Aug 2, 2010

Burger King is really expensive down here...


Yes. Someone drove a school bus down from California. Seriously.


BERNARDO!!!!

¡HOLA MI FAMILIA!

Sounds like there are a bunch of cool things coming out now, I´m in a ciber right n fron tof a huge movie theater and I can see that the new Karate Kid is out. I heard about that before leaving on the mission, so it was interesting to see that it´s already happened. It honestly feels like I just barely left home...if I had to go home right now it would feel shorter than the time I spent in California.

The picture you attached, I don´t think I got one of the Kraken. I got one of a Rancor, but no Kraken. I´m happy to hear that Clash of the Titans lived up to every single expectation I had for it. Good effects, no substance. sounds like something fun to watch in the room when I get back home.

I´m sorry to hear about Grandma´s cousin, I´m sure that can´t be too easy. But at least it was calmed away by the super buffett of Golden Corral. And yes Mom, I have completely repented of my sins against Golden Corral. We ate like kings in Guadalajara, eating in a place that has the world record for fastest food served twice, and an american style buffett another time. Then I came back to Uruapan...rice...beans...meat in water....yummy. It´s good food, just that there isn´t a lot of variations. I almost went crazy, literally, at the beginning of my mission, WHERE IS THE CHEESE!? They almost don´t use cheese, and I have yet to see cheddar. But I have sicne adapted to the local cuisine, and am learning how to cook. I can´t wait to get back and show some of the tips and tricks they are teaching me. Trick number one: Everything has lime. Trick number two: Everything has chile. If it has those two things, it´s food from Mexico.

Bernardos new job is with his younger brother´s Avacado business. Uruapan is the city of avacados, and everyone here loves guacamole. Yes Dad, I have gained a taste for guacamole. He cuts and delivers avacado, and when we go visit him now, he hands off avacados and mangos the size of my head. Speaking of which, I learned to not trust cell phones very much this week. While I was in Guadalajara, Bernardo was going to be baptized, I called Elder Rojas to see if the needed anything from me before it happened, and he said it wouldn´t happen. I came back, talked to him on Friday, and apparently what happened was that his brother answered the phone, and decided to play a really, really stupid joke. He said, Hey, can I bring my girlfriend that lives with me and my 5 sons to the baptism? Huh? Ya, you didn´t know about her? Basically it was just a stupid, stupid joke that delayed his baptism until Saturday. Also, for that, the member that was going to baptize him couldn´t, because he got sick. So I had to perform the ordinance, but everything is OK now, and we are in fact teaching his brother that is super borracho (drunkard).

The conference in Guadalajara was awesome! We learned toooooooons, and have really progressed as missionaries. Elder Rojas and I are becoming better and better companions, and striving to always be better people. Effie, there is a couple here in the ward that really reminds me of you and Mark. They are weird to look at. Like, mexican versions of yourselves. I don´t know how much time I have left here in uruapan, I already have 4 months here, but I am enjoying it more and more. It is a very pretty place, and the people are quite humble. We´re going to be buying some health shakes to eat in the mornings instead of cereal or breakfast sandwiches. It´s faster, easier, and healthier. I´ll let you know how it goes.

We have this new family of investigators. Their dad passed away about 2 months ago, and they were destroyed by it. They were angry at God, at life, at everything. We have started talking to them about how they can live to see their father once again, and how Jesus Christ has suffered to help them know how to make it thorugh this trouble they are having. Now they are always smiling, coming to church, and will be baptized this next sunday. Honestly, this gospel is for EVERYONE! Not just for those who are consumed in drugs, or those who are destroying their lives with alchohol or cigarettes, but for all that have a desire to know their god, their savior, their king. I know that this gospel saves the lives of those who choose to abide by it´s precepts, and brings us to a newer level of happiness than we can know. I see miracles every week here in the lives of the people we talk to, and I count it a remarkable blessing to be able to be here to see them.

Well I hope everyone else is doing well up there in Utah. Don´t worry Mom, my shoes are fine. They are still practically brand new the ones that Dad bought me. I have been using them almost exclusively for the last month and a half and they are doing just fine. They are starting to get some wrinkles in the leather, but nothing serious. I am buying new insoles every now and again, thank you very much mom for your concern. I know I always have at least one person at home worrying about all the little things :)

I´m super sad to hear that merlin is starting the fall down the stairs phase. I remember when Indi used to do that...not fun.

