6-1-11

I got transferred on Monday and on monday I took a 12 hour bus ride to my new area! My new area is called Zicatela, its on the coast, and its more commonly known as puerto escondido, and its a very popular tourist location so there are tons of white people here, so that's kinda weird and you can pretty much see the ocean from every spot in my area! Our house is like 5 min or less walking distance from the beach! So its very green and tropical here! The only bad thing is that its so humid! You sweat here no matter where you are or what you are doing! Its kinda annoying but I am getting use to it! My companions name is Elder Estrada, so people just call us both Estrada because they think that stradling is just Estrada but in English! Things are going pretty good! yesterday we took a few pictures by the beach so I will send you some! Sorry I don't really have much more time to write, but I hope that you have a great week!


Love,

Elder Stradling

6-13-11

This week for me was pretty good, it seems like it went by really fast, but I guess that how it always is here in the mission, it just seems like time flys by so fast! I have only been on this new area for about 2 weeks now, but we are already having quite a bit of success, on Sunday we baptized one of our investigators, his name is Benito and he is 25 years old, I had the privilege of baptizing him, the services were really good and I think that everyone felt the spirit, even though I had to baptize him 3 times because the first 2 times his tie floated up so the third time I tucked his tie into his shirt, so that it couldn't float up anymore haha. But other than that the services all went very well! And the cool thing is that the members in this branch actually go to baptisms, in my last area we were lucky to have someone with the priesthood show up to be a witness, but here we had like 25 members come to support Benito, I really think it helps alot so that he will feel accepted! This week I also got a little sick, I have just had a headache for about a week now! But its nothing too serious, they say its regular because of the climate change, and because its so hot and humid here, but who knows! I just hope my head will stop hurting soon! We have a lot of good investigators that we are teaching right now, I think we will be able to baptize about 6 people in this transfer, my companion is kinda new, he only has 6 months in the mission, so his teaching is a little sloppy, but he is learning fast! I am the first American companion that he has had and he also wants to learn English, so he is always asking me how to say certain things in english, and then I have been reading with him in the book of mormon in english so that he can learn! Also this week on friday we had zone conference and President de la cruz gave his last training, because he goes home at the end of this month, and we will be getting a new mission president. It will be very different to have another president and I will miss President De la Cruz, but I also think it can be a good thing to get another president and be able to learn different things from him. I also had my last interview with president de la cruz,and it was very different from all the interviews that I have had with him, basically he was just telling me bye, and that i have grown alot as a persona and as a missionary in the time that he has known me, and that he had a lot of confidence in me but that I also need to win the trust and confidence of the new president. After the interview he took some other elders and I out to dinner, than dropped us off at our house. Then sunday was the baptism of Benito and after the baptism we went and ate really fast and then we had to go back to the chapel because we had to prepare for an activity that we were going to have! The activity went really well, we are doing a combine activity for these next 3 weeks with the elders from puerto escondido, and we are trying all the members on how to be missionaries, they are all really excited and ready to work! We actually had like 40 people show up last night, and its starting to look like the 3 week event will go really well!

So thats pretty much all that happened in my week, sorry its a little short I dont really have much time to write, but I will send the pictures from the baptism and also a few from the week!

I hope that you have a great week full of success!

Con amor,

Elder Stradling

6-20-11

So this week was a good one, I am doing great and I am healthy and happy, I really dont have head aches anymore, I guess that means that I am getting use to the humidity of my new area! This week it has rained alot, in fact its raining right now, and it has been raining non stop for about 2 days now! I have gotten use to the rain though, so its not too bad, but all the streets here were planned bad, and so when it rains all the streets just turn into rivers, its pretty fun walking through them! Also another interesting thing about my area here, is that there are lots of white people, most of them are all hippies or beach bums, because surfing is really popular here, because the waves are really big! So its always interesting to see white people, and even more interesting to hear people speaking english. I teach an English class here in the chapel 2 days a week, and I have noticed that I dont remember lots of words in English, or at least it takes me a little while to think about how to form sentences, because lots of them will ask me how to say certain things in English, and sometimes it takes me awhile to remember lots of words or grammar! As far as missionary work goes, we didnt have any baptisms this week but we found lots of people and we were able to place baptismal dates with them! 3 For this sunday and then another 4 for the next Sunday! Although a few of them might not end up getting baptized on those days, because of random things that always seem to happen! But most of them should get baptized! On there set dates! So we have quite a bit of investigators right now, but we keep searching for more and more each day!
Well I really dont have too much more time to write, we have been kinda cut short on time on Monday!
But I hope that your doing great and and that you have a great upcoming week!
Con Amor,
Elder Stradling

