Well this week was kinda a waste as far as missionary work goes. I got really sick and ended up spending 3 days in the hospital. They finally decided to release me this morning, it was nice to get the IV´s taken out of my arms and be able to go outside and feel fresh air, because even though I was probably at one of the nicest private hospitals in oaxaca, it still didnt have air conditioning, and it is starting to get pretty hot here so I just had to lay in the hospital bed for those days I was in there! I was only able to work Tuesday and wed but I will still tell you about the rest of my week even though its pretty boring!
Tuesday- We left early to an lesson with Isabel, because we havent gone to see her in a few days, and she needs lots of help with the things she has on her plate, having 5 little kids and being 8 and a half months pregnant, and we are pretty much the only people that she has in her life, her husband left her and she has no other family because he mom died and her brother is a drug addict and could be dead as well. So we always go over there and do what we can to try and help her out, whether it be lecture the kids so that they will behave better, or help them with there home work, or clean there little room that they live in! After we helped her with some things we had a few other lessons then we had our lunch appointment. After that we had an appointment with marco then sandra, then alberto, marisol, and Dalia, then we headed over to the appointment that we had with the Jimenez family! A family of 5 that we are looking to baptize this upcoming weekend, but we havent been able to see them much the last week, so we will just keep praying fro them!
Wed- We really didnt do too much today, we started of by going over and seeing Jose Luis and belem! They are getting married the 13th of April, and she will get baptized the 17th of april! So that should be really good! Missionaries have been trying to get them married for over a year now, but we finally were able to convince them to tie the knott! After that we headed over to the lunch! This was the last meal I ate before I got sick, and it was with some wealthier members of our ward, we just had some meat and rice, then after that we had a lesson with Lilliana and Arieli, we watched the movie about the restoration! It was a good lesson, but Arieli still has her hope in the catholic church, which I will never be able to understand, it easily has to be on of the most incorrect christian churches that exist! Its just sad how they live in lies, but I guess its good they that they actually believe in God and His son! After that we went and visited Isabel and helped her a little bit, then we headed over to give a blessing to the hermana Felipa, and her son because they were both sick, the, after that we headed over to a members house that lives in another ward, and we helped the elders in that ward put a baptismal date, they asked us to come help them teach because they are both kinda clueless haha, so we headed over and helped them out a little bit and showed them a few things to do when you teach. Then we went home and I went to bed feeling perfectly fine.
Thursday, At about 3 in the morning I woke with stomach pains and diarea, and but I really didnt think much of it because that will happen usually about every week and I am just use to it, but it got worse as time went on then at about 8 I started throwing up as well, and I had a fever, so I called sister De la Cruz ( the mission presidents wife) And she set up a doctors appt for me at 11 that morning, so I went to the doctor and by that time I had already thrown up like 8 times, and I had a fever of about 102. So he gave me some medicine and one of the medicine was a shot that I had to give to myself, but I didnt know how so we went to a sister who is a nurse, and she gave it to me and she made me some soup to eat, so I went home still with lots of stomach pains, diarea, and a fever.
Friday- I slept pretty good over the night and when I woke up I didnt have a fever anymore so I thought I was getting better, but I had another doctors appt later that morning at 11, so I went and the doctor, he told me that the infection is still really bad, but that I would feel alot better the next day, so I pretty much slept the whole day then later at about 7 when I went over to that sisters house to get my shot injected, she could tell that I felt really bad, and she checked my temperature and I had a fever of like 105-106, so she put an IV in my arm, and my comp decided to call sister De la cruz and she sent another doctor who is a specialist over to the house where I was at, when he got there he checked me and said that I needed to go to teh hospital, so he took me there, and they did all these tests on me and put IVs in my arms, and they told me that I had a very strong Infection in my intestinal trac, and that I had to stay there that night.
Saturday- I didnt really sleep much over the night because the whole night there were doctors looking at me and nurses were poking me with needles and taking my blood. It was a pretty nice hospital though, it is owned by a LDS guy, and its like a private hospital, they said I was lucky to be able to get a room there because it is usually always full, because it only only like 6 patients and we each have out own nurse and a doctor will come and check you and talk to you like every hour all day and all night. It was also conference on Saturday so the head doctor brought his laptop into my room and the mission president came and watched it with me and my companion, Him and his wife were there with me for most of the time I was there, the mission president is really funny, he knows a little bit of english so he will try and speak english to me. Also the assistants to teh president were in there alot as well, and there was space for everyone because my room had a few couches in it. So After conference we just talked and rested. Through out the day lots of different doctors came in to see me, and the mission president arrenged so that one of the best doctors around came in from Mexico city to see me, he said I had salmonella ( I dont know if thats how you spell it). So they gave me some medicine for that and I started getting better, because before the other doctors werent really sure what kind of infection I had exactly. I also got to talk to my dad so that was nice!
Sunday- The whole night the nurse wouldnt leave me alone, she would come in all the time and check my temperature and blood pressure and all that stuff, it was kinda annoying, but sunday we were able to watch the conference, it was really good, and I enjoyed it alot, it helped me keep mind off the pain that I was feeling, then by night time I was feeling alot better, and the doctors said that I was going to be bale to go home the next day! So that made me happy, my companion too, He was tired of sleeping on the couch haha, but I dont blame him.
