Week 14 - Feliz Año Nuevo and Best Birthday Ever!

Hello friends and family!

First of all, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  I didn't get to write last week so I hope all of you had a great Christmas and that all of my packages from you guys are on their way (;  Also I hope that all of you guys start off your new year strong with some good goals, and I hope that your goals last longer than two weeks!  Personally, I didn't make any goals, that way I can't break them.

Our Christmas out here in Mexico was awesome.  We went to a member's house to call our families and hangout for the night.  This family is the coolest family I've met since I got out here.  They all know a little bit of English, and everything they know is hilarious.  Like the dad, Alejandro, calls everything coffee and donuts and Cocoa Krispies. We played some board games with them and ate a ton of food.  It was really fun.

Also this week I got to watch my companion shave a baby's head.  I think she's like five months old.  He cut all of her hair off and then even used my electric razor for my beard to make her completely bald.  Then for New Years, we went to a member's house with some other missionaries.  I got some socks as a new years gift and we ate some KFC.  I bet you're all jealous.

The best part of the week was the 30th.  First of all, thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes!  The best birthday present was being able to baptize a family on my birthday.  It was a mom and her two sons.  Mayra, Derek, and Marco.  It was super cool because my companion and I both got to baptize so we were both in white.  This family progressed so fast, just like our investigator Cristian.  It's been awesome to work with them and see the change that has happened in their lives.  Even in the young kids, 8 and 9 years old, I was able to see the gospel help make them happier and closer as a family.

That's just about it for the week!  I love you guys and hope you have an awesome week!

Elder Warren

Week 12 - Chicken Feet and Feliz Navidad!!

What's good mis amigos,

Didn't I tell you guys this week was gonna be better?  Well to sum it up, it was.  Let's get down to some awesome and funny stuff first.  Pretty sure the first thing I ate right after emailing last week was CHICKEN FEET.  Man Mexicans are weird if they really think that chicken feet taste good.  The texture is terrible and the taste isn't that much better.  I ate like half of one before I was about to throw up and my comp ate the other four.  Then the next day was Dia de la Virgen.  I don't really know exactly was happened because we didn't really get to go out of the house but I know that people were shooting fireworks at each other and that a bunch of people just block off streets and have church right in front of people's houses.  Then they all looked at us funny when we passed by because we're Mormons.  But we didn't die so it was good.

On Friday we had our Mission Christmas party.  It was sweet.  I met hecka new people.  They gave us hot dogs and hamburgers but they were actually super trash.  That's the first time in my life that I wasn't excited to eat hot dogs and hamburgers haha.  But President Mann dressed up as Superman and we played a bunch of basketball so it was sweet.  It was fun to actually play against people that are good for once. Most of the people down here have no idea how to ball.

Alright now onto the good stuff.  This Saturday we had the baptism of Cristian, our golden investigator.  He's so awesome.  It's crazy how you can see a person completely change their life in just three weeks and be prepared for baptism.  He shared his testimony after and it was super strong.  Then after the baptism, we talked with one of our other investigators, Ahuizotl.  We've been having a really hard time getting appointments with him because he's been so busy.  But we were able to set a baptismal date with him right there at the end of the baptism and he even told us that although he hasn't been able to see us too much lately, he loves seeing us.  He said that when he sees us and talks to us he forgets all of his worries, and he says he appreciates the work we put in to see him because other missionaries he's talked to haven't worked so hard.  We're meeting with him tonight and I'm excited.

Then last night we had a Christmas activity with our zone and the stake.  We put ourselves in front of the church and invited anyone passing by to come inside to see a video about Jesus Christ and Christmas and to eat cookies.  We got a bunch of people to come in and they ended up staying inside for like 45 minutes.  My companion and I got appointments with like 6 new people just because of that activity.  It was awesome.

Well, I hope you all have a great week!  Everybody remember to keep Christ in your hearts and minds as we approach Christmas and try to share his light with those around you.  I love you guys and Merry Christmas!

Elder Warren

Week 11 - Laundry Fiascos, Pinatas, and the Parable of the Vineyard

Hola amigos,

Well, no baptisms this week after all.  Our investigators were being a little bit difficult this week.  It was super hard for us to get appointments with them and a lot of the appointments we set fell through.  But that's just how it goes out here haha.  I feel like this week will be a lot better.  If we keep setting appointments and baptismal dates sooner or later they have to stick!

Alright so this week we were washing our clothes and I just about killed someone.  We were washing all of our white clothes and apparently, nobody in the whole country of Mexico owns a dryer so everytime we have to wring everything out and hang it to dry.  Anyways we were hanging up our white clothes and we were about 2/3 of the way done when the clothesline snapped and EVERYTHING fell on the ground.  It was not a very good morning.  We had to rewash and rehang everything and I HATE hanging things up to dry.  Plus I was super hungry at the time which didn't help.

