My Last Week in Satellite

My favorte stop sign in Mexico.

So this week was a good week, but a sad week, because it was my last week in Satelite, and also in Juarez. They told us yesterday that im going to be a Zone Leader in Colonia Dublan. So I will be going back to the area right next to my old area with Elder Castro as my next companion! I'm pretty excited to be Zone Leader and I did enjoy Dublan a lot so it wil be good to go back, but it will be sad to leave Satelite. It will be missed. 

Tuesday they told me I was going to be a zone leader so that I could go to meetings on Thursday and Friday. 

Wednesday was a good day, just contacting and enjoying the cooler weather. 

Thursday I went on divisiones with Elder Moya (my trainer) becasue we are both going to be zone leaders so we went to the meeting together. The meeting was super cool.  We learned all about how Preach My Gospel was formed and it was a really cool experience. And it was also cool to be with Elder Moya again as well. 

Elder Moya and I reunited again for one day!

Friday we had another meeting, which was good as well. And later we ended the divisones and I was back with Elder De Olarte. We kept on working hard.

Saturday we had a normal day.  I visited a few members I wanted to say goodbye too. And that's about it..

Sunday we enjoyed church.  We kept contacting and ended up finding a less active convert who had moved here just barely and didn't know were the church was and that was good to see. She seems really excited about the Church and I hope she finds the church and can be active again. 

That's all for the week! I hope you all had a great week as well. 

Love,

Elder St John

Because i dont have a visa right now I have to wear a disguise. Meet Ted.  

Me with a part family, the family Cerezo Santa Cruz. They are the best. 

Dia de Los Muertos

Welcome everyone to another weekly letter from your favorite missionary! 

It was a pretty good week this week! there was lots of walking and I was pretty busy as well! 

Some of the cool things that happened this week:

On Thursday it was cold. But we also did a lot of walking and we also visited a future missionary who sent his papers in last Tuesday! So it will be really cool to see where he goes and when he leaves! We also ate hotdogs there as well.

On Friday we tried contacting a few people and we also carved pumpkins! It was a pretty fun experience because my companion had never carved a pumpkin before, but he did a good job and we enjoyed it! 

All our pumpkins (left to right: Elder Fox, mine, Elder Junco, Elder De Olarte

Saturday was Halloween so we contacted with candy, which didn't turn out all that well but it was still fun! We saw lots of trick or treaters and we even got a little bit of candy, which would have been better if I didn't get a bunch of candy with chili. I still don't understand why the people here love chili so much. 

I stopped to read the Book of Mormon on a really comfy looking chair.

Sunday we contacted in an area where we don't go very much and at first it was a little difficult, because the people didn't accept us all that well, but I felt we should keep trying and we left the area with four new people to visit! I was really happy as we left. 

And that's about it for the week! Mainly just the weekend was where all the action happened. But I hope you all had a good Halloween and dia de los muertos! 

Love, 

Elder St John

Just some of the beauty Ciudad Juarez has to offer. 

Holy Hail

This week was a very good week and I have a great story with the title of this letter so I hope you all are excited to read it. 

So Monday was just your usual Monday, nothing too special. 

Tuesday was fantastic! We taught a less active in the morning, went and ate burritos and cheescake with a member. Taught an investigator about church and at about 5:30 we went and started walking to go paint the inside of the house of an ivestigator, and then it started to rain. We got to the house and they forgot we were going to paint and they had to leave to pick up their kids from school... So we waited for them to get back, and while waiting it rained really hard and eventually started to hail super hard. And I guess the neighbors felt bad so they invited us into their house.  I started to get to know them. The man's name was Ruben and he told me that they are from El Paso, and that he had a lot of family members from lots of religions.  I asked him if he wondered why there are so many, but then he answered with a question of gold. He said no, but he mainly wanted to know "which of all of them was the true one" so we talked to him about Joseph Smith and the restoration and put another appointment to visit him. It was a really cool expierience, and I'm pretty sure that it hailed for a reason. 

Wednesday It hailed again, and the hail helped us get into the house of another investigator that we have had but who had never let us in his house before. So that was also cool! 

Thursday, I went on divisones with my zone leader, Elder Temple, and that was really cool, because I got to go back to my old area of Frontera again! And also because I had a great experience. We contacted the whole day, but got lots of food in return. Like burrittos, cajeta, hamburgers and even tacos. Needless to say I saw that contacting pays off.  We found a few cool people and I learned a lot. 

Friday, I was still on divisions in the morning and we continued contacting. That ended and I was back with Elder De Olarte, and we contacted and visited a few more people. 

Saturday. We ate lots of pizza, and we taught an investigator that we have slowly been working with over the past few weeks. and he seems to be progressing pretty well. He said a while ago that he decided to stop worshipping idols and stuff like that so that was good to hear. 

