January 5, 2015

Well, happy new year.

This week was pretty difficult, too, because I learned that until the 7th, almost everyone will not have returned from vacations.

But, really great news! The inactive guy we talked with about serving a mission came back to church and stayed for the whole thing! He is talking to the bishop about changing his life, and everything is going phenomenally with him. He invited us to come to his house on Tuesday for Rosca de Reyes, which is when you get together with your friends and eat a really huge donut--at least I am pretty sure that is what it is. We shall see.

Unfortunately our investigators felt they could not come due to: 1st, their visitors and needing to attend to their needs; 2nd, the amount of work they had due to the malos threatening their lives if they did not have this many tables made by monday; and 3rd, arrived home from vacations in the morning and were extremely tired.

Oh, before I forget, we had a really fun lesson yesterday. We were walking down a street and a car stops and the driver yells out at us, Hey! What are you guys doing? (This is approximate because it was Spanish.) So we went to talk to him; it is so much easier when people take an interest in you after all. When we looked over, it is a car with tinted windows and 4 men inside smoking marijuana and staring at us. Well, we walk over, and at this point we can see that they are packing. The driver and the person at his side had grenade launchers. Can you imagine this? I did not know what to do. But you know what? The driver wanted to hear what we had to say. We taught him the lesson of who God is, the trinity, and how they work together. They asked when we had services so that they could come. We did not try to give them baptismal dates, because we did not feel it would be right. Also, they would probably not be able to pass the baptismal interview. But we shall see. Very interesting that. Also turns out they know some of the members that we are helping right now. We are praying to know what to do about them. Because I was pretty much dumbstruck when they talked to us.

In other news, people have started coming back from their vacations. That is really great, because that means that we can talk to more people! We did quite a bit of contacting this week, but due to the season almost all of them were visiting family, and as a result we passed their information to the elders that pertain to their area.

My first comp is on probation because he had movies. I never saw said movies. That astounded me. How can you hide things from someone you spend all day with everyday? Or maybe I am just really obstinately oblivious. I do not know.

I am pretty happy about the new year. This should be exciting.

Well, next week.

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,

Elder Scott

December 29, 2014

Well. Hello again. This week was very very relaxing. It's hard to imagine, but during the holidays, people go on holiday! I know, weird, but please bear with me. Your incredulity will wear off; please allow me to explain. Apparently during the Christmas season, people want to see their families (I know, weird right?) and the majority actually leave town to visit them and spend time with them! How very strange! Well anyway, to give you an idea of how many members went on vacation, of the nearly 150 that go to church every week, we had a whopping 68 show up, including the six missionaries who went. Citywide, only roughly 1/3-1/2 of the people are home. And if someone was in their house, they were getting ready for a party later that night. It made doing missionary work really difficult. I had no idea how hard it is to preach during Christmastime. Nobody wanted to invite a gringo and his companion into their house to preach to them; they wanted to spend time with their families. And I can respect that, but they do not know they are missing! With this gospel they will be able to spend eternity with their families! Argh.

I learned something new this week. Apparently, when there is a light on outside of your house that means the people who live there are not home. I found that strange because in the states I am pretty sure it is the opposite. It is almost like it is a different country or something. :)

Also, I learned something about the smurfs. Do you know how to say smurf here? I am guessing not. Well I do. It is..... pitufu! And the name gets longer depending which pitufu you are talking about. Smurfette, for example is pitufita. Baby smurf is pitufufito. Their names are really fun to say, although I cannot remember them.

Talking to my family was awesome. My favorite part was when I asked Jessica about Alex :) It was really nice talking to them.

This week we spent trying to visit less active members because Christmas is a good time to invite them back to church and to learn about Jesus and all that his gospel has to offer. We spent a lot of time with the young women´s president trying to find houses of less actives. One of the houses didn´t even exist--just a ruin where a house used to be. We had a little succeeds this week. We found the Ramirez Cruz family, of whom there are eight. The mom is awesome, the kids are great, the father is a cool guy. We haven´t met the oldest son yet, but everyone is is really cool. They enjoy when we come and visit them, and the little girls just want me to sing to them the whole time. Unfortunately, no investigators came to church this week due to vacations, and in the case of one older couple, the extreme cold.

We visited a less active member with some very specific challenges, and we managed to, once again, animate him for the possibility of serving a mission. We warned him that it would not be easy. He has some very great obstacles to overcome, but I know he can do it.

On Christmas eve, I went to a feast-type dinner with some ward members. We ate a lot of posolli (a heavenly soup of chicken, lettuce, corn, pepper, pig, radish, and lemon). You eat it with tostadas. YUM.