Anyways, I think that´s everything. I´ll talk to you all next week!

¡ADIOS!

Elder Newell

July 26th 2010

¡HOLA FAMILIA!

Wow, sounds like you are all just super involved in activities now that the couch potato is in Mexico :P

Sounds like everything was fun though. Sleeping on the picnic table didn´t hurt? Sounds like that paradeis one of those things that´s really funny, a week or so afterwards.

Well, things in Mexico are doing fine. Oh, by the way, the Missionary Handbook, (at least in spanish and english) says nothing about cutting your own hair. This week we had 6 investigators at church this week! Woooooh! Things are doing fine, we have these investigators, Jennifer, and Yuritzi. Their 2 teenagers, 15 and 19, who are going to be baptized pretty quickly here. Yuritzi, the 19 year old, is going to get married in two months. We asked her if her husband is going to accept and support her in her decisions, her response was, "Tiene que hacerlo." Or, He HAS to do it. We responded, he sure does!

Bernardo is going to be baptized, today! Wooooh! He is such an amazing miracle. He was a drug user/seller, drinker, smoker, everything, and after our first visit and reading and praying about the Book of Mormon, left it all behind. It is amazing to see how this gospel consistently changes the lives of the people who choose to live it. The first contact with him we were thinking, OK, how can we get out of this situation as soon as possible and away from the borrachos? He really wanted to meet with us, so we went there one day, and gave the first lesson saying things like, "The Gospel of Jesus Christ requires a lot from us. Salvation isn´t easy. What are you willing to do to recieve these blessings?" Thinking, nothing. But no, immediately he dropped everything, and has a super firm testimony in the Church of Jesus Christ. I can´t even explain it.

The problem, is that I WILL NOT BE HERE FOR HIS BAPTISM NOOOOOO! At 4 today I am going to Guadalajara for a week long conference for leaders! Almost half of the mission is going to be in Guadalajara, learning the new way that we train missionaries, and working over there. It´ll be intense.

But all this week we were running around the whole area trying to get as many people as we could in the capilla. So, because of that not many things special happened this week.

I do believe it´s time for another edition of, ONLY IN MEXICOOOOO!!!
We just barely passed by a fiesta of the Santo Santiago, this is another fiesta of the neighborhoods, and they close off almost all the streets. While we passed by, every single person had a beer in their hand. Yes, even the children. I don´t know if it´s only in Mexico, but it came to my mind as a way to help you all feel grateful for living in Utah! I smelled alcohol maybe 3 times before my mission. Now it´s every day. New experiences for sure.

Anyways, I think that´s all I´ve got this week, sorry it´s short.

ADIOS FAMILIA! UNTIL NEXT WEEEEEEEEEEK!

Elder Newell

I learned another new skill. How to catch, by HAND, flys. I´ll never have to buy another flyswatter again! I feel like I´m in Tombstone.

Since all the doors here are metal, I use my key to knock the doors. Yesterday I dropped it, and it rolled down a large garage...this picture represnted my desperation. We eventually got it back, but my clothes got really dirty and I don´t think they´ll forgive me.

We ate at a restaurant this week. For desert, they gave us Dad´s worst enemy. Can you guess? Eh? Can ya? Yep, FLAN! It tasted really good. Almost like a really smooth/gelatinous cheese cake with syrup.


Uruapan

¡HOOOOOLLLAAAAAAA!

Yes, those are awesome Mom, thank you so much! Geez our house is HUUUUUUUGE! Nothing to make you appreciate the US like living in Mexico for 4 months.

I´m sorry to hear about the recent passings of family, I don´t believe that I knew them, but it is sad still the same. But, it brings great JOY to know that I can know them one day! Yay for family!

Hahahahahahaha, I can´t believe that I have a relative that tried to burn down the Tabernacle, hahahaha, that´s great!

Geez Grandma! I can´t believe someone robbed all your stuff. It´s good to hear everything else is OK, but nevertheless, yikes. The nice thing is that in Utah, the police help with stuff like that. I know someone who has an abusive husband, but their family paid a judge so that they can´t get divorced. Good times.

