Joe's Letter

¿¡Como están!?

Espero que todos esté bien. A mi, estoy muy, muy, muy
bien! Uruapan es una larga muy bonita. Ya, I´ve seen one or two of
those photos, but we haven´t been able to walk around much. Just pass
through on our way to appointments. But Uruapan is a beautiful place,
tons of vegetation. Any direction you look there is a huge forest in
the distance.

I saw a sign for Twilight and immediately thought of you Mom. Yes,
it´s even a big deal in Mexico.

Sounds like you all have tons of work to do! I wish I was there to help.
Also sounds like Andreas doing fine, she´ll get used to being home. It
happens to every missionary. Holy cow, Laurel is taking drivers ed!
She´s getting so old! It seems like yesterday me and Alex were sick of hearing her scream at the top of her lungs while we were in their basement!
You´re awesome Laur!

I can´t think of much to write about Mexico, so I´ll just start
recounting things of mundane importance. You might call this, THE MUNDANE THING OF THE WEEK! Switches don´t exist in Mexico.
Like, at all. Everything is a button. Even toilets. Buttons. Also,
outside the houses are the power meters, since there are no such things
as yards, they just put it next to your door. This also means, the
switch for the power is on the street to. In Morelia the teenagers
thought it was hilarious to turn off our power while we were
gone. HAHA! It´s also kind of interesting because we can tell
if someone is just ignoring us or not.

Anyways, I want to talk about Yolanda. We were walking down the
street and I was looking up some words in Spanish in my little pocket
sized dictionary we got at Barnes and Noble that I carry in my pack, and this lady in the street (probably about 50 or so) says, "Is that a
Bible?" I say, no, but I have one right here. And we start talking
about religion, and how upset she is at the majority of people in Mexico because they are content to just follow their parents and be
Catholics. She says they turn their eyes away from the truths of the
Bible. So we start teaching her the restauration and she starts talking about all these scriptures that testify of what we´re talking about and we just say, Ya! You´re absolutely right! We were really nervous for a bit, because she smokes, and she asked if the church could help her out financially. We responded by explaining what fast offerings were for,
and how the church doesn´t really do charity like that, and left a
pamphlet about tithes and fast offerings. Later in the lesson she says
that she really would like a blessing to help her quit smoking...we
hadn´t even talked about the Word of Wisdom yet. We responded, ya! Then on Sunday, she
comes to church, and asks if she can pay tithing if she isn´t a member. I thought...uh....really? But we introduced her to the bishop who
helped her out. She has a baptismal date for the 30th, and is an
absolutely amazing person. She has an absolute mountain of faith
(veeeeery common expression in Mexico, mountain of (thing)) in God.

Anyways, yesterday was pretty fun. We went down to Guadalajara to
sign my visa...but the bus was too slow, and we missed it. So we get to spend another 8 hours on a bus in 2 weeks! Yaaaaaay! So we had no
time yesterday to write, so that is why it is coming today.

Anyways, things are great here in uruapan. I hope you are all
continuing to do well. Adios!

Elder Newell (sorry, the pics are not in order---this is a fun game you get to play--Ariane)

1. The Morelia gang! Elder Tyler is on the right
2. That´s unfortunate...
3. A
typical street in Uruapan
4. Thought I was kidding?
5. Me getting bored at myself while Elder
Mata gives a baptismal interview.
6. Hey look who I found!
Well, I have some more time, so here are more pictures!
1. The
offices in Guadlajara. There were tons of cool birds there, I wish Mom
was there!
2. This dog in Morelia was huge! Like, 5 feet long! And
he was just laying on his back, chillin´
3. Our old room. On the left, with all the light? That was the door
leading outside. We all have to sleep in the same room, and that was
the only place that accomodated 4 beds.
4. Old kitchen. Not very
productive for cooking. Our stove was a hot plate. My new house is
much better, a full kitchen, stove, sink, the works! I never have
missed a microwave more in my life though...
5. Carmina, the first convert I saw baptized.

Also! Has
Jaesar or Brice turned in their papers yet? They said they were almost done with them when I left.

Thanks!

HOLA FAMILIA!