So now I am back in my house and I still feel kinda sick but I feel a ton better! So that was pretty much my whole week!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
3-28-11
This week for me went by really fast, pretty much just like always, we are already halfway through this transfer, which is crazy, we only have one baptism this transfer, but we have a family of 5 that we are looking to baptize the 10th of April because this weekend is going to be general conference! I am pretty excited for that though, its crazy that it has already been 6 months since the last one! I love to watch conference and listen to the talks, as missionaries its really just a spiritual replenishment, but I guess It like that for everyone not just for missionaries! Well today I have now been gone for 11 months, it really doesn't feel that way though, it feels like it has gone by so fast, and even faster ever since I got to Mexico! I feel like I have really changed alot, but I feel like they were changes for the better. I am now pretty much fluent in Spanish, there are still a few words here and there that I haven't learned yet but I guess Im still like that in English as well haha. Its really weird to speak English, I often forget how to say things in English, just because Spanish is such a different way of speaking and a different form to express yourself, Im sure it will be funny for everyone to see when I get home! I have also lost a lot of weight, well I think so at least, when I left home I weighed like 260- 265, on miércoles when we were at the mission offices, I checked my weight and I am now 205 lbs, pretty crazy huh? I dont think I have been this small since like 9th grade haha well maybe 10th but who knows! Its nice though I feel alot healthier and more agile. Im thinking about playing football again when I get home But I really dont think about that stuff too often, seeing as I still have 13 months left in my mission! So even though I dont really remember very much of what we actually did this week I will give you the day by day run down of my week-
Tuesday- We left early because sister Felipa invited us to come eat breakfast at her house, and also while we were there we finalized a few things so that her son could finally get married to his girlfriend who isnt a member, they have a kid together, he is 19 and she is 20. We are also hoping to baptize her the 10th or 17th of April! After that we went and visited a few people, and taught a lesson to Liliana and arieli, 2 investigators that we are teaching, they are both younger women one 18 and the other 20, who are both married and each have one kid. It was sad because Liliana who is 18 told us that she is going to get a divorce with her husband who is 29 yrs old, they got married when she was 16, but whats sad is that actually a normal thing around here. After that we went and ate lunch then after we had to go help a 15 yr old young man in our ward write his talk, because he has never talked before and he is a newer member, after that we taught a few more lessons and headed home.
Wed- We had interviews with the president, ours was suppose to be at 11am, but I guess they got behind and so we ended up waiting there in the offices until like 4pm, so while we were waiting we headed over to dominoes which was only like a mile away, and we ate some pizza. After we finally finished getting interviewed we headed back to our area and started working and we taught a few lessons.
Thursday- we left a little late because we had to do weekly planning, so after that we went and taught liliana and arieli, then we had to go to the lunch appt at 2pm, we eat with a non member on Thursdays and she always gives us a ton of food, and if we dont eat more than one plate she gets really mad. so after we were forced to stuff ourselves we headed to teach some lessons and to look for a few referrals that we received, then we went and taught a few more lessons!
Friday- We left early because we went with that couple to go get there medical certificates down, which is pretty much just a physical, that they need in order to get married. After that we went with them back to there house and they fed us some beans and tortillas for breakfast, which was pretty good! I have pretty much learned to enjoy just about everything, except chicken feet and pig skin and stomach, I still really dont enjoying eating those things! After that we went out and taught some people then later in the evening we went to an activity that another ward had, pretty much just for the food and then after we played soccer with some of the kids, it was pretty fun but I ended up ripping a huge chunk of skin from the bottom of my foot, it hurt for a few days to walk but now a hardly feel it!
Saturday- We really didnt do anything too excited, we taught some lessons but Mexico was playing a soccer game so lots of people were busy with that haha, soccer kinda takes priority around here!
Sunday- We confirmed Isabel who we baptized last weekend, it was good she asked if the bishop coled confirm her, so he did and it was a very good blessing as well! After church we ate at the bishops and then we went and taught a few other lessons and visited and gave the sacrament to some older member in our ward who are too sick to go to the church on Sundays, they are always so happy to see us! It feels good to be able to go and talk to them since they really dont get to do that very much!
Thanks again for your email, I hope you have a great week full of success!
te amo,
Elder Stradling
Tuesday- We left early because sister Felipa invited us to come eat breakfast at her house, and also while we were there we finalized a few things so that her son could finally get married to his girlfriend who isnt a member, they have a kid together, he is 19 and she is 20. We are also hoping to baptize her the 10th or 17th of April! After that we went and visited a few people, and taught a lesson to Liliana and arieli, 2 investigators that we are teaching, they are both younger women one 18 and the other 20, who are both married and each have one kid. It was sad because Liliana who is 18 told us that she is going to get a divorce with her husband who is 29 yrs old, they got married when she was 16, but whats sad is that actually a normal thing around here. After that we went and ate lunch then after we had to go help a 15 yr old young man in our ward write his talk, because he has never talked before and he is a newer member, after that we taught a few more lessons and headed home.
Wed- We had interviews with the president, ours was suppose to be at 11am, but I guess they got behind and so we ended up waiting there in the offices until like 4pm, so while we were waiting we headed over to dominoes which was only like a mile away, and we ate some pizza. After we finally finished getting interviewed we headed back to our area and started working and we taught a few lessons.
Thursday- we left a little late because we had to do weekly planning, so after that we went and taught liliana and arieli, then we had to go to the lunch appt at 2pm, we eat with a non member on Thursdays and she always gives us a ton of food, and if we dont eat more than one plate she gets really mad. so after we were forced to stuff ourselves we headed to teach some lessons and to look for a few referrals that we received, then we went and taught a few more lessons!
Friday- We left early because we went with that couple to go get there medical certificates down, which is pretty much just a physical, that they need in order to get married. After that we went with them back to there house and they fed us some beans and tortillas for breakfast, which was pretty good! I have pretty much learned to enjoy just about everything, except chicken feet and pig skin and stomach, I still really dont enjoying eating those things! After that we went out and taught some people then later in the evening we went to an activity that another ward had, pretty much just for the food and then after we played soccer with some of the kids, it was pretty fun but I ended up ripping a huge chunk of skin from the bottom of my foot, it hurt for a few days to walk but now a hardly feel it!
Saturday- We really didnt do anything too excited, we taught some lessons but Mexico was playing a soccer game so lots of people were busy with that haha, soccer kinda takes priority around here!
Sunday- We confirmed Isabel who we baptized last weekend, it was good she asked if the bishop coled confirm her, so he did and it was a very good blessing as well! After church we ate at the bishops and then we went and taught a few other lessons and visited and gave the sacrament to some older member in our ward who are too sick to go to the church on Sundays, they are always so happy to see us! It feels good to be able to go and talk to them since they really dont get to do that very much!
