Me Gustan Las Gringas.

Elder de Olarte and me. 

So this week was pretty cool! We found a few new people to teach which was exciting. But we need to work on getting them to church. But little by little we will get them to the truth. 

Tuesday I ate an entire Habanero pepper and it was delicous, and my mouth burned for like 10 minutes, but it was worth it. 

Wednesday was just the normal day of contacting and teaching. But it was a pretty good day!

Thursday I ate something called a Gringa, which is a quesadilla with meat and other ingredients and it was delicious. It is also what they call girls from the United States so I felt funny asking for one.

This is a gringa. Best thing ever. 

Friday was also just a normal day. 

Saturday was a good day, because we got to visit a few people we hadn't seen in a while, like a recent convert, and he was glad we visited him. 

Sunday we watched the lunar eclipse and ate Indian food. 

The super moon with the Elders and Garhett.

My Indian food.

The beautiful sunset in Juarez on the cotton fields.

So it was a pretty good week all in all. I'm very excited for conference next week and I hope you all watch it too! 

Love you all.

Love,

Elder St John

LA INDEPENDENCIA MEXICANA

This last week was Mexican Independence Day, and I celebrated by eating pasole, and that's about it.. considering we can't use fireworks, or go to parties or things like that, I'd say i did everything I could to feel the Mexican spirit. 

This week was pretty good.  We found a few new investigators, which was very exciting.  One is a family of four who live pretty close to us and sell food outside of their house. They are awesome and have a ton of questions. 

There was a baptism in the district on Saturday and I interviewed the person who was going to be baptized and he was awesome. HE told me his WHOLE conversion story and it was incredible. I won't tell you the story, but I'll just tell you that God does not cease to be a God of miracles. 

Friday night we had a "Noche Mexicana" and we had enchiladas and gorditas and a bunch of other Mexican food and music and we brought an investigator and it was really fun. I drank more Horchata than you could imagine. 

Sunday we ate lunch with a young marriage of recent converts. And they gave us crickets to eat so I ate them with my ice cream and they were pretty good to be honest.

But all in all it was a good week! And I hope you all have a good week this week! 

Love,

Elder San Juanito

This is the cricket that I ate.

One Year in Mexico

So I don't have a year in Mexico yet, actually I think Wednesday will be my one year in Mexico mark. But it's pretty cool to think that I haven't stepped foot in the United States in a year. That's a long time. But to sum this year up I would just say it was a big fiesta. I learned Spanish, got sunburnt, froze to death, I've met like 1000 people. I've eaten 200 tacos and 300 burritos. I've grown a mustache and changed my name to Ernesto. So I'd say not much has changed. It was a great year, and I look forward to my last year in Mexico. 

This week we contacted a lot. We found a new part of our area which was cool, so now we have more places to meet people. And also two new elders opened another area in the ward. So the ward now has 7 missionaries (the sisters are in a trio) and in my district there are now 11 of us. Best and biggest district ever. 

Elder De Olarte keeps on getting better and better, he is a really good elder, and I always learn new things from him. 

Satelite is an awesome ward and I'm super glad to be here. I hope you are all happy and well at home! I love you all!

Love,

Elder St John

Just to make his email longer I will add a bit of what transpired between him and me today:

cc:  Did you get to watch the Mexico City Temple dedication? 

Elder SJ:  I did and it was beautiful. Elder Holland gave an amazing talk, and I got to hear it twice because he said one part in English then it was translated to Spanish, then English then Spanish. It was great! 

cc:  I think Katelyn and Luke came home from their honeymoon today. I hope they had a good time. 

Elder SJ:  I hope they had a good time as well! Where did they go? 

cc:  We are loving BYU football this year. Tanner Mangum is the starting quarterback and he is a true freshman (the starting QB broke his foot in the first game). Tanner was a companion of Mason's in Chile. He is doing phenomenal things. It's fun. And I am sure we must be related. 

Elder SJ:  I'm glad you're all enjoying BYU football as always. 

cc:  Is your companion still doing well?  What do you do on your P-day?  Did you ever get the "no big deal" package I sent?

Elder SJ:  My comp is still great! We just write, buy our groceries, eat, and have our district meeting at 5:00 and then it's over... not much time to do anything really... but there is nothing to do here anyway so not like we are missing out. And I did and I forgot to tell you! Thank you soo much! Even though the box got ruined in delivery and there was chocolate everywhere most of the stuff survived. Thanks for all! 

Unlucky 13

SO as of yesterday, I started my 13th month in the mission, pretty scary right? I hope it's not as unlucky as I think! But we will see. 

