Well, things didnt get to crazy here September 15 and 16. We just kept working and doing the normal stuff and we didnt see too many crazy things. Although, on the night of the 15th we went over to a members house to see how they celebrated their independence day and to participate in the grito (means yell in Spanish) where they wave a flag around and yell ¡viva Miguel Hidalgo, viva (a whole bunch of other important figures in the independence movement and the revolution of 1910), viva Mexico! And I ate cow stomach, and cow feet! I didnt really like either of them. The cow stomach (mole de panza or menudo) was especially weird, but, hey, I had to try it at least once. I heard there was some big parties in the center of Cholula which is right nearby us and a ridiculous party and parade in Mexico City that was televised.
The change just ended today, but neither Elder Huss nor I are being transferred. I was glad. I like my companion and my area. Six months in the mission and I finally stayed in one place for an entire transfer (6 weeks).
As for requests for my birthday. There is this painting I saw in a Liahona that I love. Its called "Lehi´s Dream" by Greg Olsen. Its the coolest depiction of 1 Nephi chapter 8 Ive ever seen. I would really like to find a small print of it or something. Ive also been craving some american chocolate candy like snickers, twix, milkyway, 3 musketeers, etc. Oh, and pictures of the family and Dad´s GTM. Other than that I cant think of anything, maybe another cool tie or something. You can never have too many ties as a missionary.
Ive been try to stay in shape. Exercising regularyly and effectively is hard. Although riding bikes up hills everyday helps with that. Actually, we havent been riding bikes this week much because my companion fell and we still havent gotten his bike fixed yet. Having bikes makes everything so much faster. They have been really useful. Fortunately, Mexico has a way better public transport and bus system than the U.S. otherwise we would never get anywhere without the bikes. I do still try to eat healthy as well. Even though the majority of the food in Mexico is fried in a ton of oil and terribly unhealthy and I cant really control what the members give us to eat, I always buy a lot of fruits and vegetables. My companion thinks Im funny that way, but fruits and vegetables are cheaper than almost all the processed junk food here. So, it works out good.
Im glad Sean´s having a good time in college. I knew he would. College rocks. I cant wait to go back. What classes is he taking?
I did get Quin´s address. Thanks.
Good luck on your race, Mom. Let me know how you do.
Till next week,
Brett
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
September 27, 2010
Congratulations on your race, Mom! I always brag about you to people and always acredit all my healthy habits to you. Unfortunately, Ive been kind of lazy about working out in the mornings lately. We have some really cool people we are teaching right now, seriously, theyre like my best friends. I love them and Ive learned so much from them.
Ya, I would like recent photos if youve taken any. Im so glad Austin is doing well in IB. If he thinks its hard know just wait until he gets into his Junior year. I wish I was there to help him with his spanish. Haha. Is he taking chemistry with Mrs. Brennan? Math with Mr. Vong? I know the teachers change a lot for freshman, but I might know some of them.
Sorry, I didnt have much time to write this week. Ill try to give you more updates next week.
Love,
Brett
Ya, I would like recent photos if youve taken any. Im so glad Austin is doing well in IB. If he thinks its hard know just wait until he gets into his Junior year. I wish I was there to help him with his spanish. Haha. Is he taking chemistry with Mrs. Brennan? Math with Mr. Vong? I know the teachers change a lot for freshman, but I might know some of them.
Sorry, I didnt have much time to write this week. Ill try to give you more updates next week.
Love,
Brett
Monday, September 13, 2010
September 13, 2010
Well, good thing you sent me my white pants and tie. I just used them to baptize this Senora named Maria de Lourdes on Saturday. Shes the first person for which Ive actually been the one to do the ordinance on my mission. She already knew quite a bit about the church and wanted to get baptized before we even met here. Her finanse is a member. I was actually really surprised that she asked me to baptize her instead of her finanse. He was jealous. I think she partially just felt bad about the fact that we had to come to her house and teach her at 6:45 in the morning because she worked all day and she wanted to make it up to me in some way, but who knows. She is really sweet and I think she has a stronger testimony of the Gospel than me. I got everything right the first time I baptized here. Ya! Only one thing went wrong: before the baptism we were wondering why the font was filling up so slowly and even stopped filling at one point. So we started filling it up with buckets as fast as we could. We didnt know what was wrong. Then the bishop came 10 minutes before the baptism and told us that there was a pump that had to be activated in order to fill it. By that time we already almost had it filled. So, we couldnt add that much hot water and it was a little chilly for the baptism, but still bearable. Here, nobody has constant running water. You have to fill up a tank usually on top of the house with some sort of pump that takes water from a nearby well or underground system and then the water flows from that tank to the faucet.
