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Tuesday, October 26, 2010
10-18-10 email
This week went by very fast for me! Im feeling better, I'm still kinda sick but i feel much better! We have been very busy this week with teaching and all that fun stuff, we taught 30 lessons this week! We have two baptisms coming up this weekend, we would have had 3 but one of our investigators wants to wait an extra week for hers! That's okay though. We also picked up 11 new investigators this week! We are just finding and finding all over the place!
Tuesday was pretty good, we had district meeting here in Ocotlan, then in the evening I taught English classes, its very difficult to teach English, I teach a bunch of kids and then a few teenagers and a few adults, they just cant pronounce or remember the things that I'm teaching them! Its really takes alot of patience, especially with the little kids, they get rowdy at times and i have to sit them down. I teach it in our chapel, we decided to start having them on Thursday evenings as well, because we are getting alot of people who come out! I made up some worksheets and some home work for them to do also but most of them don't do it! I guess now i know how my teachers felt when I wouldn't do my homework in elementary school haha! Carma huh?
Wednesday one of our zone leaders came over to our area to work with us, his name is Elder Hayden, he is from Idaho. We taught alot that day and found some new investigators, we also gave a baptismal date to 3 different people so it was a pretty successful day! We also went over to sanpedro apostle, a little pueblo about 15 min away by taxi from our pueblo, the investigators who are getting married and baptized this weekend live there. They have a tiny little house. Carlos the husband is still very concerned about his drinking problem, he hasnt drank in a while but he says the temptations are getting stronger and stronger everyday! It really amazing me how strong he is though, because he use to be a barracho which is basically a drunk guy who just wanders the streets and bothers white people like me haha. He has really come a long way and thats all thanks to the Gospel, he can really see a difference in his life since he has started living to the will of the lord, once he started coming to church he has gotten a good stable job, has been able to be a much better husband and father to his two little kids. Thats the secret to life right there, its a promise that our heavenly father has given everyone, that if we keep the commandments we will prosper in the land, sure there will still be hard times, but life is just so much better and we can be so much happier if we yield our hearts to the lord.
Thursday we went to Oaxaca because we had to drop elder Hayden back off at his area, and while we were there we went to a few places to find some information out about what we need to do to get Carlos married! After that we came back and taught a few lessons, and picked up a new investigator and taught a less active family!
Friday nothing too exciting happen we picked up a few new investigators, each day is a learning lesson, we had two appointments at the same time one was just a maybe appointment and one was a pretty solid one so we went to the solid one then after we went to the maybe one and we felt really bad because they had been waiting for us and we were an hour late. We really never know which appointments will be solid or not because when we knock doors we can usually always set up an appt to return but most of those fall through but sometimes like the one on Friday the people are really wanting to listen to the message.
Saturday was a good day we taught alot and picked up some new investigators, our first lesson of the day was with a family that we have been teaching for a week or two and the mom said she knew that the message that we are sharing is true and she knew that the book of Mormon was true, but she said she cant change religions because its a family tradition to be catholic and her mom would be really mad. Its just amazing our much tradition plays a role here, but we I think over time we will be able to baptize her! Also in the evening we taught the wife of a very less active member, he hadnt been to church in 10-15 years, he said over that time he did alot of things from drinking- drugs but he said a year ago he quit and he wanted to return to church but his wife was "very catholic" haha and they had a son and they were tring to decide what religion they would raise there son in...so we went there and at first the wife was very unwilling to go to church and said she would never change her religion, Then we shared the message of the Restoration, she knew the bible pretty good, which only made it better for us, because in the first lesson we basically just prove every other religion wrong especially the catholic, because the catholic religion is only based on tradition and not on much else. So by the end of the lesson, the husband said to his son with a smile on his face " looks like your going to be a Mormon" haha After the lesson the wife was very excited to go to church the next day and very excited to pray and read the book of Mormon! Its really just amazing how powerful the message is and the spirit that we share. Because something amazing about the message we share is that we tell them and promise them that if they pray and ask god if the message we shared is true or not! We dont try to force them or anything we let them find out for themselfs! Thats something amazing about the gospel that we have!
Sunday was good we fasted for Carlos and his family, and I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about faith and the blessings of this gospel! Its amazing how when i need to I can talk all the Spanish I want! I guess I talked too long though because my companion didnt have time to speak so he gets to talk next week! Its very different at church here, its just something that I had never experienced before because growing up there was always lots of people at church!
So that was my week! Not too much happened but some how I find a way to make these emails very long haha so something interesting i found out this week is that here they call Mickey Mouse "Raton Miguel" haha i laughed so hard when I found that out! They call him mickey mouse too but also Raton Miguel which basically means Miguel the rat haha Also I think everyday this week I ate eggs! They make alot of stuff out of eggs! Whether its eggs and green beans, eggs and pig stomach or eggs and chili peppers!
te amo,
Elder Stradling
Tuesday was pretty good, we had district meeting here in Ocotlan, then in the evening I taught English classes, its very difficult to teach English, I teach a bunch of kids and then a few teenagers and a few adults, they just cant pronounce or remember the things that I'm teaching them! Its really takes alot of patience, especially with the little kids, they get rowdy at times and i have to sit them down. I teach it in our chapel, we decided to start having them on Thursday evenings as well, because we are getting alot of people who come out! I made up some worksheets and some home work for them to do also but most of them don't do it! I guess now i know how my teachers felt when I wouldn't do my homework in elementary school haha! Carma huh?
