Week Six in Mexico

So first off there weren't any transfers this week for my district so I'm safe for another six weeks! I'm super happy because I get to stay with my comp and with my investigators and in my house! And my house is a million times better because we have gas now so we can cook and I have hot showers. Just in time for winter. Except it's still like 80 degrees here...

But this week was good! I finally got my package from Dad so Elder Moya and I have been jamming out this whole week. I was happy to find out that we don't have transfers this cycle but I found something about my house that gives me nightmares, and now I want to move.

Black Widows! I found four of them just outside my house. Like on the walls outside or in the doorway. I killed all of them but am afraid that there might be more... but whatever. Once winter comes they will all freeze to death and I'll be safe. Plus, I always check my bed before I sleep and I shower with shoes on so I'm always prepared in case of a suprise attack. But seriously, don't worry about this. I'm just a baby and over-reacting because they are all outside and we don't have spiders in our house. I can tell, because of all the flies and cockroaches that are still alive in our house.

But umm.. this week has been pretty average.. We only had one investigator come to chuch this week which was a big let down considering we had 8 last week. I guess we just need to try harder this week.

I guess, because I don't have super crazy experiences, I'll just share with you my favorite things about being a missionary.

1. I get to read the Book of Mormon for like an hour every day. This is probaby my favorite part that doesn't have to do with other people. Seriously, I didn't know how much I loved reading until I read the Book of Mormon. Every morning I get to read it and I read it at night and whenever I can. This is one thing that I hope won't change after my mission.

2. I get to talk to people all day about the Book of Mormon and about God and Jesus and eternal families. I think this message we have to share is the coolest thing ever and it makes me so happy that I get to share it with everyone for two years and seeing the difference it makes in people's lives is incredible.

3. No school

4. Free lunch every day

5. I get to learn Spanish

6. I get closer to God every day here.

7. I heard that if you're a missionary your family at home will get blessed so I hope that's true. Fam, you ll have to tell me about that one.

But love you all and hope you have a good week! And shout out to all my fans you guys are the real heroes, because without you I wouldn't be where I am today.

Love, 
Elder St John

The Solo Gringo

So this week was pretty good, its starting to get really dark at night here so I feel safe all the time... But any way not too much happened this week. I had to take a 40 minute bus ride to some place in the middle of nowhere called Janos to get fingerprinted for my Visa so in a few short weeks I will finally be an authentic legal Mexican and that's really exciting.

The beautiful desert of Casas Grandes

Uhh.. what else happened..

This week we got some more investigators from contacting so that's cool.  One of our current investigators set a baptism date for November 2nd so that's really exciting! Especially because I might be the one to baptize him! I hope I do because it will be my first!  We had 7 investigators attend church this week which is awesome, because I love it when my investigators follow through with their commitments.

The beautiful Church of Casas Grandes

I talk more in the lessons.. really badly but I can still do it so that makes me happy because even though its hard for me to speak I still love to try. But it's coming a long better every day. poco a poco.

Umm.. not much left to say.  Transfers are this next week and I'm hoping I get to stay here a little longer because that will be really sad.

Also I'm glad you think my letters are funny because I can't tell jokes in Spanish so everyone here just thinks I'm super serious or mad all the time and it's kind of annoying getting called "serio" or "enojado" all the time, so I try to smile more and that's helping a little bit.  But the better I get to know the language the funnier I am. And I reallly hope these two years don't kill my sense of humor..

It sounds like everyone back at home is doing great! I love getting the updates from everyone! It's cool to think that for a short time there will be three St Johns out as missionaries!

Nothing left to say, so Love you all and have a great week!

Love,

Elder St John

Week 4 I Think..?

So it's been about one month since I got here and that's actually really crazy to think about because I remember when I had one month in the MTC and I though that went by fast... but holy cow I think that my whole life right now is on fast forward.

So this week was awesome! A lot of cool stuff happened. So we talked to the Vazquez family this week and they all said that they wanted to get baptized which is amazing. An entire family of 5! How cool is that??? and I'm starting to understand Spanish a lot better now. I don't have to look at my companion to translate every question I get asked so that's helped a lot. I'm starting to adjust to waking up at 6:30 every morning so that's getting a lot easier. My showers are getting colder so we are going to have to get heating fast or else I'm just going to start my mornings off as a popsicle.

ALSO I had the best meal since I've been in Mexico. There is this hermana in our ward who alwas gives us American food, like one time hamburgers. But she ordered pizza this week and it was soo good. Not because of the taste, just because I haven't had pizza in a long time.

But this weekend was really special, Wednesday the other two elders had a baptism and I got to go watch it and it was really cool! I also got to help fill the font, and grandma we almost flooded it, but I remembered your warning so we made it back earlier than we should have and stopped it just in time. Seriously the water was like 3 cm below the last step... The baptism was awesome I had to say the opening pray and sing with the other elders and it was really cool.

