's great and all, but I think we're looking for people who can actually get to the Church on Sundays. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I will be visiting you all the time in the future! But knowing you guys, you'll probably be in Mission Temple Presidents in Africa or something. That would be awesome actually. Even though we didn't really have anybody new in the Church last Sunday, it was cool because the Bishop of the Ward was telling us about all the good we've done over the past four and a half months. He said something along the lines that we "restored the faith of missionary work in the Ward." At least thats the way I understood in Spanish. To be honest, I was feelin' like we didn't accomplish everything that we could have over these last three changes, but it was really nice to hear that what we did right got appreciated. Gotta love that kind of validation as a Missionary.
So what has been going on at home these days? Are people getting sort of pumped up for March Madness? Make sure to send me a bracket soon so I can get involved. I hope BYU loses in the first round and Ricks College makes it to the finals. I'm callin' it. So how goes the Mission preparation stuff Mom and Dad? You have to buy so many white shirts and pants before the Mish. I can't tell you how many pants I had to try on at Kohl's a month before the Mission. Hopefully your enjoying it as much as I did, Dad. But I'm super excited for you guys, you can do a lot of good in the great state of Pennsylvania. We got swap stories at In-N-Out when I get back. Other than that, sounds like life is pretty tranquillo back at home, and thats just the way I like it to be. Keep the emails comin' Family, I know I've been gone for forever, but even the boring stuff is totally interesting to me!
As always, I'm learning a lot about the Gospel and becomming more and more grateful for my knowledge of it. There are so many fools out here who have no idea what to do with their lives, and even though I've still got lots of things to figure out, the Gospel is always constant. Still not sure what I'm going to major in, or what I'll do for my career, or who I'll marry, or if Jeremy Lin will still be playing good this time next week, but I know I'm always going to do my best to follow the Gospel. I'm looking forward for whats around the corner. Anywho, the Church is true, and that's great. Have a great week, keep it real Family.
Love,
Elder Abbott
So hey, I guess it was Valentine's Day last week. I didn't realize it until it was night time, and like 15 people tried to sell us roses. I finally asked one of them why in the world I would need a rose being a Missionary and all, and they told me it was dia de San Valetine. It took me a second afterwards to realize it was Valentine's Day (like every other day around here is some Saint's day). So how was everyones Valentine's Day? Valentine's Day breakfast is one of the greatest things of the year, especially when it's waffles, they just taste better that day for some reason. Pretty sure I ate Froot Loops that morning, and I actually remember them tasting especially good. The magic of V-Day. Other than that, nothing too crazy exciting this week to tell you the truth. We're still kinda scrambling to find investigatores, and we still have no idea where the heck they are. This is the last week of the change, and whether I get changed up or not, I don't want to finish this change without leaving some good opportunities. So that'll be the name of the game this week, finding some people who will listen to us. It'll be good times. Oh, today my companion bought Monopoly Deal in Spanish. Who knew it existed in Spanish? I definitely didn't, but we found it this morning, and he bought it. We've been having Monopoly Deal tournaments almost every night since I got it for Christmas. Such a great game, it's playing Monopoly, but it doesn't take four hours to finish it! Win-win situation.
It rained totally hard here a couple of days ago. You'd think more people would have let us into their houses with it pouring rain and all, but still not that much luck. The main people who let us into their houses are super old ladies who probably like have no human contact and just want to talk to somebody. It's great and all, but I think we're looking for people who can actually get to the Church on Sundays. Don't worry Mom and Dad, I will be visiting you all the time in the future! But knowing you guys, you'll probably be in Mission Temple Presidents in Africa or something. That would be awesome actually. Even though we didn't really have anybody new in the Church last Sunday, it was cool because the Bishop of the Ward was telling us about all the good we've done over the past four and a half months. He said something along the lines that we "restored the faith of missionary work in the Ward." At least thats the way I understood in Spanish. To be honest, I was feelin' like we didn't accomplish everything that we could have over these last three changes, but it was really nice to hear that what we did right got appreciated. Gotta love that kind of validation as a Missionary.