Thanks again for your email, I hope you have a great week full of success!
te amo,
Elder Stradling
2-21-11
I got the package you and mel sent! Thanks a ton! I love all of it! The candy is great! Its like christmas!! haha
This week was pretty good, it went by really fast though, this whole transfer has actually gone by really fast! There are only like 2 weeks left! I have really enjoyed it though, thats probably why it has gone by so fast! We have just been so busy so I dont really have time to think about the time or anything so everyday just seems to go by so fast! We had two baptisms this week, the services went pretty well! We baptized 2 sisters of Alberto who we just baptized about 2 weeks ago! Ones name is Marisol, she is 15 years old and already has a 2 year old son! She is a cool girl though, then we also baptized her little sister Dalia who is 8 years old, even though she looks like she is 5 haha! Well let me give you the play by play of my week! Even though I cant really remember much that happened!
Tuesday, we had a zone conference, it was really good and the president gave a very good training about prayer and how we should utilize it with our investigators! It last pretty long though so like the last hour seemed like it lasted forever! It started at 8am and we got done at like 4pm. They gave us like a 40 min snack break, which consisted of yogurt ( oh yeah, I like yogurt now, I use to hate the stuff before my mission but now I eat it like every day!, oh and mustard as well, I use to hate that stuff even more than yogurt, but now I eat it! weird huh) and a banana! Right after we left the conference there was a huge riot in the central, of Oaxaca because the president of mexico came into town and the teachers here dont like him so they all went crazy haha. We didnt get to see any of it though! After the conference we were really hungry, but we didn't have time to eat because we were already late for an appointment, so we just went out and worked then at about 8 we decided we would go get some free tacos from a members taco stand! They were good, I dont know if you know what tacos al pastor are, but they are amazing, you should google it! haha
Wed was a pretty basic day as a missionary, when we first left we headed to the bank because my comp was out of money! Then after that we headed to an appointment and put 3 baptismal dates with a family, they will be baptized this Friday, or Sunday! We aren't sure yet! Then after that we taught a few more lessons then went to lunch with a member, she is a teacher, and for some reason here the teachers are weird and are always complaining about stuff so they have little marches and riots like the one that happened on Tuesday. She said she was there at the riot and she said she went to a march that morning. Pretty much a march here is all the teachers just dont go to work and they park their cars in the middle of streets and they just stand there yelling so it meses up everyone else's schedule, I really dont get it, because it just screws over the kids, because teh teachers dont show up to school haha and this happens once a week minimum! So while we were eating with the sister who goes to these marches, I kinda chewed her out and made her feel dumb for marching haha, and I showed her the light haha! My comp was just busting up laughing the whole time I was talking to her. Later we went and taught the family that we just baptized yesterday! Then we taught a few more lessons and went home.
Thursday was another really fast and normal day, we taught alot of lessons and found a few more investigators. At night we taught my fav family of investigators, and that lesson went really well! They love us and Hopefully they will get married and baptized in the next couple weeks!
Friday, was kinda a bad day! It started out really good but ended bad. We had a another person we were suppose to baptize on Saturday but while we were walking to another appointment we ran into him and his family, and he said that he didn't want to get baptized yet, but he wanted to wait till he was 18 years old. So we said how about we go to your house and talk about it! So we went there and it turns out that his grandparents who are catholic told him a ton of lies and stuff to scare him about baptism and also that if he got baptized they would never talk to him again! So he didnt get baptized on Saturday which was pretty disappointing, but oh well, maybe in a week or two, we just need to work on him a little bit more!
Saturday, we didnt really have anything planned for this day because we were suppose to have a baptism, so we pretty much just spent the day going around and telling all the people that we invited to the baptism that it was cancelled, then after that we just went and filled the font and got things ready for the baptism that we were going to have the next day! After that we went and taught a few lessons and then had to fill out the baptism forms and had to go and search for white clothes for the girls we baptized, because those white overall things that we have are all huge and the people we baptized are small! haha So we had to run around and do that, then at 8 we had another really good appointment! Then we went home!
Sunday, we left early to pass by for all our investigators so that they would go to church! We had 10 investigators at church and they all seemed to like it alot! We had the baptism at 2pm right after the last hour of church so we had lots of members there for support! We also had lots of investigators there to watch as well! One of them named Marco who has been kinda scared to get baptized told us after the baptismal services that he wanted to be baptized the next Saturday! So that was really cool! Also the family of 7 that we are teaching was there watching and they said they want to know what they need to do in order to be baptized! It was pretty cool! Thats why I love for investigators to see baptisms! It gets them all excited! Our ward is like all impressed with us and they always say we are the best missionaries they have ever had in their ward haha! We just laugh when they tell us that! After the services we went and ate pizza at the bishops house haha, its really funny here people just dont care if they buy stuff on Sundays haha including the bishop who bought a ton of pizza for us!
well I hope that your doing great and that you have a great week!
Te amo
Elder Stradling
This week was pretty good, it went by really fast though, this whole transfer has actually gone by really fast! There are only like 2 weeks left! I have really enjoyed it though, thats probably why it has gone by so fast! We have just been so busy so I dont really have time to think about the time or anything so everyday just seems to go by so fast! We had two baptisms this week, the services went pretty well! We baptized 2 sisters of Alberto who we just baptized about 2 weeks ago! Ones name is Marisol, she is 15 years old and already has a 2 year old son! She is a cool girl though, then we also baptized her little sister Dalia who is 8 years old, even though she looks like she is 5 haha! Well let me give you the play by play of my week! Even though I cant really remember much that happened!
