9-24-12

Hey Moms,
The baby boy is going good. He is really a good comp. I felt super bad for him last week because when we went to email, nobody had written him. Not even his mom or dad or little brother who are members. He was super worried about it and just kept talking about it. I will admit it is a little strange being a 19 year old kid teaching a 26 year old man. Like I seriously had to sit him down and give him a ¨it's all going to be alright¨ talk. Didn't want him running away on me or anything. I think I got him pretty calmed down though because he had a really good week this last week. Did really well in all the lessons and all. I hope we get along like we did this week for the next ten weeks... Buuut, the other thing about my comp is he is sexist. Like every time we see a woman driving a car or on a scooter, he freaks out and runs to the sidewalk and always says something like ¨Oh how scary, in Peru women are not allowed to drive cars.¨ The first time he told me that I was just kind of like uhhhh, is Peru in South America or the Middle East? Like do women have rights in Peru or...? 

The first weeks are seriously the toughest though, I remember they just felt like eternities, and I would wake up in the morning and just start crying and stuff. Not like histerically bawling, but just some tears on the pillow while I thought about how much I hated this place. And now, just how settled and happy I am, like yeah I still kind of hate this country but...I am happy and not crying haha. 

One of my best friends hit his year mark this week, I threw a little party for him (I bought him Dominos) and he and his comp came up to our house one night and we just kind of hung out and relaxed. That is when it kind of dawned on me I am closing in on the year mark too. That's so strange just to think that. I am one of the older missionaries here now, most of the mission has gone home and finished, and the rest are just starting. The mission is super young right now. There are only 3 missionaries in my zone that are older than I am. Weird. 

Anyways, that's sad what happened to J, I will be sure to keep him in my prayers. We kind of had a similar thing happen this week. One night we were having dinner with some members and the ward mission leader calls me and asks me if I can come to his house and give some blessings, nothing seemed that weird so I told him yeah, and we walked over there. We go into his house and his wife is on the phone just bawling. Apparently her brother had got into a car accident and was pretty much dead, or going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life. I was so heartbroken for this lady, because her dad died in a car accident like 4 weeks ago. I love this family too, they always call us and tell us they ordered pizza for us and stuff like that. Just a family that really loves the missionaries. Its hard to see hard things happen and not really be able to do anything about it. The good thing is we know for what and why we are here, and the problems that we all pass, even though we may not understand them, are for our good. DC 121:7-9, right?

As for dad saying he is going to start looking for a new team, I just have one thing to say to him. Repentance. So disappointing... at least Byu is better than New Mexico, right? We always will have that going for us. 

Oh before I forget. Some guy got killed in my area on Saturday. It was so crazy. We went to get our laundy from the member who washes our clothes and we hear what sounds like fireworks, but seriously they light off fireworks so much in this country that its never a surprise to hear that sound, but like five minutes later when were leaving the house of this member, we hear an ambulance siren. Walk outside and they are carting some guy up, and drive away slowly withought the lights going. Crazy. From what we heard it was a drug trafficker that got shot. I called the zonies and my zonie(my friend who just hit the year mark) just starts talking about Bryan Reagan and when he says, ¨just go into that room there, tell them your shot.¨ I was like uhhh, I dont think you understand, some guy just got murdered in my area, and so he tells me to be carefull and go home for a few hours haha. 

Don't worry though, that's not the first time I have seen something like that happen. It only happens if you're involved in the buying, selling, and  trafficking drugs, so I figure I will be alright. Not to mention everyone knows who the missionaries are, and the people here, especially the bad ones, are super super superstitious, so they wouldn't ever do anything to a tall white missionary. That's not what Jesus would do. 

We played basketball again for p-day, I am starting to get my game back a little bit. We play games of 3 on 3, and my team almost never lose haha. Not to sound super arrogant or anything, I am playing against a bunch of 5ft latinos, but it does feel good to win in something since I always lose when we play soccer. 

Anyways, I forgot to tell you there was something I wanted in my package. Send me Liv's efy cd from this year, also if you can download efy 2011 that would be really appreciated. Also, I would love all the music you can find from Alex Boye, remember him? I love his stuff, so whatever you can find of his would be great. 
Love you guys, have a good week. 
Adam
P.S. Alex sent me an email just telling me about his iphone 5. Dagger to the heart...

9-17-12

Hey Moms, 
Byu lost to the U? Thats such a bummer. I hadnt heard anything about that but yeah, never fun to lose to them. At least I dont have to worry about another elder giving me crap for that though. I dont know anyone that went to the U or that is planning on going afterwards here. Mostly Utah State and Byu. 

