I'm Not Dead

First off I would like to apologize for the tardiness of this letter. it is one day and a few hours overdue.. but its because Sunday I went to Juarez for a DL training meeting and didn't come home till yesterday at like 5:00.... so I had no time to write...

This past week was super good. I'm starting to get the hang of all the stuff I'm doing right now a little better so it's getting a little easier. Monday I gave my first district meeting and it went pretty well. I tried my best and I think it all worked out.

This Tuesday I went down to a place called LeBaron to do some interviews for some baptisms we would have that Saturday, and it was super cool! It's like a 45 minute drive and when we got there it was crazy. Remember when I said Dublan was American, well LeBaron at least triples Dublan. EVERYONE speaks English and the houses are wayyy more American. But the only difference is that LeBaron is where all the polygamists live.. So that part was a little weird.. But I got the interviews done and we left that night, got ice cream and went home. 

All the other days went pretty normal. We contact every day, by knocking doors and giving out stuff like cards or Books of Mormon. We found a few new people that could work but things are still a little slow here. But even though we are getting rejected every once and a while we also are having some success and the little success makes all the rejections worth it. 

Sunday I left for Ciudad Juarez at like 11:00 o'clock by bus and got there at like 4:00 so that was pretty good! I just went to the mission offices and ate a salad then went on divisions with the assistants for the night. While i was there we found a family in their area and they gave us steak and were super nice and it gave me hope for the people here. Then we woke up Monday morning bright and early to go to the meeting at 8:00 a.m. The meeting was super good. We learned the 10 traits of a perfect missionary but the one I liked the most was where it said that we have to be social and that when we sent our papers in it was us agreeing to be social. After the meeting I went back to Casas Grandes by bus.. Again for 4 more hours... and got back at 5:00 and had my second district meeting, and that one was great! I basically just passed all the information that I got from the meeting earlier but it worked out pretty well.. 

Later Monday night we went with the sisters in my district to help them teach a lesson. This lession was cool because the girl we taught only spoke English and was from New Mexico. We taught her the gospel and it was really special. I highly reccomend you guys study it and memorize the 5 points of the gospel, because it really is perfect and will help you guys with everything. 

I'm so grateful for all you guys do and I hope you guys are all doing great! I love you all so much. 

Love,

Elder St John

The Mission of Elder St John Chapter 3

A picture of me and Elder Riding.

So basically everything is new now... I'm back in Casas Grandes with dirt roads, farms and the beautiful desert air.  Also, if you haven't heard the hymn "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd" #221, you should listen to it because it's my theme song for this area, especially the second to last line. And also, I don't really need to write more about what I've done this week because the second to last line basically describes the whole week.

My new companion is awesome! We get along super well, he has 15 months in his mission and speaks super good Spanish and is super freindly and helps a ton with contacting. Also, he knows the area so he is a huge help. 

The area is great, but it's kind of a desert.. literally and figuratively. Because right now it's a desert of investigators.. We get rejected a lot here when we contact, but it's also weird because the people we contact say no but we have people coming up to us and almost contacting us in a way.. So all our new investigators are coming to us.. 

Umm it has been cold this week but it looks like it's starting to get warmer which is good and bad because I hear the summers here are very, very hot. So I will melt and come home in a puddle... So I'm not too excited that it's starting to get hotter... 

Actually having responsability is pretty cool but stressful, because I have a lot of stuff to worry about.. But I'm getting better and working harder to get better. I'm glad for the oppurtunity to grow and learn and that's about it for the week. I love you all a lot! 

Love, 

Elder St John

The coolest thing that happened this week was when we had our Stake Conference this Sunday for my new stake in Dublan. The President came and he shared the conversion story of Clara to everyone and it was super cool, and Clara was baptized last Saturday. It was a really cool story and because I came in kind of in the middle. 

A Picture of Blacky, a dog who follows us every day. All day.

A picture of the Church of Section Hildalgo (which is abandon).

"Ciudad Juares es Numero 1" (por Juan Gabriel)

So the title of this email describes my feelings towards Juarez. I love this place. Just like Juan Gabriel said in his hit song, Juarez really is la frontera mas fabulosa y bella del muuunndo. I´ve only been here for 6 short weeks and I love it here. Even though I hear gun shots and police at night, I've never felt safer as a servant of the Lord. 

But as much as I love Juarez, the president thinks it's time for me to go. Today is the last day of the cycle and I have transfers. But you guys will be so proud of me. Because remember Dublan, the place of my dreams when I was in Casas Grandes? Well you'll never guess it but I'M GOING TO DUBLAN!! And that's not even the cool part. I'M GOING TO BE A SENOR COMPANION FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER. And that's still not the cool part. The cool part is I'M GOING TO BE A DISTRICT LEADER. So yeah that's about all the big news. I'm going to Dublan as District Leader, so I'm stoked. Even though I'm super stressed because I haven't even been a senior companion yet... But whatever. I know that the Lord called me for this so he will help me. My new companions name is Elder Riding and he is from Payson, Utah. Maybe Grandma and Grandpa St. John know him. But I'm super excited to meet him but super sad to leave Frontera 3 (my old area) and especially Elder Mellado. He is the best. 

This week was pretty normal. Sorry if I scared you about the gun shot stuff but I thought it would be fine because I'm going to like the safest place in my mission and I will be fine. But keep me in your prayers so that I can be a good leader and won't lose all my hair from stress.. because I think I'm already going bald... But I'm in love with this work and I love being a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Love you all and I wish you the best week this week.

Love, 

Elder San Juan

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)