Sunday, ROSARIO WENT TO CHURCH!  Rosario is an investigator that we have had for a while, and he finally went to church on sunday, He said he lliked it a lot and we hope he continues going! 

And Monday or today I guess. The only cool thing is that we had three cats come into our house while we were cleaning. So we played with them and then kicked them out because we can't have pets. 

Spencer and his three cats.

My view as I study.

5 Mice

This was a good week. It was pretty normal. I just walked around a lot while Elder De Olarte followed me around. We talked to a few drunk people who said we were super handsome and they called me David Becham and Brad Pitt. But I'm pretty sure they only thought I was good looking because they were drunk... but 

We caught 5 mice in our house this week so I think we will call an exterminator. 

I did Divsiones or splits or interchanges or whatever you calll it with Elder Fox and that was really fun. (i was with him when the drunks called us good looking) and on Sunday night we ate with Garhett and me and Elder Fox had a very romantic dinner lit by tiki torches. 

But that's about it for the week! Sorry for the short letter! I still love you all lots!

Love,

Elder St John

Border Crossing

This past week was a pretty good week!

We had a normal week, just visiting less actives, recent converts, and our investigators. We focused this week on commitments, and obedience and it worked out pretty well.  We even used examples from the last Conference. We met a few new people who have some potential and on Sunday the family that we ate with invited a friend to eat with us, so we got to meet a new investigator, who has friends in the Church! 

Also, this Wednesday, I went to the border to get my fingers printed, and by the place we went to there is a bridge that crosses the border.  We went all the way to the middle were it divides Mexico and the US, and we went to the US side! SO for about 2 minutes I was in the United States. It was great. But then we went back and I was back in Mexico.

But that was my week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder St John

La semana Extraña...

So this was a pretty strange week.... but it was a good week too! So don't worry about me. 

Wednesday was probably the strangest day this week, but basically put an appointment for Wednesday afternoon with someone we talked to in the street earlier that day. When we got to the house her son was outside and told me and my companion "come in Christ" which was pretty strange. But we went in and were welcomed into the house by an entire congregation of Christians, and it turned out we made it just in time for their class or meeting or whatever it was... So they invited us in, talked about Faith and than sang a bunch of songs and prayed. Then gave us cantelope and then we left... It was an interesting experience because I'd never gone to a different church in my mission but it was also really strange... But the woman who invited us in has an interest in the Church so it was worthwhile. 

Thursday: we painted park benches for service, and later that night on our way home we were stopped by a drunk man that we had talked to before named Isaias. He talked to us again for like 10 minutes and then as we left we shook his head, and he pulled me in and kissed me on the cheek and left saying, "That was the kiss of Judas." Needless to say I walked home laughing the entire way trying to understand what happened. I am now 100% convinced that I will never try one drop of alcohol when I get home because it ruins lives. 

Friday we taught a really good lession with a family who had a son leave on his mission about a month ago, and we made plans to do a lot of mission work with them so that they can have experiences like their son. 

Saturday and Sunday we enjoyed Conference and visited a few investigators and went to a BBQ.  

It was a good week, and I'm glad to be a missionary! 

Love, 

Elder St John

P.S.  The following is from an email Spencer sent to me today.  It was so good, I want to share it with you:

Confrence was really good and I really did enjoy the talk about mothers and women from Elder Holland. It was really good! But I also really liked the testimonies of the 3 new apostles. Even though I didn't really question them being apostles before, the spirit testified to me in each of their talks that they were chosen of God. It was a really good Conference. Priesthood session was really good too, and the only session I watched in English. So I really liked it. 

I'm really good! Sometimes I get down because not very many of our investigators go to church now, so I'm working hard on how I can fix that, but the agency of other people is probably the most frusturating part of being a missionary, because WE HAVE everything that anyone could ever need to be saved and to have eternal life. But the people have to accept it, and that's the hard part. I'm trying to help others realize how truly important and how much value our message has. But in the end it's up to them. 

We eat lunch everyday with the members and they usually give us chicken, rice and beans, or anything else with rice and beans. I really like the food here, even though it's not very healthy I'm keeping down the weight by walking. haha I'm glad you think I look sharp. That's always good to hear. And I'm glad you like the ties too! Lots are gifts. 

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.) 

Best Year of My Life

Welcome everyone to my 500th letter, 

It seems like last week I drove off to the MTC to start my new life as a servent to the Lord. But it's been a whole lot longer. Actually it's been a year... that's not too long right? Katelyn hasn't even been home from her mission for a year and she is already getting married, So I guess you could say a lot can happen in a year. In a year, I've been all over Chihuahua, met like 50,000 people, learned another language, learned to eat chilie, walked to the moon and back, made good memories, had some bad experiences.  I've been through a lot in one year, and I can't wait to see what the last year of my mission has to offer. 

