Zacami-Week 22

HOLA!
Hows everything going? From all of your letters, it sounds like it is going great! This week has been pretty good for me... I felt like it went by really slow, but by the time its p -day again, I think the week has gone by super fast!  I have been having a lot of trouble with patience. I learn time and time again that people are more important than time. But its tough to remember. My comp is pretty much a Johnny Raincloud like all the time... so its hard for me to stay positive and smile a lot when he constantly looks at the glass half empty. He kinda complains a lot... which drives me crazy. He seems almost depressed for like a few days... and then he'll suddenly have a happy day where he will actually try and talk to people... but anyway.. the change is almost over so it'll be good for a change.. I like him and stuff... most of the time...on those bad days he has, I always ask him what I can do to make him happy.... then he says that me asking makes it worse... I don't know really what to do... other than endure to the 4 of JAN! jajaja
But anyway, other than that, everything is going great! The 24 and 31`of this month are when the people here celebrate The 25 is just like a normal day.... so we already have like 5 families that want us to come by... so I'm planning on eating a little bit in every house....:)
That little girl that got baptized about a month ago gave me an early Christmas gift. It was that stuffed dog in the picture that I sent. Then she gave me a big hug. It was awesome... I felt honored:)
This week we also got new mattresses! LEGIT! COMFORT!
Hermana Elizabeth and Rosa and Veronica went to do baptisms for the dead in the temple on Saturday! It was insane...Hermana Elizabeth was just like glowing... she was so excited.... and I was too! There's nothing better than seeing someone you baptize go to the temple. I was ecstatic.
This week also was the camping EFY thing that they do here called SOY. It was definitely a success. In sacrament yesterday all of the youth were to give their testimony and what they learned at SOY... all of them said it changed their lives.... stuff like that is just what the people need here... strength. They were all crying and stuff... just like our testimony meetings that we have done in our ward in the past./ my EFY... legit.
So we are teaching this family and we taught them about the word of wisdom and the things that you shouldn't do....then they had the question about pills from a doctor... then I had the idea (or in other words Heavenly Father put the idea in my head) to tell that joke about the guy sitting on the roof top in a flood... and there was like a boat and helicopter that came telling him to get on to save him... but he kept saying that God was going to save him... Then he died and asked God why he didn't save him... then God says, "well I sent a helicopter and a boat and you didn't get on!" I related that to the pills from doctors... it went pretty well.. it wasn't in like a laughing format or anything like that... but it was like one of those ah ha moments for them...but they are a really great family.
Also, Evangelical churches down here are more strict in their "rules" than our church... weird!
Also, we had a baptism yesterday!!! YAY!! FINALLY! It was the baptism of Carmen Concepcion Chavez.... it was legit.. she asked me to baptize her and I was honored.. She is really awesome and will make a great member of the church. She has been a tender mercy for us... we found her on a fast Sunday where a guy gave us a false address... so then we found her.... she is awesome. I can not express the feeling you get when you bring someone to Christ... you cannot put it into words.... But Carmen has a sister... she will be a little harder to work with just because she has