What Happens in Juarez Stays in Juarez

Awesome week this week, We had a bunch of references to contact so we walked A TON but it all worked out well.. my feet will just hurt me for the rest of my life.

This week was hot. And my companion said that the hot times have started. I was sweating at like 80 degrees and it gets up to 115 so wish me luck, because I might come home as a puddle... But the weird part is that today its like 10 degrees.... so all of a sudden I'm freezing again. The weather here is super duper weird...

This Monday something super cool happened. The first thing is that I had my first good plate of chinese food in like 6 months. But the second is that all of Juarez had a meeting with the president, and we talked about the rules for like two hours because there are a lot of disobedient missionaries here. (Don't worry, I'm not one of them *wink*  *wink*) But after the rules we watched Meet the Mormons! IT was amazing, I highly recommend it if you haven't seen it. Even though it was all in Spanish I loved it and understood basically all of it. But it's going to be in theaters and Netflix here so that's what we will be pushing now.

Also I highly recommend reading chapter one of James. I was having a rough day on Saturday and, it helped me a ton.

Today is the first day of the last week of the cycle, so I might have transfers. So pray that I can stay here a little longer!

That's all for this week. I will send a picture of the balloon tower because I finally have them! Love you all and have a great week!

Elder St John

This is a picture of all the missionaries with Sister Candi, who is an angel and is my favorite person ever.

Feliz día de amor y amistad

This week was full of love. Especially Friday and Saturday.

Those two days were the days that we used the balloon arch to get references. And it was awesome. I had two whole days of talking to strangers and I loved it. we took a ton of pictures and got a ton of references. 300 to be almost exact. And that's like the highlight of the week... but I'll see what else I can squeeze out.

Time here is getting faster. I really feel like if I blink the day will pass me by. And that's really how it is. We'll be walking to a lesson and I realize that it's like 8 o'clock and that the day is almost over and it's super weird. 

Also I hope you guys are still reading the Book of Mormon because I am. I've actually read it three times since I started my mission, and it's the best thing ever. Our president is trying to get us to read it once every three months and it's a huge blessing to have this challenge. I hope you guys are all reading daily. And if you're not. Please start.

Umm there isn't anything big going on right now soo.. I'll talk to you guys next week! Love you all. Bye!

Love, 

Elder St John

Three Weeks in Juarez - Still Surviving

So today marks the beginning of week 4 in Juarez and last week I completed six months as a missionary. It's super weird to look back and see how much time has passed. Missionary time is super weird. But this past week was pretty gr8.

We had a mostly normal schedule but Thursday we had Elder Piper, the Area 70 come and give us a conference. It was super good and I learned a lot. He taught us how to have more lessons, find more investigators, and get more baptisms. He also told us in his mission he baptized like 1000 people so we joke about how we are reactivating all his converts. But it was a really useful conference and I will be working hard to put into practice what we learned.

Clara, our only progressing investigator for the moment, is doing great! She still is coming to church and is still amazing.

This week we came up with a plan to get more investigators. The idea is that for Valentines day we are going to set up a huge thing for the holiday and we are making a balloon arch and taking pictures of people in front of it, then we will hand deliver the pictures and have a million people to visit. This is the plan. Wish us luck.

Today I'm writing a little late, but it's because I had to go the the temple with another elder to translate something for the temple store. So I FINALY GOT TO GO TO THE TEMPLE! I didn't get to go inside but I got to see it from outside and it was beautiful. I have pictures... but don't have an adapter so I can't send them... But next week you will all see. 

Well that's all for this week. Love you all!

Love,

Elder St John

Week Two in Juarez. Still Surviving

Me in front of our Church.

So this next week was pretty good. I'm starting to get used to this area and the people and the city and everything about this place. I think my Spanish is getting worse... because we have an American Elder who I speak to in English a lot.. But it's okay. I'm having a good time here.

We had Elder Webster and Elder Canseco (zone leaders) serve us breakfast in their house.

We enjoyed the meal together.

The weather is still really weird here... Monday-Wednesday was super hot -- Thursday-Friday was super cold then Saturday and Sunday were normal... 

Me and Elder Mellad enjoying the snow. 

This Saturday there was a baptism of an 8-year-old in the ward and I got to make the handouts and give a small talk, then we got candy so it was super good. 

Oh, and do you guys remember when I had that lesson with the president? Well the investigator that we were teaching that day now has a baptismal date for March 7th which will be super exciting. Her name is Clara and she is a sweetheart; she always gives us fruit after our lessons and yesterday she was the second person at Church. So she is already more faithful than all the members. Including the Bishop, who didn't even show up. 

But that's really all the big news for this week. Sunday was the Superbowl so Elder Mellado and I tried to avoid all the borrachos.. But we didn't do as well as we thought because one of the less actives was super borracho when we talked to him that night, and we visited another family and the brother of the dad was there and he was also super borracho and also had a potty mouth.. But it was in Spanish so I hardly understood. 

But all in all this week was good. But pretty normal. 

Love you all lots! 

Love,

Elder St John

The view from my new house.

The first mall I've seen in half a year. (called Las Misiones)