I hope winter comes here soon because its about 100-110 degrees every day here and it's melting me. But you'd be suprised how well I've adjusted to the climate here.  I was in the house of someone and they had a thermometer in their house and it was 80 degrees in their house and I was pretty comfortable. So when I get home, I might need to adjust to the cold again..

This week was a pretty good one. Monday was a normal P-day. Tuesday I met a family of new investigators that my companion found while I was on divisones. And they are awesome, and super prepared.  They have listened to the missionaries before, and the dad didn't want anything back then and now he listens to us.  Also the day before my companion got there last week one of their little sons said that they should go to church, and then later that day we visited them.  They went to Mutual. 

Wendnesday, was just a normal day, 

Thursday was my year mark, woot woot!  I celebrated by eating a special quesadilla with valentina and queso chihuahua. My fav. 

Friday was also just a normal day. And I couldn't really celebrate a year and a day... 

Saturday, we had a cool activity where we got all the missionaries from the zone to clean our church with the youth of our ward, and we repainted the basketball court and everything, that was pretty neat. 

Sunday was just a normal Sunday, just renewing my covenenats and all... 

But that was my week! Thanks for helping me make it through a year! 

Love,

Elder St John

One Year!

Me with a cotton candy and rootbeer slushy.

This past week was a pretty good week! We had some good expiriences with investigators, like finishing some of the lessons with a potential baptism. And we found a super-ready family. 

This Tuesday we went to Mutual and met a new investigator for a different ward, and we set up a few appointments. 

Wednesday I did divisions with Elder Orcutt, my ZL, and I got to go back to FRONTERA for a day.  That was super cool. I saw some old faces and enjoyed a familiar place. 

Thursday I got back to my area and we worked.  

The rest of the week was pretty normal... 

But this Thursday something cool happens. I will finish one year. This Thurdsday will be one year since I went to the MTC! It's crazy. I can't believe how fast time flies! All the things I've seen and done in all such a short time! It's awesome. But I'm super grateful for all your support and all the help you guys have been for me! Sorry for such a short letter.. but it's been an average week... 

But I love you all!!

Love,

Elder St John

Juarez Week Three

Another week in Satelite, and it was a good one! It was actually pretty normal, but i enjoyed the week.

One cool thing that happened this week is that we found a super awesome new investigator, he is a 14-year-old boy named Aitel. His dad is a less active member who is trying to come back into the Church and we are working with both of them. We had our first lesson with them Tuesday night and they later gave us hamburgers. It was a filling experience for my spirit and my stomach. But the lesson went really well, and this week Aitel also went to a Youth Conference in our ward too! I can see him progressing a lot and I'm super excited to see what happens later. 

Also Pioneer Day we celebrated by taking the wrong bus home and having to walk an hour to get home... so that was fun... but Shout out to the Pioneers who gave all they had to give us everything we need. I'm super grateful for that sacrifice, and I think we need to always have gratitude for what they did. 

Wednesday a member showed us Peruvian music, and it was... really... bad... (Sorry Corbin, I hope you like it more than I do.) 

We are also teaching a girl whose grandma is a member but her parents are not, and we put a baptismal date for the 8th of August. So that will be a really cool baptism! 

Thats about it for the week! I hope you all enjoyed the week as much as I did! 

Love you all. 

Love,

Elder St John

Feeling Like I'm in Outerspace

Just listening to some headphones I found in the street. 

SO my new area, Satelite, is super cool and I really do like it here. It's funny though because all the streets are named after planets, like the street that we live on is called Saturn and there is a big satelite antenna in front of our house. The people here are super amazing too. The ward is great and we've started working with the bishop to be more effective. 

We have a few progressing investigators, and we found a few new ones this week. Which is good. It is a little different in a big city compared to the small town I was in before. But I like the adjustment, I like cities more so I feel more comfortable here.  But at times I do miss the quiet little town of Dublan. But I mostly miss the people. That's one of the things I've learned here, is that the area isn't what's important, it's the people who are important. And I definitely miss the people of Lomas, Frontera, Laguna and especially Utah. Plus I've almost been out for a year now. Crazy Right?? August 6th and it will have been one whole year. And that's a long time from family and friends. But I'd say that even after almost a whole year without everything I have at home, I wouldn't trade what I'm doing now for anything the world could offer me. 

Garret brought us Taco Bell from El Paso and I was in heaven. 

This week was a good week, we basically walked, a lot, and we visited a lot of people too.  But the highlight was in church yesterday.  We had some investigators come and we also found out that some other non-members had come that we could teach too! It was a great day! ME and my companion, Elder Lopez, get a long really well. We get together with the Elders from a ward close by and do service with them and teach with them too and that's really fun, especially because Elder Webster who was with me in Frontera is one of the Elders! But that's about it for this week! Sorry for the boring letter. I'll make next week's better. Love you all! Stay sweet. 

Love,

Elder St John

Elder Lopez at the coolest taco stand in Mexico. (It basically means taquitos, wings & rock and roll.)