7-5-11

Hey,

Thank you for the email! I am doing well, I had a great week! Sorry I didn't write yesterday! Yesterday I was busy all day, because it was the last p-day of the change we decided to go eat on the beach, it was really cool, and I took some good pictures! This last week that I had was a good one, and on Sunday we had a Baptism of Rogelia! It was awesome, and the spirit was very strong! Also this last week our mission president went home and we now have a new president, his name is presidente Leba! I haven't met him yet, but he will be coming to the coast, this Thursday! I look forward to meeting him!

Sorry this email is so short, I really don't have much time! But I am going to try and send some pictures of the baptism!

I hope you are doing great and that you have a great rest of the week! Thanks so much for your love and support!

Con amor,

Elder Stradling

7-18-11

Well my first week back in the city was pretty good! It seemed to go by kinda slow though, I think thats because I am still learning the area, and I have never been on this side of the city, so everything is new to me, and Im just getting use to everything, Our area is pretty small though, they say its the smallest area in the mission, and that makes it kinda difficult to baptize, but this week we found someone who we might baptize this Sunday if not the next! We have been contacting alot because when I got here there really wasnt any good investigators, and I forgot what its like to contact in the city, the people are so rude and ignorant! And to make it better, this whole week it has been raining non-stop, literally, I thought Id get a break from the rain when I left the coast, but its been raining here a ton too! Im sure my shoes are getting worn out because they get soaked every day! Then I forgot my umbrella in my last area, and its like 12 hours away, so I had to buy a new umbrella, because for the first few days I didnt have one, and I got completely soaked each day! So I decided to invsest in a new umbrella! And guess what the ward here is smaller than my branch was in my last area! Yesterday there was only 57 members at church! I guess its just because the area is so small, but the bishop told us this morning that they are about to make the area bigger, so that should be good! Other than that, nothing else has really happened thats too exciting! I have just been a bit more busy! Things are going pretty good as district leader, the only bad thing is that there are sister missionaries in my District, and as district leader everyone has to call me in the night and give me a report of their day, and the sisters, just keep talking and talking, I feel like loyd, in the movie "dumb and dumber", when he is at that bar and that lady just keeps talking and talking and he says ( will you just shut up!!, I dont care!!) But of course I cant say that to them! Oh well I guess it helps me learn patience! Well I really dont have much more time to write! We got caught up doing other things today!

I hope you have a great week, full of fun and success!

Con amor,

Elder Stradling

8-22-11

I am doing good and This week for me was good, and I haven't really been sick this week so that made it nice! The president made me go see some specialist, because he was worried that I was getting sick so much, so I went and they did some tests and the doctor gave me some new medicine that I have to take, I feel like an old person, because I have to take a ton of pills every day!! Thats okay though!! So On Saturday they told us the changes for this next transfer, and guess what, I am going to have my first american companion, his name is elder monson, they say he is President Monsons, grandson, but I think that's just a rumor, to try and scare me haha and He is new, so I will be training him! I haven't met him yet, because his plane doesn't land until later tonight, but they tell me that his is really tall, 6´ 10", and he played basketball for University of Utah, so I am sure he will be pretty cool, but it will sure be different to have an american companion, and more because he wont really speak Spanish, because he is new! But I think it will be fun, I think I am going to just speak Spanish with him, so that he can learn faster!! I will be staying in the same area though, but Thats okay, we have have a few good investigators that we are looking to baptize in these next couple of weeks!! Time has been flying by, this week I will already have 16 months in the mission, even though it feels like just yesterday that I only had 6 months! But oh well, I look to take advantage of the time that I have left!!

On Sunday we had our stake conference, and it was really good, the spirit was so strong, our mission president spoke, as well as two members of the seventy, Elder Toriz, and Elder Tenorio! They both gave really good talks, that were very spiritual, but also very funny! So I really enjoyed the conference! After the conference we took a picture with all the elders in the stake, with Elder Toriz, Elder Tenorio, and president Leyva! So I will try and send that picture today, as well as a few others that I took in this last week!