Other than the baptism the work here has been kind of difficult lately. We dont have any progressing investigators right now. Although, we found a couple of less active families while we were contacting and one of them really needs some help. Jeu and his family hadnt been to church for like 9 years until yesterday. They got offended one day at some comment somebody made about their clothes and they stopped going. It appears that his wife didnt get baptized for the right reasons in the first place and after they stopped going Jeu picked up a drinking problem, their three children were baptized in the Catholic Church just to make his wifes family happy, and now he doesnt have a job. He seems like he really wants to turn his life around. I hope we can help. So far this mission is quite like I imagined a mexico mission with a extremely high number of baptisms every change. But, hey, its better than Italy. Haha, right Dad? Still its almost like Utah for Catholics. I hear there are 365 Catholic Churches in Cholula alone. My area is partially in Cholula. The center of every town is centered around the Cathedral that is there. They are beautiful buildings. The coolest catholic church is the one thats built on top of a huge Myan pyramid. Its not in our area. So I havent actually been able to go to it, but you can see from our area. I feel bad for Spencer, though, because at least here just about everybody is very friendly and respectful of our beliefs. If you said hello, Good day or good afternoon, everyone says hello back. There are a few people that dont like Americans and make fun of us (usually younger people, like teenagers), but the majority are very friendly and kind.
It hasnt rained as much this week. Thats good, except that now it feels a little hotter.
I got your package! Man, you spoil me. I love it. The chocolate covered pretzels are so addicting. I was wondering about the colors of the sprinkles, too. Are they Christmas colors or Mexican flag colors? Speaking of Mexican flag. Tuesday is 15 de Septiembre, which is basically like independence day for Mexico, but this year its going to be crazy because this year marks the 200th anniversary of the independence of Mexico from Spain. YA! FIESTA!
Love you all,
Brett
Other than the baptism the work here has been kind of difficult lately. We dont have any progressing investigators right now. Although, we found a couple of less active families while we were contacting and one of them really needs some help. Jeu and his family hadnt been to church for like 9 years until yesterday. They got offended one day at some comment somebody made about their clothes and they stopped going. It appears that his wife didnt get baptized for the right reasons in the first place and after they stopped going Jeu picked up a drinking problem, their three children were baptized in the Catholic Church just to make his wifes family happy, and now he doesnt have a job. He seems like he really wants to turn his life around. I hope we can help. So far this mission is quite like I imagined a mexico mission with a extremely high number of baptisms every change. But, hey, its better than Italy. Haha, right Dad? Still its almost like Utah for Catholics. I hear there are 365 Catholic Churches in Cholula alone. My area is partially in Cholula. The center of every town is centered around the Cathedral that is there. They are beautiful buildings. The coolest catholic church is the one thats built on top of a huge Myan pyramid. Its not in our area. So I havent actually been able to go to it, but you can see from our area. I feel bad for Spencer, though, because at least here just about everybody is very friendly and respectful of our beliefs. If you said hello, Good day or good afternoon, everyone says hello back. There are a few people that dont like Americans and make fun of us (usually younger people, like teenagers), but the majority are very friendly and kind.
It hasnt rained as much this week. Thats good, except that now it feels a little hotter.
I got your package! Man, you spoil me. I love it. The chocolate covered pretzels are so addicting. I was wondering about the colors of the sprinkles, too. Are they Christmas colors or Mexican flag colors? Speaking of Mexican flag. Tuesday is 15 de Septiembre, which is basically like independence day for Mexico, but this year its going to be crazy because this year marks the 200th anniversary of the independence of Mexico from Spain. YA! FIESTA!