Tuesday, we had a zone conference, it was really good and the president gave a very good training about prayer and how we should utilize it with our investigators! It last pretty long though so like the last hour seemed like it lasted forever! It started at 8am and we got done at like 4pm. They gave us like a 40 min snack break, which consisted of yogurt ( oh yeah, I like yogurt now, I use to hate the stuff before my mission but now I eat it like every day!, oh and mustard as well, I use to hate that stuff even more than yogurt, but now I eat it! weird huh) and a banana! Right after we left the conference there was a huge riot in the central, of Oaxaca because the president of mexico came into town and the teachers here dont like him so they all went crazy haha. We didnt get to see any of it though! After the conference we were really hungry, but we didn't have time to eat because we were already late for an appointment, so we just went out and worked then at about 8 we decided we would go get some free tacos from a members taco stand! They were good, I dont know if you know what tacos al pastor are, but they are amazing, you should google it! haha
Wed was a pretty basic day as a missionary, when we first left we headed to the bank because my comp was out of money! Then after that we headed to an appointment and put 3 baptismal dates with a family, they will be baptized this Friday, or Sunday! We aren't sure yet! Then after that we taught a few more lessons then went to lunch with a member, she is a teacher, and for some reason here the teachers are weird and are always complaining about stuff so they have little marches and riots like the one that happened on Tuesday. She said she was there at the riot and she said she went to a march that morning. Pretty much a march here is all the teachers just dont go to work and they park their cars in the middle of streets and they just stand there yelling so it meses up everyone else's schedule, I really dont get it, because it just screws over the kids, because teh teachers dont show up to school haha and this happens once a week minimum! So while we were eating with the sister who goes to these marches, I kinda chewed her out and made her feel dumb for marching haha, and I showed her the light haha! My comp was just busting up laughing the whole time I was talking to her. Later we went and taught the family that we just baptized yesterday! Then we taught a few more lessons and went home.
Thursday was another really fast and normal day, we taught alot of lessons and found a few more investigators. At night we taught my fav family of investigators, and that lesson went really well! They love us and Hopefully they will get married and baptized in the next couple weeks!
Friday, was kinda a bad day! It started out really good but ended bad. We had a another person we were suppose to baptize on Saturday but while we were walking to another appointment we ran into him and his family, and he said that he didn't want to get baptized yet, but he wanted to wait till he was 18 years old. So we said how about we go to your house and talk about it! So we went there and it turns out that his grandparents who are catholic told him a ton of lies and stuff to scare him about baptism and also that if he got baptized they would never talk to him again! So he didnt get baptized on Saturday which was pretty disappointing, but oh well, maybe in a week or two, we just need to work on him a little bit more!
Saturday, we didnt really have anything planned for this day because we were suppose to have a baptism, so we pretty much just spent the day going around and telling all the people that we invited to the baptism that it was cancelled, then after that we just went and filled the font and got things ready for the baptism that we were going to have the next day! After that we went and taught a few lessons and then had to fill out the baptism forms and had to go and search for white clothes for the girls we baptized, because those white overall things that we have are all huge and the people we baptized are small! haha So we had to run around and do that, then at 8 we had another really good appointment! Then we went home!
Sunday, we left early to pass by for all our investigators so that they would go to church! We had 10 investigators at church and they all seemed to like it alot! We had the baptism at 2pm right after the last hour of church so we had lots of members there for support! We also had lots of investigators there to watch as well! One of them named Marco who has been kinda scared to get baptized told us after the baptismal services that he wanted to be baptized the next Saturday! So that was really cool! Also the family of 7 that we are teaching was there watching and they said they want to know what they need to do in order to be baptized! It was pretty cool! Thats why I love for investigators to see baptisms! It gets them all excited! Our ward is like all impressed with us and they always say we are the best missionaries they have ever had in their ward haha! We just laugh when they tell us that! After the services we went and ate pizza at the bishops house haha, its really funny here people just dont care if they buy stuff on Sundays haha including the bishop who bought a ton of pizza for us!
well I hope that your doing great and that you have a great week!
Te amo
Elder Stradling
2-14-11
This week has been pretty awesome! We have been crazy busy with all the work we have but that's a good thing! We are seeing the results from our hard work, which is nice! We didn't baptize this last week, but we have 3-4 already for the Saturday and Sunday! As a missionary you really just learn to love the people that your teaching! I found out that yesterday an investigator in my last area just got baptized yesterday! I was sad that I wasn't there to do, because she was a investigator of mine! She is a 40yr old lady, and has a lot of problems with her husband, I had some very good lessons with her, she always called me her angel, I was teaching her daughters too but I guess when I got changed they didn't really want to listen to the missionaries anymore! I wish I was there to teach them but I can really see why I am here in this area! Well let me tell you about my week!
Tuesday- Was a pretty good day, but we really didn't have anything planned in the morning so we just went around to some people and tracked a little bit, and we found a family that were pretty excited to hear the message. Later, we went and taught a few other lessons, then we had a lesson with Marco, who might also get baptized this Sunday but it looks more like it will be the next week! He is 19 years old and is pretty cool. We took him to a members house for the lesson because he forgot his keys and was locked out of his house, but it turned out really good because the members did a really good job of sharing their testimonies with him, it was a great experience! The only thing with him is he has a problem with the law of chastity, its just how the young people are here, pretty much half of the teenage girls here are pregnant! Its pretty sad!
Wed- We had a lesson early with a family we are teaching they are just so poor and have pretty much nothing! Its a single mom named Isabel that is 7 months pregnant, and a 11 yr old girl, 9 yr old boy, 6 yr girl, 4 yr old boy, and a 2 year old girl! The kids are so good, and behave themselves so good The mom works really late and the kids just have to take care of themselves, cook the food and wash the clothes! After the lesson with them we went and taught a few other investigators that we had found a few new investigators! Then later in the evening we went and got some free tacos from some members who own a taco stand!
Thursday- We had another lesson in the morning with Isabel and her kids, and it was her 4 year old sons birthday, so we bought him some candy and potato chips (kids love those here!) While we were there the older kids just got home from school and were thirsty from there long walk home and they asked there mom for water but she had to tell them that there wasn't any and that she didn't have any money to buy any because the lady she works for fired her and didn't pay her for the last week of work she had already done!! That just made me feel so bad and so spoiled for all that I just take for granit in my life and all the blessings that I have in my life! So we told them we would go buy them some water and food, Isabel said no, but we told her that it would be for a present for her sons birthday, so she said okay, so we went and bought a big thing of water and some other food so that they could eat! I felt really bad after, and I wished that I could give them more but we really just dont have much money as missionaries. Later while we were teaching a lesson some guy from another church knocked on their door and the father of the family we were teaching told the guy no because they wanted to listen to us, then the guy from some Christan church was like " why are you listening to these Mormons, dont you know that they teach lies and have a ton of wife's" Now normally we dont like to argue with other people about the gospel but he really didnt give a choice so we told the father to invite him in and we could talk about why he thinks we are liers, haha and it funny to see the look on the others guys face he was like " opps what did I get myself into?" So we started talking to him and he tried to use the bible to say we are wrong, which he couldn't do because we know the bible from back to front, so we just ended up shutting him up and he was sad and he just got up and left. It was pretty funny, but I really dont like to do that to people... but oh well ...Later we went and taught a family of 7 and they are really interested in the gospel, the wife a bit more than the husband, but we are becoming very good friends with us, because thats kinda how my companion and I are, we are just very social and like to make people laugh, and people like to listen to us because we earn their friendship first!