Sunday was good too because we had 8 investigators come to church. Eight. It's crazy because we where only expecting 4 so that was awesome. And I love seeing people progress while we are out here, it's the best thing ever seeing people change their lives for the better.

Three Weeks in Mexico

This week has been pretty uneventful I think... I still have no baptisms and no one with a date, but we have a few investigators who are close!! So that's exciting! Also this week we found out one of our investigators is a witch and has like dreams or visions and she has a Santa Muerte in her house. I don't really know what that is so you guys will have to look up what that means..  But my companion and the other two missionaries in my district where freaking out... But it's almost Halloween so I think it's perfect timing to know a witch.

But this week was good, the weekend was awesome though. Saturday we did divisons so i was with Elder Almaraz and slept at his house so that means I got a hot shower for the first time in 3 weeks which was amazing and I almost cried. But then all day Saturday was spent in the church watching Conference and that was good, except it was all in Spanish with no English subtitles or anything so I couldnt understand most of it. But I got the general idea of most of the talks so that was good! Sunday was the same. I slept at Elder Almaraz's house and so I got to have a hot shower again.

To answer your questions Dad: 

I don't have any hot water, the only warm water is when it gets hot from the pipes being in the sun. and I think we will get gas in the winter, but I'm not sure what we will do...

At the MTC they gave me a water filter which I use to drink the water and brush my teeth, or we just put water flavoring in the water and that kind of helps.. but when and investigator gives me water I drink it, and no one has gotten sick from it so i think its alright if you only drink a little at a time.

My house has electricity, so we have a fridge and a gas powered stove and a microwave so we can cook pretty much anything we want, except our stove ran out of gas Wednesday, so we will probably get more gas soon.

It's pretty here. There aren't any yards with grass, mostly just weeds but it is surrounded by small mountains so it reminds me a little bit of home.

Also here in Casas Grandes, there is a group of people called Menonitas which are a bunch of people from Germany that wear overalls plaid shirts and straw hats and they speak German or Spanish, and that's weird..  But a lot of the Mexicans here think I'm a Menonita so that's always fun to get. At least I don't stick out a ton here because of the Menonitas. I'm not the only white person here...

But love you all and miss you tons! Talk to you next week!

Love, 
Elder St John

Still in Mexico

Not much has changed. This week was still pretty good! I walk like 7 miles a day so Dad, I know how you feel. My showers are still cold and it's still hot here. But I can't really complain because the food is amazing and I love all my investigators.

Dad, I sent you the address but if you didn't get it it's right here:

This is the new address for the postal box in El Paso, Texas.

1410 Gail Borden Suite B-4

El Paso, Texas 79935

*Do not send any more packages to the old addresses, because starting November 1^st, they will cease to exist.

** Make sure your parents follow the following format when they send you packages:

                In the TO box have them write: MISSION: _____(YOUR NAME)____

Sample:

I got that today so it's the right one. 

But this week I had some cool experiences. My first is I fasted this week to try and get a little bit of help with Spanish and right after I ended my fast, I went to teach an old couple, Manuel and Olga. And they are soo sweet, I love them to death. But once I got there Manuel said that I wasn't his friend because in the lessons I was really quiet, mainly because I can't really understand him when he doesn't have his teeth in which is most of the time.. But he said he wanted to help me learn Spanish! What a blessing to have help during lessons. Every time I got to their house he makes me tell him a story in Spanish and helps me when I need it. What an awesome guy and an answer to my prayers. 

The other thing that was cool is because we have this one investigator whose name is Alberto and he is 17 and speaks really good English so I love teaching him. I get along with him really well and have been through some of the things he has gone through like getting ready to graduate high school and dealing with the ACT and all the stresses of that. But he wants to get baptized soon which is awesome, but his dad is really strict and wants him to wait so that's frustrating. But the cool part is that we went outside wth him to talk and he said that he is having a hard past two months and needed help so I showed him a scripture and told him about how I have been dealing with leaving home for two years and it looked like it really helped him.

My spiritual thought is what I shared with Alberto found in Jacob 4:7 [Nevertheless, the Lord God showeth us our weakness that we may know that it is by his grace, and his great condescensions unto the children of men, that we have power to do these things.]  This scritpure says to me that we can't do everything alone and that we need to realize how much we rely on the grace of God in all things and how much he is with us even though things may be really hard. But I love you all so much and miss you tons and hope you all have a good week. And look for the Grace of God in all things.

Love,

Elder St John 

Picture of Elders Gonzales and Moya making tortillas.

First Week in Mexico

Elder Moya and Elder St. John 

This week has been crazy. Every day is close to the same. We wake up, study, and go visit members or investigators, then go to bed. The days all fly by. It's crazy how fast this one week has gone. Every day for lunch the members feed us. So I've had a lot of spaghetti and enchiladas and soup and its all really, really good.