Also this week we had a devotional thing for all of the young single adults in the stake.  It was put on by our mission president so all of us missionaries from our zone came and sang hymns for it.  It was probably the greatest performance of Spanish Christmas hymns ever.  We had a ton of fun doing it actually I love the missionaries in my zone.  Then afterwards they had a bunch of piñatas and President Mann couldn't break one, but then Hermana Mann came in and wrecked it.  It was legendary.

Other than that the week was just work as normal.  Nothing too exciting happened this week which was lame.  But I feel like this week is going to be a lot better.  Tomorrow is Dia de la Virgen so hopefully, I'll see some crazy stuff if we get to leave our house.  Also, I'm super excited because our golden investigator Cristian is supposed to get baptized this Saturday.

To end I just want to share something I read a little bit ago that has really helped me recently.  It's Jacob 5:21-23.  I don't know exactly what it says because I don't have it in English but it's the parable of the vineyard?  The gardener took some of his best trees and put them in the worst part of his vineyard because he knew that they were strong enough to keep growing wherever he put them while he worked on other parts of his vineyard.  Sometimes we feel weak when we're put in hard situations, but I feel like it's the opposite.  Sometimes God puts us in tough situations or puts different trials in our lives not because we're weak, but because we're strong.  Because He knows we can grow no matter what situation he puts us in.

That's just about it for the week! I hope everyone has an awesome week and sends me presents for Christmas! (;  Love you guys!

Elder Warren

Week 10 - Golden Investigator and Tiny Dog!

What up my people,

This week was pretty boss.  We got a lot of work done out here in the Great City of Mexico.  Also I'm still out here killing the food.  I swear I've tried something new like everyday.  These homies here make a kind of soup called posole.  It's really good and I like it a lot.  Most of the time they put shredded pork or chicken in it and it tastes bomb.  But I guess sometimes they also put FREAKING BRAINS in this soup.  I was eating it with one of our zone leaders Elder Kay last night and I was like "Bro is this chopped up brain?" and he was like "Yeah dude." and I was like "From what animal?" and he said "Don't ask bro, just eat it."  I get kinda scared sometimes when people give us food haha.  But for the most part I really like everything I eat which is sweet.

Alright, just a few funny things from the week.  So one of the other Elders in our ward is named Elder Trinidad.  He's a real homie.  He doesn't know any English though.  But the other day it was hecka funny cause I was trying to tell him something and I was talking to him for like 30 seconds before I realized that I was talking in English, and then I was like "Wait, do you have any idea what I'm saying?"  And he just gave me a blank stare.  Then after I died laughing! I had to repeat the whole thing in Spanish.  But don't worry we're teaching him English.  We pretty much only teach him the bad things though.  Also we were painting some person's house the other day and idk whay but their little son loves me more than the other Elders and wanted to paint right next to me.  But that silly kid didn't know how to paint so he kept splashing pink paint into my hair and stuff! It was ridiculous!  I kept telling him that he could help paint other places but he would not leave my side... haha!

Alright so now to the baller parts of the week.  First, we went to the house of three of our investigators whose baptismal dates just fell through.  We took our district leader to do some "practice" baptismal interviews (they were actually real).  After all of the inverviews Elder Roberts concluded that they were all ready for baptism.  We put new baptismal dates for this Saturday and January 7.  I'm really hopeful about these new dates.

ALSO our investigator Cristain is straight up golden.  We taught him twice this week.  In our first lesson of the week we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  He understands and accepts everything we teach him which is awesome.  During the lesson he actually asked us how he would go about getting baptised into our Church!  It was crazy.  We explained it all to him and put a baptismal date for the 16th of this month.  Then at the end of the lesson he asked us if he could say the closing prayer! Our second lesson with him also went really well about the Plan of Salvation.  And then this Sunday was fast Sunday and the Bishop wanted all of us to bear our testimonies.  So we did and after I told Cristian that he could go up and share something if he wanted to AND HE DID.  He gave his testimony about how he was new but that he already knew the Church was true, that he wanted to learn more from the Book of Mormon, and that us missionaries were angels sent into his life.  Oh my gosh he is so awesome.  It's so true how the Lord has prepared people for us to teach, all of us.  There are people out there already willing to hear the Gospel and live its teachings, literally all we have to do is bring it to their doorstep.

Well that's just about it for this week.  Pretty much just living life out here in Mexico with my dawgs.  By the way I met the smallest freaking dog in the world last night and we're homies now.  I'll send a pic.  Everybody have a great week and be awesome!  Love you guys!

Elder Warren