already been baptized in another church and active in that church... but.... she has a bad kidney...so she's got a lot of problems... she was married... her husband left her when she got sick... she lost a baby in that marriage... she lives with her three dogs... basically her life sucks... but she has the best attitude about everything...we read the first part of D&C 121 and 122 with her and she really liked that... she has so much faith that God will take care of her and she has the best attitude... she always has a smile on her face... she is an example to me....and should be for my comp!!! I just thought of that right now, as i was typing! Geeze. I just gotta talk to him about her! Thanks family for that idea...
So I know that my next package probably wont be until my birthday... but I do want a few things... ipods are against the rules so I need some Cd's! there's kinda a lot on my list... but we should have all of them except maybe like one... but here's the list:
rob Gardner... the three discs... the Joseph smith one... he is Jesus Christ.... and Lamb of God.... I'm pretty sure that's what they are called:)
Mix of Jon Schmidt
mix of Jim Brickman
Steven C
Reflections of Christ
Alex Boye
men of Mormon tab choir
movie mix ( like from pirates, gladiator, UP, Harry potter 6)
William Joesph... the 2 Cd's  within.... and beyond
and like my classical Debussy stuff
And one more called the vitamin string quartet... or something like that... but they do like coldplay songs but in all strings! so that would be legit...
and anything else that you think that I might like!
also, I would like to have that teeth whitener bleach to put in your retainers if that's cool...
and a new buzzy Gillette razor because mine broke..
and whatever else you think I might need:)
But thank you in advance! you guys are so awesome!!
Mum,Thank you for your letter! I always enjoy reading letters:) also.. I'll call on Friday or Saturday to tell you the plan for Sunday... but here's the deal... I can only call to tell you when I'm calling... and you can't cry.... deal? va...and yes we found a house that has skype so we are gonna skype it up!!! I'm so excited to talk to you all! But yep... thank you for all the sacrifices that you made for me to get me out here.. you are pretty darn amazing, mum. It was you that got my eagle, got me through high school, got me into college and got me on a mission... thank you for everything. and I do love the little notes on the tree... thank you! (and Ellie and whoever else helped:) I love you mum!
Dad, it sounds like you can recognize the marmot's! jaja. I hope they turn out to be a cool family! and yeah, I decided that I will probably need to do a cleanse when I get home to cleanse out my stomach and all the parasites I've probably got growing in there... jaja... but I haven't had any problems with my stomach! so that's all good.. but it sounds like everything is going good! I hope the dunes goes good this year! Alma 37:37. love you pops!
Austin, freak! you are just going to have to make the dunes legit.. that's what its all about... we didn't do anything that you guys cant do! you gotta shoot some fireworks at each other and stuff...and Ash does ac-dec? freak! I had no idea.... but anyway...have a lot of fun this week... don't forget to read your scrips and stuff. love ya!
Ellie. Gracias por todo! te agradezco por todo lo que has hecho para mi! el arbol es super chivo y yo estoy bien agradecido por ti y por tu ejemplo.. TE QUIERO Y FELIZ NAVIDAD!
Brynn, are you pretty darn excited for Christmas? I know that I am! I cant wait to be able to talk to you all! but here's the deal... you cant cry... deal? cross your heart. Cross it! good... no going pack:) (UP) love ya!
I love you all and I'll talk to you all in a bit! HAPPY CHRISTMAS!
ELDER T