Wednesday one of our zone leaders came over to our area to work with us, his name is Elder Hayden, he is from Idaho. We taught alot that day and found some new investigators, we also gave a baptismal date to 3 different people so it was a pretty successful day! We also went over to sanpedro apostle, a little pueblo about 15 min away by taxi from our pueblo, the investigators who are getting married and baptized this weekend live there. They have a tiny little house. Carlos the husband is still very concerned about his drinking problem, he hasnt drank in a while but he says the temptations are getting stronger and stronger everyday! It really amazing me how strong he is though, because he use to be a barracho which is basically a drunk guy who just wanders the streets and bothers white people like me haha. He has really come a long way and thats all thanks to the Gospel, he can really see a difference in his life since he has started living to the will of the lord, once he started coming to church he has gotten a good stable job, has been able to be a much better husband and father to his two little kids. Thats the secret to life right there, its a promise that our heavenly father has given everyone, that if we keep the commandments we will prosper in the land, sure there will still be hard times, but life is just so much better and we can be so much happier if we yield our hearts to the lord.
Thursday we went to Oaxaca because we had to drop elder Hayden back off at his area, and while we were there we went to a few places to find some information out about what we need to do to get Carlos married! After that we came back and taught a few lessons, and picked up a new investigator and taught a less active family!
Friday nothing too exciting happen we picked up a few new investigators, each day is a learning lesson, we had two appointments at the same time one was just a maybe appointment and one was a pretty solid one so we went to the solid one then after we went to the maybe one and we felt really bad because they had been waiting for us and we were an hour late. We really never know which appointments will be solid or not because when we knock doors we can usually always set up an appt to return but most of those fall through but sometimes like the one on Friday the people are really wanting to listen to the message.
Saturday was a good day we taught alot and picked up some new investigators, our first lesson of the day was with a family that we have been teaching for a week or two and the mom said she knew that the message that we are sharing is true and she knew that the book of Mormon was true, but she said she cant change religions because its a family tradition to be catholic and her mom would be really mad. Its just amazing our much tradition plays a role here, but we I think over time we will be able to baptize her! Also in the evening we taught the wife of a very less active member, he hadnt been to church in 10-15 years, he said over that time he did alot of things from drinking- drugs but he said a year ago he quit and he wanted to return to church but his wife was "very catholic" haha and they had a son and they were tring to decide what religion they would raise there son in...so we went there and at first the wife was very unwilling to go to church and said she would never change her religion, Then we shared the message of the Restoration, she knew the bible pretty good, which only made it better for us, because in the first lesson we basically just prove every other religion wrong especially the catholic, because the catholic religion is only based on tradition and not on much else. So by the end of the lesson, the husband said to his son with a smile on his face " looks like your going to be a Mormon" haha After the lesson the wife was very excited to go to church the next day and very excited to pray and read the book of Mormon! Its really just amazing how powerful the message is and the spirit that we share. Because something amazing about the message we share is that we tell them and promise them that if they pray and ask god if the message we shared is true or not! We dont try to force them or anything we let them find out for themselfs! Thats something amazing about the gospel that we have!
Sunday was good we fasted for Carlos and his family, and I gave a talk in sacrament meeting about faith and the blessings of this gospel! Its amazing how when i need to I can talk all the Spanish I want! I guess I talked too long though because my companion didnt have time to speak so he gets to talk next week! Its very different at church here, its just something that I had never experienced before because growing up there was always lots of people at church!
So that was my week! Not too much happened but some how I find a way to make these emails very long haha so something interesting i found out this week is that here they call Mickey Mouse "Raton Miguel" haha i laughed so hard when I found that out! They call him mickey mouse too but also Raton Miguel which basically means Miguel the rat haha Also I think everyday this week I ate eggs! They make alot of stuff out of eggs! Whether its eggs and green beans, eggs and pig stomach or eggs and chili peppers!