Well I really don't have too much more time to write, and nothing that exciting happened in this last week! But I hope that You have a great week and that you are doing great!!

con amor,

Elder Stradling

8-15-11

This week for me was really good!! We didn't end up having any baptisms and I got sick again, I really getting tired of being sick so much, and I keep losing weight, I now only weigh 189lbs pretty crazy huh? I weighed 265 when I left! On my agenda that I have, I always put a picture of the family on there, and people always ask where I am in the picture and when I point at me, they don't believe me because I guess I look really different now! haha, and they always say that I looked like a bully, because I use to never smile in pictures haha! They say I am like the bully from the tv show Malcolm and the middle, I guess that show is pretty popular here! And the whole WWE wrestling is a big deal here and they all say that I look like John Cena, and lots of them call me Elder Cena, I think mainly because they cant pronounce my name! But anyways I am starting to think that this whole me always being sick thing isn't too good for me, I just hope its not doing permanent damage to my stomach, but who knows! Even though I was sick this week and we couldn't work too much we still managed to find lots of new investigators and we put 3 baptismal dates with three people that we found this week, they are set to be baptized on the 28th of Aug! We also have about 2 or 3 other people that we are working with and we plan to put baptismal dates with them as well! We will see what happens in the next few days! Other than that everything is pretty much the same! Time just continues to fly by, we are already on the last week of this transfer, so who knows if I will still be in this area in 7 days! Because for some reason they like to move me around alot! Its okay though, Im use to it! I now actually kinda like it! This way I get to know lost of people and lots of places! But On wed we had interviews with the president, and he said he likes to keep elders in one area for 4- 6 months, so we will see what happens, I really dont think I want to be in one area for that much time, I am just so use to changing so much!!
So let me give you a brief summary of my week!

Tuesday, I woke up really sick so we just went out in the morning and worked a little bit but then we just decided to go home and rest, then in the evening we had out meeting with the ward mission leader, that went pretty good! Then after we went and taught a lesson really fast then came home for the night!

Wed- We had interviews and my district had to be there first so I had to be the offices at 7am, and me and my district were all on time, but no body who had keys showed up until like 730, oh well, its the Mexican style to always be late! I am use to it! The interviews went really well, but I was there until like 1pm because I had to wait for everyone in my district to get interviewed! After that we headed back to the area and went and visited Eddy, a young man that we recently reactivated in the past few weeks! He has really progressed, he now goes to church every week, and he bought a white shirt, dress pants and a tie, so they he can wear them to church! He now says that he wants to go on a mission! Even though he was baptized awhile ago, its really nice to be able to reactivate people as well! After that we went and visited a few investigators and visited a few members, to see how they were doing!! then we had an appointment with Maria, who we just recently baptized, that went very well and she is doing great!! Then after that we headed home!

Thursday- In the morning we went to teach an investigator, her name is Maria as well, to be honest id say half the women here, maybe not half, like one third of the women here are named Maria, from the Virgin Maria, there are some names Maria de Guadalupe, or Maria de Jesus, o maria de los Angeles! But anyhow, we taught here, and she accepted, but there was one problem, she isnt married to her husband, well I guess that would make it her boyfriend, but thats a really big problem here, for some reason no one gets married, I guess maybe its the lack of money, or just the lack loyalty! Who knows!! But we put a goal with her that she would talk to her husband to put a date for when they Will get married! We will see what happens! Then after that we knocked a few doors, but they all rejected us, oh well, life as a missionary! Then we went and ate! Then we Had an appointment with a few investigators and we found a new one, and we are planning on putting a baptismal date with one this week! Then after that we had a family home evening with a part member family! Fue muy bien!

Friday- Another sick day, but in the morning we had promised to help a lady in our ward move! So we did that, and it didnt take up too much time, we got done at about 2pm then we went and ate lunch, then after that I felt really bad so we headed home and I slept the rest of the day... pretty boring day!

Saturday- We did divisions with a few elders in our district, that went really well! We found lots of new investigators and we put 3 baptismal dates!

Sunday- I woke up throwing up but we went to church, and it went really well, but I just felt sick the whole time, but oh well! Then after church we went and ate with some members then we headed to the house of some of my converts, that live in one of my old areas! That was really fun to see them and how they have progressed in the church since that last time I had seen them!!


Well that's my week! I hope that you are doing great and I wish you a great upcoming week!

Love

Elder Stradling