I still can't really understand anyone here so that's frustrating, but then I realize that it's been like 7 days in Mexico and look at how much Spanish I do know. For example, I read and entire talk by Henery B. Eyring in Spanish today and understood all of it, so im really impressed at that. And usually when we are visiting members or investigators I can follow a conversation. The frustrating thing is that it seems like whenever someone is talking to me I forget all my Spanish. But other than that I love it here. 

Laguana Ward Chapel

Sunday was really cool, me and the other new missionaries to the Laguana Ward had to get up during sacrament meeting and introduce ourselves and that was cool. I'm the only person from America in my area so I had the shortest introduction. But after that the four elders in my area sang to the Relief Society and that was cool too.

Elder Moya is awesome. He speaks a little bit of English and that is really helpful because it's a lot easier to learn Spainsh when your companion knows what you want to say. One of the rules here is English in the house and Spanish in the streets and that's cool too because I get to help Elder Moya learn English.

Casas Grandes

SO, about Casas Grandes. Everyone here seems to be super poor. All the streets are dirt and all the houses are really small with cement floors. The water here is dirty but there isn't much else to drink. There are like a million dogs here walking around and if they start to chase you or come at you, you can bend down and they think you're getting a rock so they will run away. Umm there is a school here called Juarez Academy and they teach the kids English, so I can talk to them in a little bit of English, and whenever I'm with them they want me to speak in English so that's fun too. It's not really dangerous here, so Dad, don't worry. I'm safe, I'm still careful but it's safe here. Every one stares at me when I'm walking down the streets or in lessons, probably because I'm the only white person here. But I'm used to it now and it's just funny now. It's really hot here and in the winter I hear it gets really cold so I'm excited for that... But in a month and a few days it will be Dia De Los Muertos and that should be really cool. 

I'm doing good here. I don't have blisters and I haven't gotten sick and I sleep really well. I'm always well fed and everyone here is super nice. I can't send you pictures because I dont have my cord but next week you should get a lot! Sorry for no pics but I'll try to make up for it. Also I don't know my address yet, but what's cool is that I was told that all our mail is sent to El Paso, Texas so it won't go through the Mexican post at all so you can actually send me stuff and not worry! When I get the address I'll let you guys know! It should be next week!

I love and miss everyone a ton and think about and pray about you guys a ton.

Love, Elder St John

P.S. I found an awesome scripture when the language was getting me down. It's Mosiah 23 verse 10.  [Nevertheless, after much tribulation, the Lord did hear my cries, and did answer my prayers, and has made me an instrument in his hands in bringing so many of you to a knowledge of his truth.] 

Love you bye.

Viva Mexico

So I've been in Mexico for about two days now and I've been in Juarez for about one day... Long strory.

So Monday morning at 4:30 we woke up, drove to Salt Lake and flew to Houston, Texas which was cool because I haven't flown  in forever. But Houston was cool but actually hot.  We left from Houston to Monterrey, Mexico and that was a weird flight. I had to fill out immigration papers on the way there and that was really weird. But we made it to Monterrey and it is beautiful there. After we got off the plane we had about an hour to get to our next flight. But we had to pass through customs first and that took like 30 min. Wo we were all in a hurry and ran to baggage and got our bags. I found all of mine but one. So I assumed someone took it for me because I was the last one to pass through customs. Turns out no one did so it was lost! Luckily the Monterrey, Mexico missionaries where there to be picked up the same time we had our layover. This means that like four experienced missionaries were there along with their mission presidents, so I had a lot of help and finally found my bag. I had five minutes to get to the plane and by this time the rest of my travel group left me in a hurry. So it was just me and the mission president and another missionary. We ran as fast as we could to the gate and it turned out that I was too late.  :(   So i missed my flight. Luckily the Monterrey mission president was nice enough to buy me a ticket for the next morning and let me eat with them and sleep at their mission home. So my first night in Mexico was in Monterrey and I had lasagna for dinner.  That is exactly how I planned it.

The next morning I woke up and took a taxi with two other missionaries to the airport. They dropped me off at my flight and then I was alone. In Mexico. And I didn't understand anyone. But I made it out alive. So I got to Juarez, met my companion (Elder Moya) who is from Mexico City and speaks a little bit of English. And then I took a four-hour bus ride to my area which is called Casas Grandes. 

It is nice here. Really poor and run down but everyone here is super nice and the weather is ptretty much like Utah--really hot and really cold. 

Our house is just me and Elder Moya and it doesn't have air conditioning or heating just a fan and windows, I really like it though. Also there is no hot water so cold showers cada dia which I'm fine with. I figure I better enjoy all the cold while I can.

Anyway I don't have my address yet and haven't taught anyone or have anything cool happen. The language is coming and I'm happy.  Also, Spanish keyboards are hard so sorry for the spelling.

Love, 

Elder St. John