9-20-10 email

hey,

Well I'm finally in Oaxaca I'm in an city called Ocotlan, its pretty crazy here the people are very poor and don't have very much. I have been sick basically since i got here but they say that's regular. This mission is very very different than the one in Utah, this is much harder, the culture shock is very weird, I can speak Spanish okay but not well enough to under stand what everyone is saying. My first companion is elder monesterio he is from tampico Mexico he speaks pretty much no English so we dont really talk to much because there is such a language barrier, but we read out of the book of Mormon in Spanish every night out loud to help me with my Spanish. I think I'm getting better but who knows. Its very funny here when every people see me their jaw drops and they just stare at me mostly kids, my companion says its because there are pretty much no white people here, which is true! i have yet to see another white person other than missionaries since i got here! and when every the homeless people see me they always beg me for money my companion tell me just to say that i don't speak Spanish then they will leave me alone haha so ill try that today.

The 16th was Mexican independence day so there was tons of things going on like parades and bombs going off it was pretty exciting! people really seem to love their country here, they always scream viva mexico haha its pretty funny!

The food here is very weird but all the same at the same time basically every meal consists of beans and some kind of meat usually chicken. Yesterday we were eating beans of course and some meat that i thought was chicken until i said pass the chicken and the lady said oh this isnt chicken so i was like oh what is it and her and my companion laughed so yeah i still dont know what i ate but it didnt taste too bad! there are only about 20 members here so we have a branch not a ward but we have a building but it is very very different than the buildings that we have in the us! I didnt think the church would ever own anything so rundown! Ill send some pics of it in a separate email!

It rains every day here very hard rain too! So the streets are always muddy and wet! Some people have dirt floors so i dont know how they live when it rains like it does here. the place where im living is very small but its pretty clean, and our toilet actually has a toilet seat which is a luxury here in oaxaca because most that i have seen dont, i dont really know why but yeah! but luckly they have computers here! There are little Internet cafes everywhere in this little city so thats a plus! Well basically everything is crazy different here, i could prob write for hours about the crazy stuff that happens here so if you have any questions just ask because i wouldnt know where to start to explain how things are down here!

I love all of you! Read and pray every day!

tell all the kids that i love them and to be good!

Te amo ,

Elder Stradling





9-6-10 email

Hey mom


This week has been pretty good, I finnaly got my visa! We were on our way back from the Temple on Wed and I got a call and they told me a got it and that i would be going to the consolate on thursday, so thursday i went to downtown salt lake and went to teh consolate, they just took some pictures of me and my finger prints and made me sign a whole bunch of papers! Im pretty excitedto get down there! It will be very different than how things are now haha its very easy to be a missionary here! I mean we have a car, we live ina members house, we have a cell phone and we have access to basicly anything we want! People stop us on the street and stick money in our pockets and run away haha because we arent suppose to accept money from members haha its just very relaxed and easy enviorment! Im prob going to have a rude awakening when i get down to Oaxaca! It will be a good learning experience for me though! trials are always good that means that im growing, learning and progressing and thats why we are here anyways! So im pretty excited to start my new mission down in mexico and i say that ebcause it will prob be so different than how the mission is run here! Its funny though that when i first got teh call about my visa i was kinda disapointed because I like it here and i love the area im in and i like my companions! Its true though that it doesnt really matter where you serve, its just a blessing that I am able to serve!

Yesterday was fast sunday I always love fast sundays because i get to bare my testimony, we cover 18 wards but we can usually only make to 3-4 wards each sunday! Yesterday we made it to 3 so i got to bare my testimony 3 times, one was in a singles ward! And ill tell you what nothing is more awkward in this church than singles wards on fast sundays haha because no one will get up to bare their testimonies, there was like a 15-20 period where no one would get up and talk! haha so it was very awkward! We only went to the singles ward because we have an investagator that is dating some guy who goes to teh singles ward, its always very awkward!

This weeks scriptures are 3nephi 14:15-27 and 3Nephi 18:15, 18-20!

My new address will be

P.O. Box 30150
Salt Lake City Utah
84130-0150

This is just my pouch address I dont know my address for Mexico yet but ill get it soon and send it next monday!
The rules for pouch is that the letters cant be placed in an envelope it can only be a single peice of paper tri-folded and taped closed then stamped and addressed just like an other letter!
any questions ask me!


I should be able to call you when i am at the airport, i dk what day or time im leaving yet so its kinda random! Ill write you as soon as i know!

te amo
Elder Stadling