Friday- Was a good day, but very busy so we were just running all over the place and we taught a lot of lessons which they all turned out very good! We just have so many people we are teaching right now, its a little overwhelming at times but that's just part of the work I guess! Nothing really that exciting happened this day, but we really got a lot done!
Saturday- also a very good and crazy busy day, even busier than the Saturday, we finalized a few baptisms and taught alot of lessons, we saw a roll over car accident which was pretty cool! Then later we had another appointment with Julio, the family of 7. That went very well, and they are coming along nicly! Pretty much we just spent the whole day working to make sure that all our investigators would go to church the next day, because they have to go to church three times before they can get baptized!
Sunday, we left really early because we had a ton of investigators to pass by for, so we got our ward mission leader and a priest in our ward to go on divisions with us, so that we would have time to pass by for all of them! At church we had 15 investigators! All the members in the ward are like all impressed with us now haha! And because we are baptizing so much! We really earned the respect of a lot of them! After church we went to eat at the bishops house and then after we went with him to visit some families, the first one we went was to Isabel, the one that is pregnant , and the mom wasnt there because she was working, but the kids hadnt eatin in a day or two so the bishop gave them 40 pesos because thats all he had and we said we would come back later! After that we went and visited another family with pretty much nothing and told them we would come back later as well! When we left we all felt bad and were trying to think of something we could do to get them alot of stuff as soon as possible! So I thought of an idea that we could send a text message to all the members of the ward to see if they could bring all the extra things that they could to help out two families, so we tried it and within an hour we received a ton of stuff like 20 boxes full of food and other stuff! It was really cool to see, because pretty much everyone in our area is poor thery just arent as poor as these families, so it was really a huge sacrifice for everyone who brought anything! After we had two car loads of stuff we went and dropped it off with the families! It was really cool to see because they we just so grateful! They really just had nothing and didnt know if they could even feed their kids! It was an awesome experience!
have a great week!
te amo,
Elder Stradling!
Tuesday- Was a pretty good day, but we really didn't have anything planned in the morning so we just went around to some people and tracked a little bit, and we found a family that were pretty excited to hear the message. Later, we went and taught a few other lessons, then we had a lesson with Marco, who might also get baptized this Sunday but it looks more like it will be the next week! He is 19 years old and is pretty cool. We took him to a members house for the lesson because he forgot his keys and was locked out of his house, but it turned out really good because the members did a really good job of sharing their testimonies with him, it was a great experience! The only thing with him is he has a problem with the law of chastity, its just how the young people are here, pretty much half of the teenage girls here are pregnant! Its pretty sad!
Wed- We had a lesson early with a family we are teaching they are just so poor and have pretty much nothing! Its a single mom named Isabel that is 7 months pregnant, and a 11 yr old girl, 9 yr old boy, 6 yr girl, 4 yr old boy, and a 2 year old girl! The kids are so good, and behave themselves so good The mom works really late and the kids just have to take care of themselves, cook the food and wash the clothes! After the lesson with them we went and taught a few other investigators that we had found a few new investigators! Then later in the evening we went and got some free tacos from some members who own a taco stand!
Thursday- We had another lesson in the morning with Isabel and her kids, and it was her 4 year old sons birthday, so we bought him some candy and potato chips (kids love those here!) While we were there the older kids just got home from school and were thirsty from there long walk home and they asked there mom for water but she had to tell them that there wasn't any and that she didn't have any money to buy any because the lady she works for fired her and didn't pay her for the last week of work she had already done!! That just made me feel so bad and so spoiled for all that I just take for granit in my life and all the blessings that I have in my life! So we told them we would go buy them some water and food, Isabel said no, but we told her that it would be for a present for her sons birthday, so she said okay, so we went and bought a big thing of water and some other food so that they could eat! I felt really bad after, and I wished that I could give them more but we really just dont have much money as missionaries. Later while we were teaching a lesson some guy from another church knocked on their door and the father of the family we were teaching told the guy no because they wanted to listen to us, then the guy from some Christan church was like " why are you listening to these Mormons, dont you know that they teach lies and have a ton of wife's" Now normally we dont like to argue with other people about the gospel but he really didnt give a choice so we told the father to invite him in and we could talk about why he thinks we are liers, haha and it funny to see the look on the others guys face he was like " opps what did I get myself into?" So we started talking to him and he tried to use the bible to say we are wrong, which he couldn't do because we know the bible from back to front, so we just ended up shutting him up and he was sad and he just got up and left. It was pretty funny, but I really dont like to do that to people... but oh well ...Later we went and taught a family of 7 and they are really interested in the gospel, the wife a bit more than the husband, but we are becoming very good friends with us, because thats kinda how my companion and I are, we are just very social and like to make people laugh, and people like to listen to us because we earn their friendship first!
Friday- Was a good day, but very busy so we were just running all over the place and we taught a lot of lessons which they all turned out very good! We just have so many people we are teaching right now, its a little overwhelming at times but that's just part of the work I guess! Nothing really that exciting happened this day, but we really got a lot done!
Saturday- also a very good and crazy busy day, even busier than the Saturday, we finalized a few baptisms and taught alot of lessons, we saw a roll over car accident which was pretty cool! Then later we had another appointment with Julio, the family of 7. That went very well, and they are coming along nicly! Pretty much we just spent the whole day working to make sure that all our investigators would go to church the next day, because they have to go to church three times before they can get baptized!