te amo,
Elder Stradling
Monday, October 11, 2010
10-11-10 email
Well I've been here about a month, its been pretty good so far, although I have been sick pretty much this whole time, Im starting to feel alot better! Tuesday we had Zone conference, which was really good! President De La Cruz was there and him and his wife gave some very good training, lots of the time they just talked about the rules and all that fun stuff but they rest they gave us some good training on teaching! Then after the conference I was finally able to go to the doctor! He said I had some weird sickness that I dont know how to say let alone spell! But he said that my intestines are inflamed and i have some parasites, so he gave me some prescriptions that I have to take for the next month, so Ive been taking them for a week and I'm already feeling alot better, he said i had the flu also, prob because we haven't had warm water to shower with in our house, and its been pretty cold here in the nights! So he told president that we needed to buy a gas take for our water heater, so now we have the luxury of warm showers now, its pretty great, I forgot how good it felt to take a warm shower! The doctor also told me not to eat spicy food and or really fatty foods, which i laughed at because, I'm in Mexico and thats almost impossible! But i said okay! So Wednesday for lunch we had prob the spiciest and most fattening food Ive eaten since I have been here, Pig neck with potatoes and chile Verde, which is just blended up Jalapenos and other peppers poured on top of the neck and potatoes, I dont know if you have ever had pig neck, but its basically just tastes like ham with a ton of fat all over it! Besides the fact that it was the exact opposite of what the doctor told me to eat, it actually tasted pretty good, but i sure felt sick after wards, but that's okay! Also wed we found a new family that we are now teaching! they are really a good family and are very interested, but they were unable to come to church on Sunday because of some other thing they had to do!
Also wed we set a date for another family to be married and baptized! They are with out a doubt the most humble people i have met in my whole life! I will send you a picture of there house next week! Its basically just a chicken coop that they are living in! The husband had just been a drunk for the past 5-10 years, is now working to stay sober! They aren't married but they have two little kids one is about 2-3 and the other is about 1 or less! They sleep on a straw matt on their dirt floor! They are always wanting to give us food and buy us drinks and pay for our taxi ride back to our house, I always feel so bad when they feed us, I mean its only rice and a fried egg but its all they have and they have only known us for a week or so and they are just so willing to give to us! They live in a little pueblo called Santiago which is a very poor little town, there aren't any cars except the taxis that come in and out! Everyone just has a house or a donkey that they have pull their carriages, its kinda of odd to see, its like living in the old days! They aren't married so that will be the hardest part, people here don't really get married because it cost money, its only about 50-60 dollars or about 600-700 pesos but to them thats is a lot of money! When me and my companion told them that we will find the money and get them married, they just started to cry and the poor wife just looked so happy! She has been wanting to get married for a long time but hasnt been able to! Just seeing the people here really just makes you think how much we take for granted in the United States! Its really just very humbling to see! We were also able to get them some padding that they can sleep on because they just sleep on a dirt floor and its very cold in the nights, in a hut made of sticks and sheet metal!
So not too much else has happened this week! we have been very busy teaching lessons and everything! We taught 26 lessons this week and found 10 new investigators! we could have anywhere between 2-6 baptisms at the end of this month! It just takes awhile because the rule is that in order to be baptized they have to come to church at least 3 times! So yeah! So it hasnt really rained here for a week or so which is very odd! Its kinda hot during the days but it doesn't really phase me since I'm use to the AZ heat! yesterday I was able to bare my testimony in sacrament meeting as well as bless the sacrament! Pretty much everyone here on fast sunday will bare their testimonies, because there are such few members! Next week my companion and i get to speak in sacrament meeting! haha that will be fun! I still havent decided yet on what I'm going to speak on, but I'm sure it will come to me!
Love Elder Stradling
Also wed we set a date for another family to be married and baptized! They are with out a doubt the most humble people i have met in my whole life! I will send you a picture of there house next week! Its basically just a chicken coop that they are living in! The husband had just been a drunk for the past 5-10 years, is now working to stay sober! They aren't married but they have two little kids one is about 2-3 and the other is about 1 or less! They sleep on a straw matt on their dirt floor! They are always wanting to give us food and buy us drinks and pay for our taxi ride back to our house, I always feel so bad when they feed us, I mean its only rice and a fried egg but its all they have and they have only known us for a week or so and they are just so willing to give to us! They live in a little pueblo called Santiago which is a very poor little town, there aren't any cars except the taxis that come in and out! Everyone just has a house or a donkey that they have pull their carriages, its kinda of odd to see, its like living in the old days! They aren't married so that will be the hardest part, people here don't really get married because it cost money, its only about 50-60 dollars or about 600-700 pesos but to them thats is a lot of money! When me and my companion told them that we will find the money and get them married, they just started to cry and the poor wife just looked so happy! She has been wanting to get married for a long time but hasnt been able to! Just seeing the people here really just makes you think how much we take for granted in the United States! Its really just very humbling to see! We were also able to get them some padding that they can sleep on because they just sleep on a dirt floor and its very cold in the nights, in a hut made of sticks and sheet metal!
So not too much else has happened this week! we have been very busy teaching lessons and everything! We taught 26 lessons this week and found 10 new investigators! we could have anywhere between 2-6 baptisms at the end of this month! It just takes awhile because the rule is that in order to be baptized they have to come to church at least 3 times! So yeah! So it hasnt really rained here for a week or so which is very odd! Its kinda hot during the days but it doesn't really phase me since I'm use to the AZ heat! yesterday I was able to bare my testimony in sacrament meeting as well as bless the sacrament! Pretty much everyone here on fast sunday will bare their testimonies, because there are such few members! Next week my companion and i get to speak in sacrament meeting! haha that will be fun! I still havent decided yet on what I'm going to speak on, but I'm sure it will come to me!
Love Elder Stradling
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