Haha, that picture is great, and so awesome that you made, more or less, those clothes! Way to go. Glad to hear that Alex is doing alright, and that his family is nice and happy.

Well, for us this week, we had changes today, and it is looking like I´ll be sticking around for at least 6 more weeks here in Uruapan. Probably not more than that, but who knows, I might be here for a year.

This week was exciting, I BUILT A HOUSE! Kind of. No, OK; not really, but I did help tear out floor, throw a bunch of rocks into a ditch in an entirely manly way, and then tore apart some wood, using other wood, in a spectacular show of cavemanship. Then we built a roof. It was fun. The pictures are from a cliff nearby where we were. It was really, really pretty. We could see all of Uruapan. I hope the pictures capture it.

This week we also were talking with Bernardo, I don´t remember if I talked about him, but he is this guy that smoke and drank like crazy, and was drunk when he yelled to us. We started talking this week, and he has completely dropped smoking and drinking, saying, "Well it doesn´t make any sense for a bottle to stand between me and God. It´s just an object." YES IT IS.

We also had 104 PEOPLE IN CHURCH THIS WEEK WOOOOOOOOH! Finally this ward is getting excited to do missionary work! It´s been a loooong month and a half trying to get the trust of the ward back with Elder Rojas and myself, but it has finally happened! The ward Leaders are working hard to find new people to help bring into the church, and we are doing our part as well to go around to the member´s houses, ask for referrences, and bring them information. I have found that most people don´t complete with commitments, or don´t want to, because they dont know how, and it is scary and really easy to say I don´t want to do it. But when we are given the information we need, all of a sudden things become fun!

Also, I washed my own clothes last week. By HAND. That was a fun adventure in which I learned there is a reason that people invented washing machines. Thank you Mom for all that you do in the house! Having to live on my own and clean a house of two floors and work to keep it clean with just me and Elder Rojas, I cannot imagine what it is like to look after 4 screaming kids all trying to throw chocolate on the walls.

We´re working hard, and the area is starting to become an area that people want to be in, instead of the area where noone does anything. The Lord has helped us toooons, and we are very happy to recieve it. We are being guided to the people the Lord has prepared truly.

Last night we talked with this young father, Omar, that used drugs for most of his life, but his friend introduced him to the Bible, and prayed to God to help him through it, and now he is clean. When we came by, he told us he feels that God was preparing him to be able to recieve us, and that through this affliction he has a better family, and possibly something great on the horizon.

It is sooo true! God puts us in hard situations, but so that we can GROW from them! The Plan of Happiness isn´t just a name, it is the basis, the whole point! To be happy! When we follow the counsil of God, and do what we can to serve him, our neighbours, and ourselves, we grow into a person that we are proud of. I love this gospel. It works miracles in the lives of those who need it. It helps them to see who they really are, and why they are here, and how they can help others. I know it is true. I know that this is the true gospel of Christ, that he has placed on the earth for the blessing of the children of men.

PS: Alex! I hope he is doing OK, I didn´t have a letter forwarded from aunt Martha this week, but I´m sure he is doing great.

I think that´s all I have family, we´ll talk next week! ADIOOOOOOOS!!!!!!

HOLA FAMILIA!

Wow, sounds like things are going awesome back home. That flash freeze is funny, sounds like fun. A NEW Dr. Who? Yikes...I already have a list of shows I want to watch when I go home...I don´t want to add more, because it is quite long. Can´t you just pull the pictures off of the email? Ya, the "festival" of San Pedro, all of the neighborhoods like, Magdalena, San Juan, Judas (Yes, they worship the man who sold Jesus into death saying that he will bring you money, so EVERYBODY has a statue of Judas Iscariot in their car/house) and others all happened this month, and we´re happy to see them go. It´s interesting to see that part of the culture, but with a lot of distance in between us. It is mostly just drinking and loud trumpets blaring in everyone´s faces. Not much "culture".

Geeeeeez Effie, that spider looks intense! Sounds like your new house brings all kinds of new adventures. That´s good! The second we are comfortable, the Lord finds ways to make us UNcomfortable. This way we can grow and become more like Christ. Of course...it´s not always to remember it that way, but it´s true. It´s great you have so much time together now as a family, that´s something we see here in Mexico soooo much, is that the parents work all week long, and only rest one day of the week, and their different days. So the families are almost never in the same place at the same time. It´s really sad.