Zacamil- Week 21

HOLA!
Hi, how's everything going? It sounds like everything is going good with all of you! This week was good... a little interesting I might add... but good. The beginning of the week I was sleeping in my hammock... It was comfortable, its just that I cant hang it up in a very good position in our house... so it ended up being uncomfortable about 2 in the morning...jaja... This week was good, but it was a little hard... just that we are starting to sing all the Christmas songs and I started thinking about Christmas and all that... just thinking about home a little... but its all good. I'm staying busy! This week we ate at hermana Elizabeth's house and she played Christmas music in English(because she can speak English) and I accidentally called her grandma... she didn't hear... but OOPS! jajajaja...
This week was the famous game called the Clásico. The classic game between Real Madrid and Barcelona. We tried to work for a little while but it was very very inefficient.... no one was out and no one would let us in... so we went and watched it at lunch... jajaja. Thankfully Barcelona won 3-1. I won a new tie out of it...its absolutely crazy when there are goals. Fireworks and yelling and people running around for a few minutes until they go back to watch more... jaja. I sent a picture of my reaction after the game... jaja

 

ON Thursday we had a activity for the ward and some investigators showed up... but then they didn't show up for church? what the??? but that's OK.. it was a great activity for them and they must have just gotten a little bit busy... but we'll see tomorrow!!! jajaja. So do you all remember Carmen? The culebra we were teaching? Well she's basically awesome. She goes to all the activities. She has a bunch of friends in the ward already. She went to a dance the other day with friends from the ward... and, she has a testimony. She told us one day that she wanted to wait to get baptized to get to know the church a little more. Which is nothing unusual.. but we taught her a little bit on Saturday, went through the baptismal interview questions, and read acts 8:26-40. Then she accepted baptism for this weekend!.. it almost felt too easy... but it was legit. I think it helped a lot to have one of her friends from the ward there with us... jaja:) But we finally have another baptism this weekend! YAY.
The interesting part of this week was the beginning... A priest in our ward, who has been a great friend to me and always comes out with us was getting ready to leave on Tuesday(on his mission)... get set apart that night and leave the next morning. Something happened Tuesday with his non- member mom or something and suddenly he didn't want to go...:( we talked with him for a long time and we both thought that he was back on track. Then we went to an appointment and came back to see what the situation was... he told us that he had some news... that he would be spending Christmas with us and he would leave in January.. I was a little upset, because my mission has meant everything to me.. but I think it might be better for him to calm down and get all that stuff in order before he leaves... but we'll see. We did make a deal with him... that he has to come out with us at least 3 times a week to get him excited again about leaving... I really hope he ends up going... because he has become a great friend these past couple months in this area...and I want him to experience the happiness!
Something that I learned this week was that lots of people think that the book of James in the bible was written by the brother of Jesus.. In other words, the brother of Jesus wrote the versus that inspired Joseph Smith to go out and pray... small world! awesome!
Also, watching the game, I heard this Christmas song by Natasha Beddingfield... its called shake up Christmas... it made me feel good:) its really happy and got good lyrics... I didn't listen to it all.. it might not be your type of music either, but its good:) the girls will like it:)
Dad, thanks for everything! your the man... Alma 38:2-3. Also, we got permission to skype! but I gotta figure out more of the details.. Because if we cant find a member with a computer with a camera... we would have to come to a Internet cafe... and we wouldn't be able to do that on Sunday the 25... it would be the day before... But I'll let you know! Also that's legit that Andrew is going to work for you for a little bit... he's awesome.  Love you pops
Mum, thanks for your letter and letting me know whats going on and always helping me out! I'm excited to talk to you on Christmas! I love you
Lady, you are legit... I cant believe you got asked to Sadie's already... that's insane...love you brotha
Ellie. Thank you for that tree! that's so legit and all the notes on the back are awesome... thank you and I love you!
Brynn, You are awesome... great job on your state report.. I did mine on Utah... but anyways, you are awesome! I love you
I love you all! listen to Coldplay for me!
Shorty