All things considered I am doing better. This isn´t easy, but it is worth it. Love it here.

Happy after Christmas!

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
(Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,)
Elder Scott

[More dead things--ack!!!]

December 23, 2014 -- Restless

So, I am going to start with my medical issues. The lung thing, whatever it was, went away like it never existed. Woohoo! Go fasting!!! My heel thing is apparently because I wear hard sole shoes all the time. I might get to work in sneakers--do not know whether to be happy about that or sad. I think the salmonella went away, but I do not know. I was taking pills for it, and I finished them. So really I do not know. The toe thing, oh that one is the fun one. So, apparently one of the operations I had in the U.S. was done badly, and a bit of toenail was left in the side of the toe. This bit of toenail proceeded to grow of its own accord. I do believe I have super regenerative ability, just not as drastic as Wolverine. Anyway, this small bit of toenail proceeded to grow vertically out of the side of my foot so that I had two toenails. Because of the way it was growing, it opened a wound that got infected. I had an operation on said toe. It hurt much less than those I had in the States. I recommend Mexican doctors. They know what they are doing. :) I couldn´t work but two days of this week because I could not walk well. My toe bleeds, and it is healing pretty quickly. On the two days I could work, however, my comp and I managed to have more lessons, get more people to commit to a baptismal date, and have lessons with members than the rest of the people in our district. Muahaha!

We had the Christmas activity for the ward, which was fun to watch. Dancing, a game of stomping on balloons tied to other people´s ankles, jokes, talks--the works. Great stuff. I also went to the missionary Christmas activity, which was also really fun to watch. We had piñatas, gingerbread houses, and games I could not participate in. But that is all right, because when everyone was doing their activities, I got to sit down and eat their houses with a couple of other elders. And Pres. Muahaha. The mission president's wife also hit the hand of one of my friends when he rushed the candy after she broke the pinata. I found that absolutely hilarious. He lost all the candy he had collected. Other muahaha.

In other news, due to how much the leaders (missionaries who are zone leaders or district leaders) stress numbers, my trainee is thinking about going home. He says it isn't right that they are focusing on the numbers. I agree with him. I have learned to grin and bear things in my life, though, so I am not thinking about leaving. It is very difficult, though.

I'm very excited about talking with the family! That will be great. Also, I had to withdraw money. I used 5000 pesos this month buying medications and doing other random things that were definitely unplanned. 'fraid I had no other choice. At some point during the coming year, I will receive a portion of what I paid back, which will be nice. I just don't know when or how much. It is alright, though.

I received my packages. And a box of rootbeer? That is awesome! I cannot think of anything better right now. The jokes were really bad, and the letters were nice.

I hope everyone has a great week. Happy Christmas everybody!

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
Salutations,
Love, and All that I have to offer you,
Elder Scott

December 16, 2014 -- Well, that was weird!

[WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A FAMILY/FRIENDS FAST FOR DERIK THIS SUNDAY, DECEMBER 21st. If you'd like to participate, we would love it! You'll see why below.]

I was answering all of the emails I had, and all of a sudden a bunch of police came in and searched the ciber. Really strange. They didn’t bother the people at the computers. They just came in, searched, and left. Didn’t say anything either. Mexico.

But, I have difficulties. I have a toenail growing out of the side of my big toe, vertically. Talk about strange. My heel is black from the infection that won't go away. There is something weird going on with my lungs that the doctors are trying to figure out, and I have salmonella. My work suffered a little this week due to the necessity of going to various hospitals and doctors. Apparently I will be fine though. In other words, life is really hard right now.

In addition, all of the people that I was teaching fell through. I had to find some new ones to teach, but that wasn’t a problem. Done. I spent the week in exchanges with another greenie, Elder C. He is from Venezuela. I got to do his first week of training. Elder M is from Chihuahua. Really the two guys are great.

I get to go to a missionary party Wednesday, and Thursday I go to the ward Christmas party. I am not sure when we will have time to do all of the other things we need to do. Christmas is busy for missionaries.

I talked to Luz and Lisbeth, (2 newbies for this week) They want to get baptized, and I just need to get their father's permission. The mom already said yes.

Thelma and her spouse are not actually married, she is married to someone else and living with this man. We are working on getting her divorced and them married so they can be baptized.

I am feeling lots of pressure right now. Everything is difficult. My body is freaking out on me, the goal the zone leaders set is 15 lessons with a member present this week, and that would be difficult without my other problems. I do not currently feel like I am making any kind of headway or difference. It is difficult. But I have my faith you know? I talked to a nondenom testigo who lied to me and contradicted what he was saying. He talked about rebuking demons and how he did it. The spirit his words brought was one of contention. I ended up just walking away. I do not like that feeling.