So what has been going on at home these days? Are people getting sort of pumped up for March Madness? Make sure to send me a bracket soon so I can get involved. I hope BYU loses in the first round and Ricks College makes it to the finals. I'm callin' it. So how goes the Mission preparation stuff Mom and Dad? You have to buy so many white shirts and pants before the Mish. I can't tell you how many pants I had to try on at Kohl's a month before the Mission. Hopefully your enjoying it as much as I did, Dad. But I'm super excited for you guys, you can do a lot of good in the great state of Pennsylvania. We got swap stories at In-N-Out when I get back. Other than that, sounds like life is pretty tranquillo back at home, and thats just the way I like it to be. Keep the emails comin' Family, I know I've been gone for forever, but even the boring stuff is totally interesting to me!
As always, I'm learning a lot about the Gospel and becomming more and more grateful for my knowledge of it. There are so many fools out here who have no idea what to do with their lives, and even though I've still got lots of things to figure out, the Gospel is always constant. Still not sure what I'm going to major in, or what I'll do for my career, or who I'll marry, or if Jeremy Lin will still be playing good this time next week, but I know I'm always going to do my best to follow the Gospel. I'm looking forward for whats around the corner. Anywho, the Church is true, and that's great. Have a great week, keep it real Family.
Love,
Elder Abbott
Monday, February 6, 2012
February 6, 2012
Family! How is everyone doing? Man I've got a lot of things to talk about, but I think it would be appropriate to start with...Super Bowl! So I managed to see the last 5 minutes of a re-run of the game in a supermarket this morning...it was fantastic! I was totally hoping the Giants would win, and my buddy Eli came in in the clutch. Just like Mark said in his email, we know how it is being the younger brother (especially me), so it's always good to see the younger brother come out on top. Eat my dust Peyton! There are few things more exciting than a hail-mary at the end of the Superbowl, even more exciting for when you're an American Missionary in Mexico and you get to see it. I am officially 2/2 in my Mission Superbowl predictions, Packers and the Giants. Also I was right about UConn last year in March Madness, let's see if I get lucky again when March comes up. I really do love sports. Nothing better than watching the Superbowl, or the NBA Finals, the World Cup, Wimbleton Cup (send em' home!), the Stanley Cup, or even the World Finals of Baseball. I love it all.
On to more important news...Mom and Dad are going on a Mission! That's pretty coo-coo blank, but I'm super pumped for them. The Pennsylvania mission? Mom and Dad will get a little east-coast flavor, and their first assignment will be to strengthen the Scranton Branch. I've never been to the Pennsylvania area before, but it sounds pretty awesome. Mom told me there are some old civil war sites in their Mission, they will for sure love that kind of thing. Just gotta hope it's in your area, or you gotta ask the Zone Leaders for permission Mom and Dad. Just become buddies with the ZL's and they don't really care, it's always worked for me. So this April Mom and Dad will be in the MTC, get their name tags and everything, that's awesome. Remember to go to dinner early on Papa John's Pizza Night (Friday), Missionaries down pizza like nobodys business. I ate like 6 pieces every time. It's super cool that Mom can get the inside view of MTC life considering they've sent all 7 of their sons there. So congratulations Mom and Dad, make sure to get all of your shots and dentist stuff taken care of, it's an essential evil that ever Missionary must go through.
Anyways, it's been a pretty good week! Somehow we finally found people to teach, which is big news down here. If everything goes according to plan, we just might be able to baptize 4 people this change! This week we found Iriana, Olga, Raul, and Vicente, and all of them want to get baptized. The only thing is that everyone except Vicente (he's Raul's 8 year old son) has word of wisdom problems, boo-urns. So they gotta drop everything cold-turkey pretty much to be ready when their baptisimal date comes up. Iriana is first up with her baptism this Saturday, cross your fingers she doesn't crash this week. It's pretty interesting thing helping adults quit their addictions, me being a 20 year old kid who has never even touched a beer before, but the Lord makes it happen somehow. So we're really happy we found them, not having investigatores is the worst as a Missionary. It's like when Dad tried to retire, he had nothing to do all day except mow the lawn, and went just about crazy. Same deal when you can't find people to teach as a Missionary. But it's good to see our hard work payed off and we can some potential baptisms coming up. Nothing is for sure, but just gotta keep the faith up, and let the Lord do his thing.