Zacamil- Week 20

HOLA
Hey everyone.... thank you for all the letters that you sent me! And don't even worry about not sending me some last week, mum... you guys were busy! But this week has been better... today we played some futbol... it was awesome as always.... I basically look forward to it almost every week... then get let down when we don't play... jajaja... But everything has been getting better for me! My comp has been pretty sick... I was sick at the beginning of thus week... I couldn't even hardly talk because of my nose... so Hermana Ochoa who is a nurse gave me some water stuff to stuff up my nose a few times and then blow my nose out... it was basically like grandmas little tea pot thing that she told me to try but I never did... but I tried it and it worked well! But now I'm pretty much back to normal.... its just my comps stomach that's giving him a few problems... but you know.... whatever....jaja!I actually did start using some zinc and stuff... but now, I'm all good!
Speaking of the familia Ochoa... they have invited us to eat at their house twice already... and its actually the only family that we have eaten with that actually eats with us... usually the families that we eat with already ate as a family and just serve us and we eat by ourselves.... NOT THEM! jaja... then last Monday they took us out to eat... which was good:)
I have started to take videos with my camera.... its just that I can't send them because they are too big.... so I was gonna wait a couple more weeks to fill up my card a little more and then send my card home so you can see the videos and then you can send it back... sound good? OK:)
The beginning of this week was super cold! There was a few days that I didn't even sweat and one night were it was hard to sleep because it was cold... but then I just put on my sweats and my sweat shirt and I was good to go:) The weather is crazy here... supposedly there is another cold front coming in tomorrow... but who knows!
Chivo=cool... but chivo literally=calf... que chivo... translation? que calf!   así dice un hombre en nuestro bario. jajajaja
I got the little packet with the pass along cards! thanks, mum... you are so awesome...
Song that you would all think was funny. Moves like Jagger by Maroon 5. Its starting to get a little popular here and it just made me think of Tim Hawkins...jajaj.... I dunno... I like it!
This week I went on divisions with our new district leader... Elder Rosario from la Republica Dominicana... He is seriously so crazy! We watched John Tanner twice that day... one time in a lesson and one time in comp study..(then I actually used a direct quote in a lesson later in the week, I almost starting cracking up in a moment very serious jajaja) but it was so much fun and I really learned a lot from him... he is trying to learn English and he practices all the time... he can actually speak pretty well... but its just super funny his accent is a little different from any other Hispanic trying to learn English... And he is so black!  But also, he teaches like a mother bear... he is a way good teacher and I learned a ton from him... all of which my comp and I are working on this week.. there is a reason that he is a leader... but one of the biggest things that I learned is how your tone of voice should be when teaching about certain things... and you need to testify of what your comp says after every single time that he talks... it doesn't really matter what he says... but you have to testify of what he says... something that I did... but not after every time he spoke. to say the least... my comp and I have some goals to start to work on:)
I decided that its pretty funny that we get excited about stuff... like finding scriptures and stuff like that... learning new stuff about the gospel that you didn't know before... deep doctrine that I had never heard before... its crazy how much I have learned... and I hope it continues! which it will, with the help of the Lord.
Last night was the Christmas Devotional from the first presidency.. it was so awesome... I seriously love hearing their voices... and I was able to hear it in English! That was a huge blessing for Elder Brose and I.... not that I wouldn't have been able to understand in Spanish... but it really is a blessing to be able to hear their actual voices. And the choir was definitely legit as always.. Alex Boye was on the TV for a long time... next to the other black guy that sings in the choir... so legit... I tell people all the time here.. Yo quiero ser negro... y yo soy negro en alma:) jaja
Mum, thank you for all that you do and have done for me.. I don't think that I could thank you enough for all that you have done for me.. always making sure that I have everything I need... just sending me stuff for kicks and giggles... sending me letters and videos... its all good! Thanks for everything mum! and guess what? I love you! I love you! I love YOU!!!!
Dad It sound like every thing is going good! Have you ever even  done a 54 hole course before? thats huge... but I know it might be hard, but I would try your best to get a course up before the first half of 2012... its like what you said... being a contractor is like a roller coaster ride! jaja...but ask God first!  are you still riding like you were? a little bit? are there any races that you are planning on doing? anyway, I love you dad! just a couple more weeks and I'll be able to talk to you... all of you! and that link of the El Salvador temple is awesome... I got teary eyed.. just like at the dedication itself!
Austin, I was able to listen to part of the CD. It is so awesome. Thank you. I really like number 3... I dunno what its called but that's probably my favorite so far... jaja.. you are so awesome... and HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!! THE BIG 17! that's insane.... it sounded like your birthday was awesome and that the dance was legit as well. Its weird thinking that in two months I'll be 20! that's insane... I will always be a kid at heart... hey but thanks for everything stee. You have no idea what an influence you have been on me and the things that you have taught me...I would not be the big brother I am if it weren't for you. I would not be the person I am if it wasn't for you. You just have no idea how much you mean to me and how much my character has depended upon you. To the world, you may just be one person, but to one person, you may be the world... you are the world to me brotha...I hope one day to be like you...you really are my best friend.... OK now I'm getting teared up so I'm going to stop.. but thank you for everything! I love you brotha!
Ellie, holy crud you are getting good at the piano... was that jazzy? If there was one thing that I could do over, it would be to take jazz lessons... like from a jazz pianist... because brother sirrine can play it...but he doesn't know it all... he's legit, but jazz is a whole new ball game... jaja... but you are getting really good! don't stop practicing! you are doing great! love ya ell bell!
Brynnie Tay, you are getting so good at the piano too! holy sod! I am very proud! don't worry about messing up... I mess up every Sunday when I play at church... but you are a better player than most of the people in that room so don't even worry about it:) you just gotta keep practicing and practicing! its hard sometimes to practice but that's one thing that I would change as well.... I would practice every day... be more disciplined about it... but you are doing great! I love you!
Hey thanks for everything! you are all amazing. :)
SALU
TTT