Sept 13th 2010

¡HOLA MI FAMILIA!

Cooler? No. More hot if anything. I`m jealous. Thanks for the pictures Mom! It`s always good to see the family, even if it`s just simple pictures. You can learn a lot from a picture. Like how Rowan has apparently turned Mexican. That is what all the woman do down here for some reason. Everyone dyes their hair red. Nobody knows why.

Sounds like everyone had a relitavely calm week, which is good. Everybody needs those kinds of weeks. Mom you have always been so awesome at telling stories. You seem to just have a natural gift with talking with people and spinning a tale. I have no doubt those kids were enthralled.

Merl will survive...probably. Sleeping alone won`t kill him at least. Sounds like everyone`s pets are kicking the bucket unfortunately.

Well, this week was interesting. I got a call on Saturday from the Zone Leaders saying I have transfers! Yep, I`m going to go to the state of Guanajuato, the most catholic, party time state there is in Mexico, and Im going to open up a new area. *tear*. There just looking for the house right now, as soon as they find one, I`m out of Uruapan for good. Maybe. This Sunday Bishop Martinez (Phew, four capitols in a row), asked me to say goodbye in the sacrament service. All day during church people were coming up to me, don`t go Elder Newell! Others gave me their email and everything, and all in all it was a fairly sad experience, but good to be moving on. I got a call from the Zone Leaders yesterday at 11 at night saying, Packed your bags? No. Well, go pack them, your leaving at 5 in the morning. I heard some shouts in the background, and he said laughingly, no no, don`t worry you still have some time. Apparently they were going to not tell me until 5 in the morning that it was a joke. HAH. BUT! I do have probably at least another week...so...next Sunday is going to be awkward. Hi everyone! Remember how I said I was leaving and everything? Surprise!

But oh well, life goes on. We have something that Dad would love down here. It`s called, caldo de pollo, or chicken soup. But not just chicken soup! This soup is: 1. Water 2. A carrot 3. A squash 4. Chicken leg. Yep. Delicious. We had the most watery version this week and I remembered Dad.

We had a family home evening with a family here, and the Dad started it out with, well, welcome to the family home evening and....we`re going to see what happens. I thought, huh, that sounds like something that would happen in my family...

We had a Noche Mexicana this week in the stake. This week Mexico celebrates 200 years of independence and 100 years of something else. I sported a super stylish sombrero, and tried to imitate having a moustache for a bit. While we were there, I saw my first baptism from Morelia! She moved over here in another ward, but is still active in the church. We talked for a little, and she didn`t believe that I remembered her, but I DID! I was so happy to see her, it was amazing. To see that someone was still active, despite all her challenges, I was filled with joy and the Holy Ghost. I felt like, in part, Ammon when he found his brothers and Alma after their missions, and fainted from the happiness that he felt. Honestly, this work is so much MORE than just faith in God! It is the portal to everlasting life! The waters of life that will never leave us thirsty! I have felt the amazing mercy of God and the Atonement in my life more strongly than I have ever felt them in my life in my mission, and it is my everlasting pride and joy to be able to invite others to come unto Christ in this same way!

I`ve been thinking a lot. I have 8 months in the mission today, I can`t say I`m new anymore. This time goes by so fast. To see the changes I have seen in myself these last 8 months...how fast it all went by, everything that has happened...it has truly been a miracle. All of it.

Well, speaking of miracles, I`ll try and finish, THE MARRIAGE!!!!!!

So, we got to the capilla, and President was there and everything. We decided to call the judge again to see if there was ANYTHING we could do. We called and he said he might be able to get the birth cirtificate online through their system if he had the information, so we passed it all along and waited. About 20 minutes later we got a call, They can get married, YA! We waited 20 more minutes for him to finish his papers, and got another call. They can`t get married, NO! What happened!? Apparently the government worker filled out the papers wrong for something, instead of putting Maria Jesus, he put the more common Maria de Jesus, and with that they can`t get married until it was fixed. Elder Rojas stayed on the phone trying to find something that we could do, and the judge said, OK, well I can marry them, but this needs to get fixed first thing on Monday. If someone else gets married that day before you fix it, the marriage is invalid. YAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!! After a couple more hours of waiting, stress, and prayer, the judge arrived, performed the cerimony, and directly afterwards the kids were married and baptized. The next Monday we went to get everthing fixed up and they are now legally married. At the end, we could breath again after about 3 days of pure suspense. We were happy to have it done.

And so, basically, that`s the story of Maria and Mauricio. I have it a little more detailed in my journal at home, but I think that will have to suffice for now. I hope you all have an excellent week, maybe I`ll be writing you from Guanajuato next week. Talk to you all in a couple months! Thank you all so much for your love and support, maybe I don`t get to it, or remember very good, but know that I love you all and hope that everything goes well!

¡ADIOS MI FAMILIA!

Elder Joseph Neil Newell