Other than that, nothing really comes to mind of cool things that went down. Oh! I reached 15 months in the Mission a couple of days ago, now thats no number to sniff at. I officially am 9 months down in the Mission, one pregnancy. From what I've heard from all my Sisters, a pregnancy goes by quick, so I gotta take advantage of all the time left I got at this thing. I gotta admit though, I'm feeling pretty old...like Glass Joe in Super Punch Out. My knees sometimes feel like their going to give out from all the walking we do, but at least now I can say I got a better feel for what the Pioneers went through (sort of). Hmm what else new happened...our neighbor who lives below us had her baby! That's right, so now we'll have a new born baby right below, seperated by paper-thin walls. I'm sure I'm going to feel your pain Kev, Mark, and Mike...so much crying in the middle of the night. But it's all good, I guess I'll be a Dad someday too, better to get prepared sooner than later right?
So how is everything back at home? Who is going to take care of Abbott manor when Abby and Papa leave for their Mission? Sam will finally be the man of the house. He's waited for this moment for like 10 years. I notimate Heather and Mark to come down to southern California, and Mark can ratch it on up with Mike and the Hartford guys. So what else has been going on lately? Keep me informed!
So life is pretty good out here as a Missionary. I've felt the Spirit so many times confirm to me that this Church really is the true Church of God on earth. Sure I've never seen anything crazy miraculous, but it's the little moments that make all the difference if you look for them. I think it's normal as a Missionary to have some nerves about whats going to happen in the future, but I am determined to give everything I've got to God and Christ's church as long as I live. This world has got lots of trashy things in it these days, we gotta be as close to the Church as we can in order to overcome all of it. Well I guess that's my peace for the week, but just want to let all you know how much I love you. I love this family more than anything, and man am I gratefult to be a part of it. Well sir, in the words of Sir Hiss, "you've heard his mightiness, move it creepy, move it creepy, get lost!"
Love,
Elder Abbott
On to more important news...Mom and Dad are going on a Mission! That's pretty coo-coo blank, but I'm super pumped for them. The Pennsylvania mission? Mom and Dad will get a little east-coast flavor, and their first assignment will be to strengthen the Scranton Branch. I've never been to the Pennsylvania area before, but it sounds pretty awesome. Mom told me there are some old civil war sites in their Mission, they will for sure love that kind of thing. Just gotta hope it's in your area, or you gotta ask the Zone Leaders for permission Mom and Dad. Just become buddies with the ZL's and they don't really care, it's always worked for me. So this April Mom and Dad will be in the MTC, get their name tags and everything, that's awesome. Remember to go to dinner early on Papa John's Pizza Night (Friday), Missionaries down pizza like nobodys business. I ate like 6 pieces every time. It's super cool that Mom can get the inside view of MTC life considering they've sent all 7 of their sons there. So congratulations Mom and Dad, make sure to get all of your shots and dentist stuff taken care of, it's an essential evil that ever Missionary must go through.
Anyways, it's been a pretty good week! Somehow we finally found people to teach, which is big news down here. If everything goes according to plan, we just might be able to baptize 4 people this change! This week we found Iriana, Olga, Raul, and Vicente, and all of them want to get baptized. The only thing is that everyone except Vicente (he's Raul's 8 year old son) has word of wisdom problems, boo-urns. So they gotta drop everything cold-turkey pretty much to be ready when their baptisimal date comes up. Iriana is first up with her baptism this Saturday, cross your fingers she doesn't crash this week. It's pretty interesting thing helping adults quit their addictions, me being a 20 year old kid who has never even touched a beer before, but the Lord makes it happen somehow. So we're really happy we found them, not having investigatores is the worst as a Missionary. It's like when Dad tried to retire, he had nothing to do all day except mow the lawn, and went just about crazy. Same deal when you can't find people to teach as a Missionary. But it's good to see our hard work payed off and we can some potential baptisms coming up. Nothing is for sure, but just gotta keep the faith up, and let the Lord do his thing.