I do not feel like I am doing all that I need and can do, so I will be praying more, doing what I know to be right, and trying my hardest. So from one with a difficult life in the moment, I bid you adieu.

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,

Elder Scott

So, while Derik was online posting these pictures, I had my phone with me and emailed him to try to figure out what a couple of them were. Here is the email thread:

Me: What are the pictures of the ring and the picture of the leaves? :)

Derik: The ring is a mason ring that a member found and let me to try on. The leaves are a dead cat I found while cleaning up the yard of the house I am currently living in. Other questions? (Love you!)

Me: Ring, cool--dead cat, gross!!! LOVE YOU!!!

Derik: :| You do not like my dead cat? That is all right. I have pictures of other dead animals that might please you. I will be sure to take more pictures of them until you like them. Do not worry. The change will be slow and painful. You will come to adore them. Yesss My precious. You will come to adore themss preciouss gatos muertos [dead cats]. Do not worry precciouss....

Haha, Love ya.

Me: I am laughing SO HARD!

Derik: Good. I like being able to make people laugh.

I love my boy!

Decmber 12, 2014 -- Letter from President Morales

Dear Scott Family,

I am pleased to communicate with you through this letter. I know the Lord is blessing your family through the service of your son as a missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

As president of the Reynosa Mexico Mission I am very happy and grateful for your son, Elder Scott. He has showed his devotion and love for the work until this point in the mission.

I felt inspired to call Elder Scott to a new assignment as trainer. We know the Lord trusts him and has confidence in his willingness to do the Lord´s work.

Elder Scott needs to be an example with his new assignment and we will see his success as he leaves an impact on the lives of his investigators, companions, and in his own conversion.

I invite you to write him every week to encourage him to keep progressing and especially that he can develop more Christ like attributes.

I hope that everyone is well at home and that God will bless you to keep working in His work and being Disciples of Christ. I know that God blesses us when we are doing His service.

Kindly,

President Abelardo Morales Mendez

December 8, 2014 -- Crazy Weeks!

Sorry about no letter last week, I had absolutely no time to do anything. Right before Cambios (Changes) life got really very insane. These two weeks were crazy.

To start with, I got to perform another baptism--that of Alexandra, a kid we have been teaching for a while now. The plan was to baptize her with her mom, but the day before the baptism we found out that she is not actually legally married to her spouse/the man she is living with. Ouch. Then, the day of, the father got really sullen and wouldn´t let anyone in the family attend the service other than Alexandra. She left the house crying. Everyone in the ward that was invited to the baptism didn´t show up, but some good friends, also missionaries, had a baptism they let us crash and that was nice.

I can now officially inflate balloons with ease without a pump. Woohoo!

I got examined by one of the assistants to see how my training went and what I am ready for. He came to my area, and fought verbally with the people I contacted. I have to say, it was very strange. The visit was to see how ready I am for whatever comes next I have now been informed. SO, I am going to train an Elder named Elder Montes! That is really exciting. Elder Montes is great.

I am going to sing in something. I have yet to be informed what, but I will be singing in some missionary activity. That will be great. I love singing.

Uh, so I am really very sick right now. I got the flu and my foot infection hasn't gone away, but the doctor I talked to said to give it time. During the night my head hurts a lot sometimes due to the mucus buildup in my head . BUT, I am alive.

Aubs is 18 now! Feliz Cumpleaños! Congrats on living through another year of strangeness!

I got more investigators. So, that side of things is all good. And, now that I have a new companion, things can get rolling with these peeps! Also, not being the companion of district leader will be nice.

So, the new Zone Leaders only care about one thing: the number of baptisms you have. Well, it is better than the last ones who were stealing investigators from our area. All of the stuff that missionaries have to do--key Indicators--have become much easier now: contacting, lessons, everything. 

Also, it has become hard to write letters because I have started thinking without language; kind of weird, but yeah. Spanish is easier than English. 

The newbies in San Jose are really needy. My comp has to go with one of them, and I get the other one. Bleh. I have a lot of work, and there really isn't much time to do all of it! I want to visit them all, but there just isn't time. I am currently visiting 30 individuals, as investigators. I could tell you all about them individually, but there is no time.

Anyways, Love you guys.

Saludos, Amor, y Todo que puedo ofrecer a tí,
Salutations, Love, and All that I have to offer you,

Elder Scott

December 1, 2014

Derik didn't send a letter this week [ :( ], but he did send these pictures. Hopefully we'll get a letter next week!