Sunday, we left really early because we had a ton of investigators to pass by for, so we got our ward mission leader and a priest in our ward to go on divisions with us, so that we would have time to pass by for all of them! At church we had 15 investigators! All the members in the ward are like all impressed with us now haha! And because we are baptizing so much! We really earned the respect of a lot of them! After church we went to eat at the bishops house and then after we went with him to visit some families, the first one we went was to Isabel, the one that is pregnant , and the mom wasnt there because she was working, but the kids hadnt eatin in a day or two so the bishop gave them 40 pesos because thats all he had and we said we would come back later! After that we went and visited another family with pretty much nothing and told them we would come back later as well! When we left we all felt bad and were trying to think of something we could do to get them alot of stuff as soon as possible! So I thought of an idea that we could send a text message to all the members of the ward to see if they could bring all the extra things that they could to help out two families, so we tried it and within an hour we received a ton of stuff like 20 boxes full of food and other stuff! It was really cool to see, because pretty much everyone in our area is poor thery just arent as poor as these families, so it was really a huge sacrifice for everyone who brought anything! After we had two car loads of stuff we went and dropped it off with the families! It was really cool to see because they we just so grateful! They really just had nothing and didnt know if they could even feed their kids! It was an awesome experience!
have a great week!
te amo,
Elder Stradling!
1-31-11
This week was pretty good, Im in my new area, and I like it alot, Im still getting adapted to it and to my new companion. His name is Elder Guerrero, he is a cool guy and is a good missionary, we are having fun together and are having a lot of success, we already have a baptism coming up for this Saturday! My area is called La Joya, and its all just a big hill, so now Im having to get use to walking up and down steep unpaved roads! Its basically just a long hike everyday haha and This is probably the poorest area that I have been in so far, the people really dont have much but they are good and humble people, teh members are very nice and help us in the work which is really the most important factor in missionary work, if the members dont help us out its hard to have to much success. We live in a house with another companionship and one of them is American so its nice to be able to hang out with him in the mornings and nights! I guess my Spanish is getting good because everyone in this area tells me how good I speak and they tell me how much better I talk than the last elder that was in this area! The mission has become a lot more enjoyable since Ive gotten better at Spanish! I dont know why they keep changing me so much, I get change more than anyone else in the mission haha! I guess its a good thing though because Im always meeting new people and getting to know different parts of my mission! The thing I dont like about it is that, while Im in an area I begin to have love for the people that Im teaching and they change me before I get a chance to baptize them! I guess thats okay though, I feel good and comfortable in my new area and Im excited to keep working hard! So I guess I still keep losing weight because I already need to get my pants re sized again haha! So the house that I live in now probably has the worst water Ive seen in my mission, we cant use it to wash our clothes because it will stain them brown and yellow! I dont even know why I take showers here I think it just makes me dirtier haha! I will send some pictures of the water in another email! But other than the water, the house is pretty nice!
Well let me tell you about my week!
Monday I was still In Juchitan and i still didnt know if I was getting changed or not, because they always call on the last Saturday of the change but the president was traveling so he didnt make the transfers until Monday in the afternoon, so I got a cal and they told me I was going back to Oaxaca, which is a 6 hour bus ride haha! so I had to pack real fast and and be at the bus station that night! We left at about 12 am
Tuesday, when I woke up I was in oaxaca, From the bus station I went to my new area and met my companion and unpacked a little bit then we went out and worked, we pretty much just had to get to know the area and the members! Then for dinner we had my favorite food here, Tacos Al Pastor, a member in our area owns a taco shop so we get to each there for free when ever we want!
Wed we had a zone meeting in the morning and we made our goals for teh upcoming change our goal for our area is 5 baptisms! After that we went to Bodega, which is a knock off Walmart, to buy some food for the week, then we went to Coppel which is like a Ross, and I got some new shoes, because my old ones had a ton of holes in them, and it made it really hard to walk up and down the hills in our area! After that we went out and worked and taught some good lessons, I really like the way my companion teaches, because he is like me and likes to teach with more examples and to have fun while you teach! He is also like me in the sense that he is always smiling! People always ask us why we are so happy and we say because we are Mormon haha and then they always ask to know more about what we do!
Thursday, we went out and taught Thomas, he just got baptized, and he is 78 years old and his wife is 26, haha I really dont get it but I am just use to the crazy! After than we taught some more lessons and had a family home evening with the family that we are going to baptize soon, one of them is getting baptized this saturday but the rest of the family wont be for a week or 2! They are a very humble family who really don't have much, but are happy and content with what they have!
Friday me and Elder Henze, the other American elder that I live with, made a ghetto washing machine, so here we obviously wash our clothes by hand, but I got an idea to make it easier and faster, so we went and bought a returnable coca cola bottle, ( here they have like thicker bottles with coca cola and they are cheaper because after you drink it you just take the bottle back to the store and the coca cola truck comes and picks them up and they reuse them) so we got one of those because its thicker and stronger plastic so we got a knife and cut it in half and stuck a broom stick on the end and now we use it to wash our clothes that are in a bucket haha, its kinda hard to explain, but Ill send a picture! and not really too much happened the rest of the day, just a regular day, oh but at night when we went to buy some Tlyudas from a member who doesnt have much money, some drunk guy wanted to fight me! I really dont know why, maybe he just doesnt like white people or maybe it was just because we was a crazy drunk! But after that nothing else really exciting happened!
Saturday was also kinda slow day but pretty good! At night we went to a families house and they were chopping wood for their fire, so they could cook their food, and I told them I would help and they just laughed and said that I wouldnt know how, because Gringos would never need to cut wood with an axe haha, So I just laughed and said well lets see if I can, so I started and they we just all amazed that I knew how and that I could hit the wood so hard haha. But they where grateful because they were all woman and weren't strong enough to cut it!
Sunday was a pretty good day, I got to meet the members of the ward, there are probably like 80 active members which isnt too bad because our area isnt too big! After church we went and had lunch at the bishops house, then went and worked and had a family home evening with some less actives, which went really well!
Well let me tell you about my week!