Other than that, nothing really comes to mind of cool things that went down. Oh! I reached 15 months in the Mission a couple of days ago, now thats no number to sniff at. I officially am 9 months down in the Mission, one pregnancy. From what I've heard from all my Sisters, a pregnancy goes by quick, so I gotta take advantage of all the time left I got at this thing. I gotta admit though, I'm feeling pretty old...like Glass Joe in Super Punch Out. My knees sometimes feel like their going to give out from all the walking we do, but at least now I can say I got a better feel for what the Pioneers went through (sort of). Hmm what else new happened...our neighbor who lives below us had her baby! That's right, so now we'll have a new born baby right below, seperated by paper-thin walls. I'm sure I'm going to feel your pain Kev, Mark, and Mike...so much crying in the middle of the night. But it's all good, I guess I'll be a Dad someday too, better to get prepared sooner than later right?
So how is everything back at home? Who is going to take care of Abbott manor when Abby and Papa leave for their Mission? Sam will finally be the man of the house. He's waited for this moment for like 10 years. I notimate Heather and Mark to come down to southern California, and Mark can ratch it on up with Mike and the Hartford guys. So what else has been going on lately? Keep me informed!
So life is pretty good out here as a Missionary. I've felt the Spirit so many times confirm to me that this Church really is the true Church of God on earth. Sure I've never seen anything crazy miraculous, but it's the little moments that make all the difference if you look for them. I think it's normal as a Missionary to have some nerves about whats going to happen in the future, but I am determined to give everything I've got to God and Christ's church as long as I live. This world has got lots of trashy things in it these days, we gotta be as close to the Church as we can in order to overcome all of it. Well I guess that's my peace for the week, but just want to let all you know how much I love you. I love this family more than anything, and man am I gratefult to be a part of it. Well sir, in the words of Sir Hiss, "you've heard his mightiness, move it creepy, move it creepy, get lost!"
Love,
Elder Abbott
Monday, January 30, 2012
January 30, 2012
Family! Always a good thing to be writing you guys. So I guess another week just went by and time definitley feels like it's picking up. And it's getting harder and harder to remember what happened all the interesting things that happened. But honestly every day is going by super quickly later and it's always like two hours later than I think it is every time I check my watch. I think I just got totally used to what its like to be a Missionary in Mexico. I seriously can't even imagine what it's going to be like to be living at home again..that's going to be a really interesting day. These days it's completely normal for people to just yell "Hermanos!" to us from the other side of the street. A lot of people here think they know English, so we definitely hear people yell "brothers!" all the time in this great Mexican accent. It'll be weird seeing Mexican people at home and not having them yell something at me. I think I miss might it actually, better enjoy it while I can, right?
So it's been another week full of knocking doors and not really finding anybody who's willing to listen to the Gospel. But as always, we're doing a great job finding and talking to the weirdest people on the planet. This area is full of them. Like I said, Independencia is kinda famous for being a hard area, but I still think we can find someone to baptize this change. Just gotta find them. Oh, and as you can tell by the picture, someone thought it would be funny to put a giant lizard on my jacket. I totally had no idea it was there until I turned my head and saw the thing looked straight at me. It looked a lot bigger when it was 4 inches from my face. So the Iguana is from our mission leader actually, who already bought it a leash and takes it on walks reguarly at the near-by park. Like I said, this area is full of interesting people...even the members. This last week was actually Elder Astete's birthday as well, which kind of ended up being a miracle. When the day came, neither of us had much money, and no members knew it was his birthday, so looked like it was just going to be another normal full-day of work, which is kind of a bummer on your birthday. But later on in the day we heard that it was actually the birthday of one of the coolest members in the ward, Hermano Bretado! Naturally, I invited ourselves over and we enjoyed some carne asada and a cake! It felt good to see my Peruvian buddy get sung to and everything on his first birthday in the Mish. It can be hard sometimes to be far away from the family for events like that, but the Bretado family came in strong that day. Oh and Mom, don't think I was being super lame inviting ourselves over, they totally would have invited us had they known it was Elder Astete's birthday! The Bretado's are kind of like the Youngbergs of my Mission...we can just walk in and use the bathroom and get a glass of water and sometimes Hermana Bretado gives us something to eat! I love those types of people in the world. Well, other than that nothing too crazy to report this week. We've been in a drought here in Durango for like 6 months, there's a little weather fun-fact for ya.