Alex´s questions:
Ya, those conversations were good times...I haven´t thought about them for a while, heh.
Yes, indescribable is probably the word to use. At least, in our vocabulary.
Weirdest food eaten? This week I am going to eat Menudo. It´s a soup made out of cow stomach that suppsedly has the texture of gum. So that´ll be fun.
There´s an area called Apatzingan that has temps up to 50 degrees celcius. It´s not quite that hot here, but it gets close to 40
No, we don´t bike, we WALK. Like men. In Mexico.

This week was kind of a bummer. We got kinda sick at the end, so we had to stay in for a day. Also, we didn´t get to contact many people, or teach much. We had about 50 appointments fall through. PEOPLE ARE NEVER HOME IN MEXICO AAAARARARARGH! But, we had two referrences from Armando, they guy that dropped drugs for that time, two daughters of his boss that were OK, but they came to church this sunday! And they loved it! Now we´re super excited for them.

We had this other guy contact us in the street this week, his name is Bernardo. He was with a bunch of friends drinking, so we passed by (We usually don´t talk to groups of drunk people, it almost never ends up good), and he yells, HEY! Just because we´re drunk doesn´t mean we´re not people! We go, huh? We start talking and he is this super golden guy that has had a bunch of problems in his life, drugs, alcohol, his parents got divorced when he was 13 or so, but he wants to get better. He said that he knows he can´t do it in the Catholic church, but he has seen the examples of members and wants to be like them, so we started teaching him and he is awesome! We talked about the Word of Wisdom with him and he said, Ya! That makes perfect sense! Beer is just a bottle, why should it stand between me and happiness with God? Honestly, there is no other option than this gospel is true. People change their lives so quickly when they choose to accept the testimony of the Holy Ghost. I have seen so many people leave behind stupid vices like this in weeks, when they have tried for years and never could! I know this gospel is true. It works miracles in the lives of those that follow it.

Thank you all so much for your support, know that my prayers are with you, and while I am physically far from home, I have often thought I was sitting in the living room talking with you all, and that that is just a hop, skip, and a jump away. By the way...

I HAVE SIX MONTHS IN THE MISSION AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I haven´t done nearly enough! Only 3 more of these periods and I´m HOME! If this is the time that goes by the slowest, it´s going to feel like I´ll be home next month!

I love you all so much, and thank God for giving me such a wonderful family free from so many of the problems of this world.

Les quiero muchisimo, y que Dios les bendiga.

Adios familia!

Elder Joseph Neil Newell


Having fun in the Capilla, waiting for a junta to start. It never started.


Hi from the road of the giant pits of construction that little kids play near every day!

July 5th 2010

¡HOLA FAMILIA!

Sounds like things are calming down a bit, so that´s nice. Alex already turned in his papers!? YIKES! Alex! This is the BEST decision you can take in your life! Elder Holland said that if you don´t go on a mission for the people you will bring unto Christ, if not for the blessings you will bring to the family, DO IT FOR YOURSELF! You grow soooooo much on the mission! It´s honestly ridiculous. I´m such a better man than when I left. The mission refines you, helps you to know where you stand, with Christ, or with the other side, and what are you willing to do to stand by Him. Aiks, IM SO EXCITED FOR YOU! Be completely obedient, have faith in the Lord, and KEEP SMILING!

Haha, I cannot believe you are going to a flash feeze, you have to let me know how it goes! Way to go Dad! I knew there was some stupid reason for that shaking! I can´t wait to hear how everything sounds when I get back! Did you buy Avatar? How did you like it? I honestly thought it was stupid...but that´s just me.

No worries about the pictures, when it can happen it would be awesome, but no hurry. I would love to go to Jump On It. Sounds like a lot of fun!

This week for us was really interesting. We had to drop almost all of our investigators, we had left over, so we were knocking doors like crazy! we had almost no appointments for most of this week, and so we were on our feet all day with virtually no rest time except for the food. But, we saw the blessings of our work! We found some people that are so super golden it´s ridiculous!