Monday I was still In Juchitan and i still didnt know if I was getting changed or not, because they always call on the last Saturday of the change but the president was traveling so he didnt make the transfers until Monday in the afternoon, so I got a cal and they told me I was going back to Oaxaca, which is a 6 hour bus ride haha! so I had to pack real fast and and be at the bus station that night! We left at about 12 am
Tuesday, when I woke up I was in oaxaca, From the bus station I went to my new area and met my companion and unpacked a little bit then we went out and worked, we pretty much just had to get to know the area and the members! Then for dinner we had my favorite food here, Tacos Al Pastor, a member in our area owns a taco shop so we get to each there for free when ever we want!
Wed we had a zone meeting in the morning and we made our goals for teh upcoming change our goal for our area is 5 baptisms! After that we went to Bodega, which is a knock off Walmart, to buy some food for the week, then we went to Coppel which is like a Ross, and I got some new shoes, because my old ones had a ton of holes in them, and it made it really hard to walk up and down the hills in our area! After that we went out and worked and taught some good lessons, I really like the way my companion teaches, because he is like me and likes to teach with more examples and to have fun while you teach! He is also like me in the sense that he is always smiling! People always ask us why we are so happy and we say because we are Mormon haha and then they always ask to know more about what we do!
Thursday, we went out and taught Thomas, he just got baptized, and he is 78 years old and his wife is 26, haha I really dont get it but I am just use to the crazy! After than we taught some more lessons and had a family home evening with the family that we are going to baptize soon, one of them is getting baptized this saturday but the rest of the family wont be for a week or 2! They are a very humble family who really don't have much, but are happy and content with what they have!
Friday me and Elder Henze, the other American elder that I live with, made a ghetto washing machine, so here we obviously wash our clothes by hand, but I got an idea to make it easier and faster, so we went and bought a returnable coca cola bottle, ( here they have like thicker bottles with coca cola and they are cheaper because after you drink it you just take the bottle back to the store and the coca cola truck comes and picks them up and they reuse them) so we got one of those because its thicker and stronger plastic so we got a knife and cut it in half and stuck a broom stick on the end and now we use it to wash our clothes that are in a bucket haha, its kinda hard to explain, but Ill send a picture! and not really too much happened the rest of the day, just a regular day, oh but at night when we went to buy some Tlyudas from a member who doesnt have much money, some drunk guy wanted to fight me! I really dont know why, maybe he just doesnt like white people or maybe it was just because we was a crazy drunk! But after that nothing else really exciting happened!
Saturday was also kinda slow day but pretty good! At night we went to a families house and they were chopping wood for their fire, so they could cook their food, and I told them I would help and they just laughed and said that I wouldnt know how, because Gringos would never need to cut wood with an axe haha, So I just laughed and said well lets see if I can, so I started and they we just all amazed that I knew how and that I could hit the wood so hard haha. But they where grateful because they were all woman and weren't strong enough to cut it!
Sunday was a pretty good day, I got to meet the members of the ward, there are probably like 80 active members which isnt too bad because our area isnt too big! After church we went and had lunch at the bishops house, then went and worked and had a family home evening with some less actives, which went really well!
Friday, January 28, 2011
1-17-11 email
So I really enjoyed this week, I'm really started to just enjoy and love my mission now. I really like the area that Im in but I could only be here for one more week, because this is the last week of the transfer, I hope I don't change because we have alot of people we are teaching, we have a young girl that we are planing to baptize this weekend, but it could get delayed till the next week, then the week after that we have 2 others that can get baptized, so I really hope that I want change areas next week! I really like the zone that I'm in, we always do fun stuff, like on Mondays we go play soccer in the morning and its weird but I really like soccer now, I think its just because I have always loved to get out and run around and play sports and that's really all there is here so Ive just learned to enjoy it! Then on Monday nights we have district meeting and after we all go out for tlyudas, there kinda like Quesadillas but taste way better! Then after we after to sleep over at some other elders house because there aren't any buses back to our area after 8pm. Then there we always play uno, I forgot how fun that game can be!
Well let me tell you about my week,
Tuesday started out very slow because all of our morning appointments fell through, so we just tracked which was pretty good we found a few new investigators. So most of the time when we go to eat lunch with the members they always give you some kinda soup first, then they bring you other food. So the sister that we were eating with brought us a bowl of soup and I ate it real fast because I wanted to get to the main course because, Im not really a big soup fan, so the sister asked if I wanted more soup and I was no like "no I'm ready for the meal" and she like looked concerned and was like that was the meal haha, I felt really bad because after that she went and made some eggs real fast haha. After that we had a few other appointments, then we had a ward counsel meeting which are always interesting because the 2nd counselor to the bishop is kinda crazy, like one time he gave us a ride to our house to grab some stuff really fast and he just walked right in and layed in my bad and called one of his friends and just layed there talking for like 15 min haha. He is kinda a bum all he does all day is sit in his room and play his guitar and watch tv. So at the meeting we were talking about plans and stuff and he always just goes way off subject or will like start arguing with the bishop haha
Wed we found a new investigator that we are hoping to be able to baptize this Saturday, she is 9 years old and her mom is already her member but her dad isnt, but he lives in another state, and said that he doesn't mind if she gets baptized, but we still dont know for sure yet what will happen there. So this area that Im in has a ton of less active members so we always teach alot of less actives but its been good because we have gotten like 10 to return back to church, so that always feels good to be able to help people make these changes in their life's. We went and taught a less active family and it went really well but the husband isn't a member and is a drunk, and I dont know why but I dont have to much patience when it comes to drunk guys who neglect their families. So I guess Im always really hard and upfront with them, my companion always tells me after lessons with drunk guys, that he thought I was going to fight them or something, haha so I guess I need to learn patience with that.
Thursday started out good because the bishops wife wanted to make us breakfast, but breakfast her is just like regular meals haha but we had enchiladas with some steak, they were good! After that we went to teach Paola, and that went really well, she is really progressing and her and her husband are both pretty interested, its really cool to see how the gospel blesses people life's! Later we had a ward activity where we went out with members to visit less actives and some of our investigators. And lucky me I got pared up with that crazy 2nd counselor to the bishop, we went and visited a investigator, and it didnt go too bad, he is just really weird and when the investigator would try and talk he would just shush her and talk over her haha. The investigator that we went to visit is pretty interested so it was okay.