So how is everybody at home? All the babies are offically born right? Sometimes I lose track of who is pregant and who is not these days, but as far as I am concerned there shouldn't be any more new babies for the rest of my Mission, right? I finish 15 months in the Mission this week, which means I'm short 9 months in the Mission...thus making any new babies being born while I'm in the Mission impossible! But back to the Lakers, seems like we're just playing pretty average these days. I think I lucked out when it comes to the Lakers and Mission timing. They won back-to-back the two years before my Mission, played pretty average the two years I'm in the Mission, and this summer they'll sign some awesome new free agents and we'll be awesome by the time I get back. I think it's more than a coincidence I got called on my Mission when I did. Fits perfectly with the Lakers. So how crazy are Mom and Dad feeling about their mission call? I'm sure they'll love their 6 month stay in Barstow...they can bring us all back thermamotors when they get back. How could you guys forget that Barstow is home of the world's largest thermamotor? No just kidding, Nauvoo Visitor's Center is for sure calling Mom and Dad's name. Oh and speaking of Mom and Dad, since when have you been planning a vacation to Costa Rica? And you're leaving this Saturday? You guys are going on the coolest vacations! I guarantee the first vacation I go on with Mom and Dad when I get back will be to Corona or...Hemet. But I'm actually totally cool with that, I can travel to all the cool places in the world when my last son is in the Mish too. So anyways, anything else cool going on back at home? Let me know about it!
So the Church is just as true as it was last time I wrote you and man am I grateful to be a part of it. I think sometimes we take for granted being members of the only true Church in the world...there are tons of people out there who are super confused and would love to find our Church. I guess thats why I'm out here. Well I love you guys, and hope everything is going great back at home. Keep it real!
Love,
Elder Abbott
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
January 23, 2012
Family! How is everyone doing? Always good to do some writin'. I think I'm honestly running out of catchy ways to start my emails. How wonderful were my emails at the beginning of the Mission? So entertaining, but spiritual, got a few laughs. But the thing was is that back then the weeks went by a lot slower, and it seemed a lot more stuff happened. Now it's really hard to remember what happened in the week. Something interesting/weird/cool happeneds every single day pretty much, and you would not believe how much people ask me to give them things. Being in the Capital of Durango, there is definitely a lot of crazys in the street, and every single one of them wants to talk to me and ask me for things. Today one guy asked me for my clothes, the other day some guy asked for a hug (denied!), and the some other guy asked me for some "dimes." Strange, stange people in Mexico. But you gotta love them, well at least I have to. And I do. Alright lets see if I can remember things that went down this week.
It was the first week of Me and Elder Astete's third change here in Independencia, and it was....not bad. But not so great either. We're still looking for people to teach, and not having much luck. Everyone in the area already recognizes us because we've knocked like every door, so it's sort of awkward when we find that person we've contacted like 5 times already. We're trying our best to not get our spirits down, but man is it hard to find people here. But I gotta believe that if we just doing what we do, somebody will open the door. But hey, we're actually rockin' it with the less-active people belive it or not. But I think it has a lot to do with the schedule change of the church and now we start at 12:00 in the day. It is a battle to make this people wake up on time and come to church. Speaking of church, I have to prepare another talk this week! Totally forgot until just now. I'm talking about how our attitudes shape out our outcomes, I like the sound of it. I'm just going to have to translate it into Spanish. A litte bit a bad news is that Tony, our recent convert, is really struggling all of a sudden. Some of his buddies tempted him to drink, and he fell for it. He is really hurting right now. He'll be alright though, could be a great learning oportunity for him. And some good news, we bowled again today, and I won! My fingers are killing me. Still worth it though.