But this past week went well! Just a lot of contacting and working with the members! We have a few good progressing investigators right now.  One is Astrid, who will have a famlily home evening with us at the stake president's home and that should be exciting! And yesterday someone introduced us to a friend who seems like a pretty good prospect! All is going well with Elder De Olarte.  He is a great elder and helps me a ton! 

I just want to say that I'm super happy for Katelyn for getting sealed this Saturday. I think that that is awesome, and the fact that families can be eternal is the best thing that this gospel can offer! I hope everything goes well with you all at home and I love you all so much! 

Sorry for the short letter, we don't have much time and it wasn't a very eventful week!

Love, 

Elder St John

Week One of Elder St. John's Diet

So this was a pretty normal week, I just keep training Elder De Olarte as hard as I can so he grows up to be a great son. And it's turning out pretty well. He is an awesome missionary! And to be honest, I'm probably learning more from him than he is from me. 

This week we contacted a lot. Which I think is good, because when I was a new missionary, I didn't contact very much at all. So now is my time to learn. And we are doing pretty well! We don't get rejected nearly as much as we did in my old area, Lomas. So I feel pretty successful. Actually in the book, The Power of Everyday Missionaries, it says that you have success when you invite, so I must be having a TON of success. 

And as you can tell, the mission put me on a diet. But its because I'm too skinny, not too fat... So I have to eat like 2 more burritos a day to get to my "normal" weight. So I'm all in on this diet.  I think Im probably the most excited anyone's every been to be put on a diet! 

This week we also had stake conference, and it was really good! The talks were really uplifting and insightful! 

Sorry for the short letter, but this week we didnt have any really cool experiences... 

Love you all. 

Peace out.

Love,

Elder St John

PS Felicidades Kate! Espero que disfrute su boda y que tenga un feliz matrimonio! Te amo mucho y que dios le bendiga! 

Baby Steps

Elder De Olarte, adorable little girl, Spencer

This week was a pretty good week, but it was a pretty big change from what I'm used to. Training is awesome! But a lot different than I thought it would be.

Elder De Olarte is a great Elder and is really smart. It's cool to be with him. I've learned alot in this week from him already. For example, we were teaching an investigator that we have had for a little bit of time now, and I had started to think that we were going to have to stop visiting him. Then all of a sudden my companion invited him to be baptized and he said yes! It was a really cool experience and I'm glad that my companion is a really motivated Elder!

 I don't have much time left to write but I love you all and will let you know more next week! 

Love,

Elder St John

******

Because his letter was so short, here is a little bit more.  He sent to me:  

I'm glad you enjoyed Garhett. [He is an American working at the US Consulate just a few doors from Spencer's apartment.  He stopped by to see Kari last week and report on Spencer.]  He is awesome. He showed me pictures of you all together and that was strange but cool! He said that he really liked all you guys and always says that my dad is awesome, which he is. 

Poor Hayden and Paige. School is no where near as cool as a mission! But one year more and Hayden can serve too. 

I'M GONNA BE A DAD!

Just the coolest pic of the Book of Mormon. 

They call these bullets Mata Policia, because they go through flak jackets.

We found them right outside the chuch, cool huh?

You will all be so proud of me. This week was the last week of the cycle and that means... changes. And Elder Lopez is leaving to be a district leader.  I'm so proud of him; I taught him so much. But in his place is coming my new companion, Elder De Olarte. And he is fresh out of the MTC, he gets here today, and I will pick him up in the offices tomorrow! SO I will be a trainer! And to explain the title, when someone is training the new Elder is his son, and the trainer is called his Dad. So, I hope you don't think I'm actually going to have a kid....   

But I'm super excited to train, but I'm also pretty nervous to be with someone who has 0 expierience as a missonary! So I will teach him everything. But it will also be pretty cool, because I've never trained before and I've alwas wanted to! Just keep me in your prayers. 

This was a normal week, but with a lot of service. Two families changed houses in the ward and we helped them move and prepare the houses for the move in. I also had a pretty big learning experience here too. We went to do service for a really poor family of investigators from the sisters. We helped them clean the yard, but I went in the house to change and it was something that really made me feel for the people here becuase these people hardly had anything.  The ward I'm in right now is a ward full of lots of Rich, well-off families and I had almost forgotton what the situation was like here for some people. That day really opened my eyes, and made me learn that service helps you love everybody. 

I love you all and am grateful for your support! I hope you enjoy this letter!! 

Love,

Elder St John

Me and Elder Lopez being Mexicans. (Yes a bought a poncho. Best thing ever.)