Week Two in Saint Rose

So It's been a week since I got here to Santa Rosa, and I like it here a lot! It has a lot of hills and it's pretty high up.  If you ever look at pictures of Ciudad Juarez there is a mountian that says "La Biblia es verdadera Leala".  It's written in big letters on the mountain.  I'm basically right under that.  It's soo cool here, and the food is delicious.  I'm trying to load up on enchiladas and mole before I go home so that I don't miss it soo much.

But the highlights of this week are: 

Contacting, a lot. We are always looking for those new investigators. 

DIvisions, I went with Elder Lenis to an area called Mauricio Corridor, an even more hilly area.  It was soo pretty, you could see El Paso from the house and it was beautiful. But we had some funny experiences in divisons, like a guy looked at his wrist and said, "Well it's time for me to go."  And he left.  But the funny part was that he wasn't even wearing a watch.  And he stared at his wrist like 3 seconds flat.. Lol But we also contacted this girl in her house and she wouldn't let go of my hand and stared at me the whole contact.  And when I shook her hand to say goodbye she WOULDN'T let go of it so I had to pry her hand off of mine. Also we went to a store to go to the bathroom and on the way out this crazy old woman grabbed my arm and started asking me if I lived in the white house and if I was related to Obama.  So lots of weird things happend on Friday and Saturday.  But it was really fun. 

Another funny thing about being in Mexico right now is that people always bug me about Donald Trump. Many think I'm related to him and many just complain to me about him, and the funny part is that I probably know less about him than anyone else.  So it's pretty weird.  But if you thought racism was dead, it isn't, because everyone stares at me and calls me gabacho, I think it just means white person but its pretty funny. I love Mexico.

Anyway, that's about it for this week, just thought I'd share with you some of what goes on in my everyday life here in Mexico. 

Love,

Elder St John

Saint Rose

So this was an eventful week!

Monday I had an awesome experience with the Spirit. We were walking through a park and I saw a woman sitting on a bench and felt like I should talk to her.. I though it would be awkward and I wanted to go to the appointment we were going to instead so I kept walking and I felt the same thing even stronger, and I thought that it would still be uncomfortable to bug her and kept walking till i passed her.  Then I felt an impression too strong to ignore that I HAD to talk to her. (I guess I was being a little too stubborn...) So I thought, well I guess I have no choice. And instead of the awkward conversation I was expecting, it was a very comfortable talk with her. Her name was Emilia, and she opened up to us and told us that her grandaughter who was playing in the park had had a seizure the week before and she told us that her daughter was sick, and that she had no idea what to do. So we talked to her about prayer the the gospel and she accepted it with an open heart. She was very excited to hear about it and so we got her information and were going to visit her this week. 

Tuesday we had interviews with President Derbez and I gave him a large picture of me and him (the one we took during Christmas time) and he seemed happy about it. The interviews went really well and I got to say my goodbye because the president is leaving this Friday. 

Wednesday was just a normal day full of normal things.

Thursday was also a normal day full of normal things. 

Friday was Irmas baptismal interview and it went really well! She passed great and is super ready for her baptism. 

Saturday I got a very sad phone call. The zone leaders told me that I had a special changed and that I was going to a ward called Santa Rosa with Elder Gonzales. So that's where I am now.  They called us at 11:00 and told us to be at the offices at 12:30. Elder Christensen and I were very sad to get the news because we got along really, really well. And I'm sad to be away from him and the ward.  It was heart breaking.  But after 2 days in Santa Rosa with Elder Gonzales I feel better and it should go pretty well here for my last 3 weeks. 

Sunday I met the ward and everyone accepted me pretty well! Oh and I forgot the coolest part about Elder Gonzales, Do you remember Elder De Olarte? He is the only missionary i have trained.  Well Elder De Olarte started the training of Elder Gonzales and I will be finishing the training of Elder Gonzales! So that's pretty cool.

So that's about it for this week! I hope you all have a great last week of June and I hope you all have a great start of July!! 

Love,

Elder St John

Hacienda Fun

So I don't have much time to write so this will be quick.

This week we worked really hard, even though it was hot. It got up to 106 on Saturday! But that didn't keep us down. we visited Irma and she is super ready for her baptism next week and we also got to contact some really good references like one from the sisters and one from a member who brought a friend to church. So work is starting to come out. 

We are very happy, and a cool story is that yesterday a member gave me a challenge to eat a Carolina reaper chilie... so I did. And I regret it very much. It was hands down the spiciest thing I have ever eaten and I think I almost died. I have a video but you will have to wait till I get home to see it. lol. But it was a good week!