Love you all,
Brett
August 30, 2010
Hey, I got your package. Muchismas Gracias! That honey is delicious! I noticed you also sent me some of the booklets for the strengthening marriage and family classes. You only sent the one strengthening families book in spanish. How do I get the other materials in Spanish? Does someone in the bishopric need to contact LDS family services. The closest one is in Mexico City. I have the contact information, but I havent mentioned anything about my idea to the bishopric because I want to know exactly what to tell them. One thing Ive learned on the mission is that you have to give people very specific assignments or they wont do anything. Its not that they dont want to help. Its just the way people are, even missionaries.
Well, its been raining a lot here and weve lost pretty much every one of our investigators. Yaa . Seriously, I thought it rained a lot in Florida, but it rains like every afternoon here and extremely hard. The streets get flooded and we get totally soaked, but its all good. A little water never hurt anyone.
I got to send to send you guys some pictures of the volcano, Popocatepetl, and other cool stuff. Puebla is beautiful.
I dont know if Ive told you yet, but we go once a week to the employment resource center the church has here in Puebla and help people find jobs. Its pretty cool, but sometimes it gets a little boring.
I got to go. Ill write a little more later today. Ive only used like 30 minutes of my email time.
Love,
Brett
Well, its been raining a lot here and weve lost pretty much every one of our investigators. Yaa . Seriously, I thought it rained a lot in Florida, but it rains like every afternoon here and extremely hard. The streets get flooded and we get totally soaked, but its all good. A little water never hurt anyone.
I got to send to send you guys some pictures of the volcano, Popocatepetl, and other cool stuff. Puebla is beautiful.
I dont know if Ive told you yet, but we go once a week to the employment resource center the church has here in Puebla and help people find jobs. Its pretty cool, but sometimes it gets a little boring.
I got to go. Ill write a little more later today. Ive only used like 30 minutes of my email time.
Love,
Brett
September 6, 2010
I cant believe Im going to miss the FSU vs. BYU game. Sean will never let me live it down if they lose to FSU two years in a row. That was such an embarrassing game last year. Does Sean have season tickets to all the games or are you just going to this one game? Im glad hes enjoying it there. The college life is pretty sweet. I cant wait to go back.
Ya the employment center, thats what it is. Centro de Empleos is what its called here. The only reason I was said it was boring is because some days nobody comes in and theres no one to help. But its pretty cool besides that. Its cool just being in the huge commercial district of Puebla too.
I think some of my favorite foods are the tacos (arabes, al pastor, etc.) and the pan de dulce (pastries). They have taquerias and bakeries on just about every block here. Ill have to send you some pictures of the huge columns of pork they use for the tacos. Its hard to believe they can sell that much meat in one day. And the pastries are so delicious. I especially like the orejas (literally translated ears) and the ones filled with cream. Mmm... The other cool thing is there is always a ton of delicious fruit for extremely cheap. Ive never had a mango in florida like the mangos here. Theyre way sweeter. I also like this fruit called tuna. Yes, tuna. The spanish word for the english tuna is atun. Tuna in spanish is a fruit. The peaches are really good too.
Well, I got to go. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Brett
P.S. When I said we lost our investigators I meant they told they didnt want to listen to us anymore, either directly or indirectly (by never being there when they say theyre going to be there or not leting us set a definite return appointment).
Ya the employment center, thats what it is. Centro de Empleos is what its called here. The only reason I was said it was boring is because some days nobody comes in and theres no one to help. But its pretty cool besides that. Its cool just being in the huge commercial district of Puebla too.
I think some of my favorite foods are the tacos (arabes, al pastor, etc.) and the pan de dulce (pastries). They have taquerias and bakeries on just about every block here. Ill have to send you some pictures of the huge columns of pork they use for the tacos. Its hard to believe they can sell that much meat in one day. And the pastries are so delicious. I especially like the orejas (literally translated ears) and the ones filled with cream. Mmm... The other cool thing is there is always a ton of delicious fruit for extremely cheap. Ive never had a mango in florida like the mangos here. Theyre way sweeter. I also like this fruit called tuna. Yes, tuna. The spanish word for the english tuna is atun. Tuna in spanish is a fruit. The peaches are really good too.
Well, I got to go. Talk to you next week.
Love,
Brett
P.S. When I said we lost our investigators I meant they told they didnt want to listen to us anymore, either directly or indirectly (by never being there when they say theyre going to be there or not leting us set a definite return appointment).
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