Familia Morales! This is a middle aged couple that have a tiendita and are very, very overweight. But we knocked their door and they allowed us to come in and talk for a bit. We go thorugh talking about the Plan of Salvacion, and while talking about the spirit world, the sister asks us, "Can spirits be here on Earth?" We responded, well, yes, but not in a hocus pocus way. She said, "Well, I ask because in times that were really hard in my life, I have felt the presence of my Dad a lot...and I was in the hospital last week and I thought I was going to die, I even told my son all the stuff he needs to do when I go, but I felt like there were two people standing behind my bed dressed in pure white. One of them touched my shoulder, and after that I was fine. My daughter says there was no one else in the room, but I know this happened." Immediately after we went something like :O. Catholics here don´t believe in angels in white or anything like that, so we explained what is possible that happened, and move on with the lesson. We tell them they need to pray to know if it is true, and she says, "Oh, I already know that you were sent by God." Huh? "Ya, I have closed the door on sooooo many people from religions previously, but I felt like I NEEDED to let you jovenes in the door and talk to me." It´s insane, we have had like, 8 people like that this week that bear their testimonies at the end, we are very, very excited this area is FINALLY going to grow! We saw the baptisms for the last two years and they were only 29. IN MEXICO! That number should be like, 70-80 or something. We want to change that, help the ward to grow in their faith and trust in the missionaries, and the Lord is blessing us to be able to do it.

I am so blessed to be here in Uruapan, to be able to see peoples lives really change, see families be healed, people leave behind self destructive vices, and move forward with a faith that is firmly based in Christ. I know this church is true. There is no other explanation than we have a loving Father in Heaven that wants us to be happy. People, by themselves, are unable to do the miracles I have witnessed. God lives. He loves us. Of this I know, and speak with the people every day.

Thank you all for being so supportive of me, throughout all my life. I have seen families without a good system...it sucks. Our family wasn´t perfect, but at least everyone wanted to be better, and strove to have it. And now our family is awesome! I see these other people and think, wow, what if Dad was a drug addict, or a hopeless drunk. What if Ben was killed by gangsters when he was 16? THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERYONE FOR BEING GOOD PEOPLE.

Well, I think that´s all I have for this week.

OH! It´s time for a special time I like to call, ONLY IN MEXICOOOOO!!!!!!!
I saw a restaurant yesterday while we were walking around Centro. It has the picture of Paris Hilton eating a burger, and a palm tree on the sign that says, "Afuera y Al Dentro Burger" which, translated, means In ´N Out Burger! Yep. They are trying to hit that immigrant that was deported audience hard down here. Only in Mexico.

OK, that´s all that I have this week.

Adios familia!

Les amo, cuiden se!

Elder Newell

June 28th 2010

There is this giant hole in the middle of a street here with construction, and all the rain turned this 20 foot deep hole into a cool waterfall.
A mural portraying the "viejitos" or old people. Every state here has a national dance, and Michoacan has the baila de los viejitos, and everyone wears a mask to look super old, and they basically stomp around with their canes for 10 minutes. Thought you might like it.
We get wet here.
This is my dog. His name is Fox. He wanders around a neighborhood, but he`s mine.
Well hello negrito dentisto.
We celebrated day of the dad and mom, and this is a dance the mothers did.

HOLA!

That sounds so awesome everyone! I hope you continue enjoying your time together, and play lots and lots of games for me! It`s weird, I`m at the point in the mission where I`m seeing things that I haven`t heard of before, like How to Train a Dragon or something like that by Pixar. I`m going to have a lot of stuff to get caught up on when I get back, I expect some form of list :P.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!! Holy cow, I can`t believe that when I get back Dad will be almost 60! You`re welcome dad. Happy birthday Mom and Rowan! I hope you had good ones!

That`s something I really appreicate about Utah now, festivals and stuff are safe. Here in Mexico, they are the most dangerous places. Everybody drinks like an elephant, even kids, and they are all crazy with alcohol and pictures of Christ`s death all around them, we try and avoid them whenever we can.