I love you all and wish you a great late Father's Day and a great week. 

Love,

Elder St John

Workin Hard in Hacienda

This was a pretty good but normal week. We continue contacting as always, and we are focusing our attention on Irma because she will be baptized very soon. We also try working with the members, even though it is hard with their busy schedules and sometimes the members don't want to work with us, but we keep on trying to have them help us the best that we can. 

We had a big event yesterday with the members. We had a meeting with all the members and we talked to them about the missionary work of members. So it went well. We showed them a video, and after went out with the members to visit. it went great. We met many new people and we also had a lot of success. We visited lots of people and the members seemed very happy with the activity! 

But sad to say that's about the only thing worth talking about. My new companion Elder Christensen is very cool. We get along great. He will be a great last companion. 

Well thats all for today. Love you all.

Love,

Elder St John

All is Well in Hacienda

Soo it was a good week here in Hacienda. We enjoyed teaching many people lesson 2 and enjoyed doing service as well. 

This week we also walked a lot in the hot sun. But I should be losing weight due to the sweat so I'll have my summer bod ready for the beach.

On Monday we had a normal P-day. 

Tuesday we visited 2 less actives and contacted a lot.

Wednesday we helped a man put a door on his gate outside, and he was grateful and we even put an appointment with him for the next day. 

Thursday the man we helped wasn't home.. But we still visited some people and contacted much.

Friday, more hot sun, and we had a great time visiting investigators. We visited Irma and she is still excited for her baptism even!

Saturday we continued working hard and were able to visit the man with the gate! His wife was there and she was also very happy that we came. It was a good week! 

Sunday Irma went to church and we visited a recent convert here from Elder Evans!

And Sunday night we got the calls for transfers! My last transfer - I will be here in Hacienda with Elder Christensen.  I don't know who he is very well but he should be a good companion. I wil let you know all about him next week!

I hope you all have a great week!

Love,

Elder St John

Elder St John's Email Memorial Day Edition

So this was just another normal week. 

Tuesday we contacted a few normal people and visited as always some less actives.

Wednesday we had a meeting in the offices. And I finally got Grandma Cable's package. It was great. The meeting was about reporting. And after, we continued visiting more people. We found an interesting family last week.  They believe in reencarnation and mental energies and stuff like that so it's weird going with them.  But we are trying to bring them to the truth. 

Thursday we continued with the pattern of contact, teach, contact. And it went okay. 

Friday we had a pretty good morning, especially becasue while contacting we talked to a cool family outside gardening and we answered a lot of quiestions that they had and we are going to visit them this week as well. We also got to go to a BBQ that an investigator invited us to. His name is Luis, his wife is Irma.  I'm not sure if I've told you about them, but they are awesome, and in the next few weeks, Irma will be baptized! Which is very exciting. 

Saturday was a very hot and sunny day, and a few of our appointments fell through. So I got very sunburnt.. but i have recovered now. 

Sunday was a great day because we had many appointments and many people to visit so we stayed away from the sun. 

SO that was the week. I hope you enjoyed! 

Happy Memorial Day! 

Love,

Elder St John

Here is a picture of when Elder Evans and I got tattoos. And became bikers. 

Week 4 in Hacienda de las Torres

So this week was very normal. So I can't complain. But we had lots of fun this week too. 

Monday was just a normal p-day. We bought food and shopped and stuff.. 

Tuesday we visited some less actives and had lots of good time to contact.

Wednesday we contacted a lot, and we did divisiones with Elder Medeiros and Elder Ocampo, our zone leaders.  It went well, I was with Elder Medeiros (one of my companions in the MTC!) and it was really fun.  We had some good lessions and found two new investigators!! It also rained.

Thursday we ended divisions and continued visiting many people. And I was reunited with Elder Evans.

Friday we continued contacting and taught some lessons. 

Saturday we helped some investigators paint a house. And we found a less active that had 15 years of being less active.  We also ate steak which was delicious, and continued visiting people.

Sunday I gave a talk in church; it went well. Everyone applauded at the end of my talk. And we did divisones with two adults from our ward to continue progressing. 

And today cleaned the house and haven't done much else.. but write..

Thats all for this week! I hope you all stay safe and I hope someone puts a Band-aid on Angel Moroni.  I heard he had some bad luck.. 

Love you all.

Love, 

Elder St John