So how is life back at home? Kev has officially completed 30 years?! Dude, that is totally old! Big ups for Kev, now that he an old man with two kids and all. I just entered my 20's, and Kevin just left it. Sunrise, Sunset...Anyways, what else is new back at home? The Lakes are still stinkin' it up? Don't worry, Chris Paul or Dwight Howard will be on our team before you know it. I heard that Randy Francis just got his mission call! Where is he going again? St. Louis, right? Well thats cool. Yorba Linda 3rd has been a Missionary Machine. Also we win Church Basketball every year. Best ward ever. Well from the sound of it, everything is really laid back back at home, and thats awesome. I think so much of life is just perspective, and you just gotta enjoy it as it goes. I'm way excited for the days when I have my own family, and my life is totally boring. It'll be great! But gotta take care of business down here first and foremost. The Church is true, I know it because we can learn so much from it. Think about it, we have the Book of Mormon, the Bible, the words of the prophets...so much straight-up knowledge! Heavenly Father wants us to understand as much as we can, and we learn all of it our church. And that's great. I love you guys, I love the Gospel, and...here's to another week of knocking tons and tons of doors. Remember to golf it, and then frolf it.
Love,
Elder Abbott
It was the first week of Me and Elder Astete's third change here in Independencia, and it was....not bad. But not so great either. We're still looking for people to teach, and not having much luck. Everyone in the area already recognizes us because we've knocked like every door, so it's sort of awkward when we find that person we've contacted like 5 times already. We're trying our best to not get our spirits down, but man is it hard to find people here. But I gotta believe that if we just doing what we do, somebody will open the door. But hey, we're actually rockin' it with the less-active people belive it or not. But I think it has a lot to do with the schedule change of the church and now we start at 12:00 in the day. It is a battle to make this people wake up on time and come to church. Speaking of church, I have to prepare another talk this week! Totally forgot until just now. I'm talking about how our attitudes shape out our outcomes, I like the sound of it. I'm just going to have to translate it into Spanish. A litte bit a bad news is that Tony, our recent convert, is really struggling all of a sudden. Some of his buddies tempted him to drink, and he fell for it. He is really hurting right now. He'll be alright though, could be a great learning oportunity for him. And some good news, we bowled again today, and I won! My fingers are killing me. Still worth it though.
So how is life back at home? Kev has officially completed 30 years?! Dude, that is totally old! Big ups for Kev, now that he an old man with two kids and all. I just entered my 20's, and Kevin just left it. Sunrise, Sunset...Anyways, what else is new back at home? The Lakes are still stinkin' it up? Don't worry, Chris Paul or Dwight Howard will be on our team before you know it. I heard that Randy Francis just got his mission call! Where is he going again? St. Louis, right? Well thats cool. Yorba Linda 3rd has been a Missionary Machine. Also we win Church Basketball every year. Best ward ever. Well from the sound of it, everything is really laid back back at home, and thats awesome. I think so much of life is just perspective, and you just gotta enjoy it as it goes. I'm way excited for the days when I have my own family, and my life is totally boring. It'll be great! But gotta take care of business down here first and foremost. The Church is true, I know it because we can learn so much from it. Think about it, we have the Book of Mormon, the Bible, the words of the prophets...so much straight-up knowledge! Heavenly Father wants us to understand as much as we can, and we learn all of it our church. And that's great. I love you guys, I love the Gospel, and...here's to another week of knocking tons and tons of doors. Remember to golf it, and then frolf it.
Love,
Elder Abbott
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