I`m sure it would be waaaay more economical to buy them down here. Like, a pair of nice shoes down here is something like 400 pesos if you look around, or like, 30 or so dollars. And I`m happy you don`t think Im overspending because...I need to spend a little more...for an umbrella and a new backpack. This one has held out valiantly for 6 months almost (CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT!?) but it`s starting to tear apart. We`re going to the holy land here, Wal-Mart. It`s outside of our area, but we have permission to go there today! WOOOOOOOOOH! I`m going to buy peanut butter, cereal, fat free milk, OOOOOH I`m excited. Especially since we didn`t take almost any taxis this month, so I have a bunch of extra money from the mission to be able to EAT in the mornings.

Elder Rojas is still doing good too, we said that if we catch our companion not smiling, they owe us pan dulce, or sweet bread thing that everyone sells here. So we`re keeping really busy, and really happy.



I think it`s time for, THE MUNDANE THING OF THE WEEEEEEEEEEEK ECHO ECHO ECHOECHO!

Well, as you can tell from picture 6, I was able to get really close to a giant hole in the middle of a busy street. Basically, there are no safety laws here. Kids play around this thing all day, and nobody cares. Only in Mexico.

However, I love these people. They have the potential to be so amazing! I can easily see a member of the 12 or prophet within the next 10-20 years being from Mexico. The members here are so strong, it`s crazy. The Stake President said something interesting, that the reason that there aren`t many GAs from Latin America is because not many go on missions, but he wants to help change that and encourage the youth to consider a mission.

Anyways, I love you all, I miss you, I know the church is true, and wish you all the best of luck.

¡ADIOS!


Elder Joseph Newell

June 21st 2010

¿¡HOLA MI AMOROSO FAMILIA, COMO ESTÁN!?

Aicarai, sounds like you are all tuckered out! Hope you all enjoy returning to home and resting for a bit. That story is hilarious, I wish I was there to see it all, hahahaha.

Ya, Alex is honestly having a super hard mission so that I can see it and not complain, and tell others to do the same. One of the areas in the district is having a super hard time, and I told them, hey, at least your not in the borders of Thailand where they had 0 of everything last week. They responded, 0!? How is that possible!? I said, I have no idea, but count your blessings. Thanks Al!

Congratulations Mark for graduation! Bet you´re super excited to move on with the next part of your life/education! I want to see that picture, sounds delicious. Tooth cake.

Well, I hope all of your Fathers Day went well. For us, every single person we know as we walked by, Elderes! Ven y comer tomales de elote con nosotros! Or, Elderes, tomen refresco, no tengan prisa! Aqui esta pazoli, coman, coman! I literally vomited descreetly in the house of an investigator because we just had waaaay too much food, and we can´t say no or they get offended.

Also, I forgot my camera, but the rainy season is here! I have a picture of us before we bought umbrellas, where we were outside for like, 2 minutes, and I am dripping wet, and the streets are now rivers. It´s pretty intense. But at least the heat is mostly gone now. The problem is that there are a lot of dirt roads, and dirt+rain=dirty clothes. And shoes. My poor, poor shoes. But I´m super happy you bought me such great ones Grandma and Effie, and Dad! Waterproof has saved my life.

Armando Sisneros is still doing awesome. He told us one day this week, I want nothing to do with drugs or alchohol anymore in my life, he stood up, went in to his room, took out all of his stuff, and dumped them in a water basin. He is going to work with us in the evenings to stay even farther away from them, and take lessons on how to paint from his neice. This gospel is amazing! I found out that he actually distanced himself from his family so that they didn´t have his example in their lives, and that his wife also kind of hates him...but he now has a hope to see them again. I know that this gospel is true. It changes lives! I see it in the eyes of the people we teach, those who are searching for something they know is out there, but have no idea where. ITS RIGHT HERE! I want to scream it from the rooftops, that you don´t have to worship a dead God! He LIVES! He is waiting for us to come unto him and feel his presence, but we have to take the first steps to go there!

Armando also introduced us to his nieces, one who was critically depressed, and didn´t leave the house for 4 months. Now I can see that she knows she has something that can help her. She has hope in her eyes, and smiles and laughs. I am so amazingly privileged to be here in Mexico, and help these people discover the hope that their Father in Heaven wants to give.

Well, I think that´s all for this week. I´ll send pictures next week, I promise!

Adios familia!

Elder Joseph Newell