Friday we had zone conference and the mission president came down from Oaxaca and both him and his wife gave very good talks and he gave a very good training, he is a great teacher and really knows alot about the gospel and has a very strong testimony, I have really learned alot from him, but I will be getting a new mission president in June, I will miss him but I think its good to be able to learn and see 2 different presidents! After the conference we went to a few appointments and the zone leaders called us and said they wanted to do divisions so we had to go back to Juchitan and I went with elder Baert in his area and My comp went with elder Monesterio in my area.
Saturday, I worked in the other area all day but it was very good. The night before when we were taking taxi towards the zone leaders house some kid that was in the taxi also, asked if we were elders, and we were like yeah and we talked for a bit but then he had to go so we asked him where he lived real fast and he gave us very vague directions how to get to his house, But Saturday, when we went to search for him we found it on the first house we knocked, and we taught him and he was very interested and said he wanted to be baptized. Its just really cool to see the lords hand in this work, like the odds of us finding his house were very low, but we were able to find him and teach him. Later we taught some other appointments and for one we had to walk like 5 miles out to the middle of nowhere, where we taught some guy who didn't speak Spanish very good, because his first language is Zapoteco, so we will have to bring a translator next time. Later we went and taught the young men in his ward some stuff out of preach my gospel. Then later I went back to my area.
Sunday was pretty good, my companion and I were able to give talks, my companion really doesn't like to give talks but I do. So he was mad about it. He just don't know how to talk to people, when he teaches he like glares at people and talks like he is very bored, and he does the same when he talks, I don't know how to help him, maybe I will get a new companion next week! Later we had a meeting with our ward mission leader then went and taught some lessons and thats it!
Well I hope taht you have a great week! tell the kids that I love them very much and to be good and be the best they cane be and to be a light to other people!
Te amo,
Elder Stradling
Well let me tell you about my week,
Tuesday started out very slow because all of our morning appointments fell through, so we just tracked which was pretty good we found a few new investigators. So most of the time when we go to eat lunch with the members they always give you some kinda soup first, then they bring you other food. So the sister that we were eating with brought us a bowl of soup and I ate it real fast because I wanted to get to the main course because, Im not really a big soup fan, so the sister asked if I wanted more soup and I was no like "no I'm ready for the meal" and she like looked concerned and was like that was the meal haha, I felt really bad because after that she went and made some eggs real fast haha. After that we had a few other appointments, then we had a ward counsel meeting which are always interesting because the 2nd counselor to the bishop is kinda crazy, like one time he gave us a ride to our house to grab some stuff really fast and he just walked right in and layed in my bad and called one of his friends and just layed there talking for like 15 min haha. He is kinda a bum all he does all day is sit in his room and play his guitar and watch tv. So at the meeting we were talking about plans and stuff and he always just goes way off subject or will like start arguing with the bishop haha
Wed we found a new investigator that we are hoping to be able to baptize this Saturday, she is 9 years old and her mom is already her member but her dad isnt, but he lives in another state, and said that he doesn't mind if she gets baptized, but we still dont know for sure yet what will happen there. So this area that Im in has a ton of less active members so we always teach alot of less actives but its been good because we have gotten like 10 to return back to church, so that always feels good to be able to help people make these changes in their life's. We went and taught a less active family and it went really well but the husband isn't a member and is a drunk, and I dont know why but I dont have to much patience when it comes to drunk guys who neglect their families. So I guess Im always really hard and upfront with them, my companion always tells me after lessons with drunk guys, that he thought I was going to fight them or something, haha so I guess I need to learn patience with that.
Thursday started out good because the bishops wife wanted to make us breakfast, but breakfast her is just like regular meals haha but we had enchiladas with some steak, they were good! After that we went to teach Paola, and that went really well, she is really progressing and her and her husband are both pretty interested, its really cool to see how the gospel blesses people life's! Later we had a ward activity where we went out with members to visit less actives and some of our investigators. And lucky me I got pared up with that crazy 2nd counselor to the bishop, we went and visited a investigator, and it didnt go too bad, he is just really weird and when the investigator would try and talk he would just shush her and talk over her haha. The investigator that we went to visit is pretty interested so it was okay.
Friday we had zone conference and the mission president came down from Oaxaca and both him and his wife gave very good talks and he gave a very good training, he is a great teacher and really knows alot about the gospel and has a very strong testimony, I have really learned alot from him, but I will be getting a new mission president in June, I will miss him but I think its good to be able to learn and see 2 different presidents! After the conference we went to a few appointments and the zone leaders called us and said they wanted to do divisions so we had to go back to Juchitan and I went with elder Baert in his area and My comp went with elder Monesterio in my area.
Saturday, I worked in the other area all day but it was very good. The night before when we were taking taxi towards the zone leaders house some kid that was in the taxi also, asked if we were elders, and we were like yeah and we talked for a bit but then he had to go so we asked him where he lived real fast and he gave us very vague directions how to get to his house, But Saturday, when we went to search for him we found it on the first house we knocked, and we taught him and he was very interested and said he wanted to be baptized. Its just really cool to see the lords hand in this work, like the odds of us finding his house were very low, but we were able to find him and teach him. Later we taught some other appointments and for one we had to walk like 5 miles out to the middle of nowhere, where we taught some guy who didn't speak Spanish very good, because his first language is Zapoteco, so we will have to bring a translator next time. Later we went and taught the young men in his ward some stuff out of preach my gospel. Then later I went back to my area.
Sunday was pretty good, my companion and I were able to give talks, my companion really doesn't like to give talks but I do. So he was mad about it. He just don't know how to talk to people, when he teaches he like glares at people and talks like he is very bored, and he does the same when he talks, I don't know how to help him, maybe I will get a new companion next week! Later we had a meeting with our ward mission leader then went and taught some lessons and thats it!
Well I hope taht you have a great week! tell the kids that I love them very much and to be good and be the best they cane be and to be a light to other people!
Te amo,
Elder Stradling
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