As for the volcano in Antigua, we heard about it but we didnt feel it or get any ash. That's pretty far away so I dont think its going to be a problem. The volcano here in Xela is dormant, and the next closest is in Rheu and its on the other side of the volcano here, so if it blows up everyone in Rheu dies but the volcano here will block everything and nothing will happen here in Xela. People are always talking about this kind of stuff here, and with 2012 coming up, its kind of crazy here. It's alright if the world ends though, I'd say this is probably the most righteous I will be in my life so come what may.

As for my child, remember the episode of saturday night live where Will Ferrill is born as a full grown man? That's my child... just not funny like Will Ferrill. His name is Elder V, he is from Peru, and he turned 26 during his last day in the MTC. Yeah he is crazy old haha. He is a nice guy and all, but he is a 26 year old single adult. I literally have a full grown man as a comp. It's super weird sometimes. He is super quiet, but he always tells me that he wants to ¨do something fun like knock doors all day.¨ I get a little worried sometimes, I think I am going to work him too hard, when we get to the house at night he is toasted. I just can't imagine how hard that would be though, to think that when he gets home from his mission, he will be two weeks away from turning 28 years old. Woah.

I need to be careful too because he graduated from college doing something with computers. He always tells me that when he was home he liked to create viruses and break into peoples banks accounts just for fun. He told me a few nights ago that there are two kinds of computer hackers in the world, there are jedi and there are sith, but he told me not to worry because he is a ¨jedi computer hacker¨. That he would use his computer hacking to do good, so he is like a latino computer superman. But maybe it would be a good thing, I am still a little unsure what exactly he ment by doing good with his hacking skills, but if he can steal me a couple million dollars or something I wouldn't complain. I am scared to tell the dude what my full name is now...haha.

Other than that this week was really really slow. It was Independance day here last Saturday and there is like a state fair thing going on. But our area was literally a ghost town on Saturday. We knocked doors for hours because we had zero appointments hoping to give my comp a little bit of practice. But litterally not a single person came out. We knocked doors for hours, and nobody even answered the door to tell us no. Just nothing to do. We got a new gringo zonie here now, and one of the other gringos that just went home left me his lebron basketball shoes, so we played basketball this week for p day. I hate soccer haha, I am so tired of playing soccer, but one of the churches here has a really nice indoor basketball court so I am definately going to be taking advantage of that. Also playing basketball against a bunch of short latinos is great for a little confidence boost. But that was basically the whole week, kind of rough. Anyways, I love you guys, have a good week, tell Taftypoo hi for me.
Adam

9-10-12

Hey Mom,
So M is going to Puerto Rico? I will be honest I have met a few people that are from there and the Spanish doesnt sound like Spanish, it sounds like a giant black guy with a mouth full of peanut butter speaking Spanish. All the islanders, it's so weird how they speak, like the DR and cuba and those places. Should be cool though, crazy hot and lots of rice I'm sure. I also knew T was home, he has been writing me lately, I love that kid, crazy to think he is already home. I got your package this week. I have already read the book twice and almost have the scriptures all marked and ready to go, I have been praying that a j-dub trys to talk to me, or a catholic, I am all ready to machete someone. Also I am flea bite free, looks like the collars work. 

So changes are here, I am going to pick up my first born in the wilderness at the mission home tomorrow. My comp is out and I am training. They called me last Monday night, so my comp has been kind of dying this week. It's super hard when you know that you have changes. But yeah this week we didn't get a whole lot done. I am a little nervous to be training somebody in the area I am in right now. Its a tough area because its sooooo small. And we got banned from contacting. But all new missionaries think the whole mission is just knocking doors for two years, so I will probably have to let him get some practice in and find some places to contact a little bit. Also I am so nervous because it's something so different. Trainers leave an imprint of how someones entire mission will go. So that's a lot of pressure. 

On friday we had a little training meeting with all the people who are going to train and it was just the AP's and president telling us that for two or three hours. Well, I am not exactly sure of all the things that they said, it was raining soooo hard, we couldnt really hear anything. There is a patio at the mission home where they do most of the meetings so we were outside, I dont think I have every seen it rain so hard. So to answer your question about rainy season, yeah it's still here... everyone says untill the end of October-ish is when it's done raining. So not too much longer. 

The training program now is a twelve week thing, so I will be in this area for two more changes at least. If I leave after the twelve weeks, that sunday before changes is my 20th birthday. That hit me this week, I am turning 20 haha, that makes me feel so old, but at the same time, really young. Everyone says some of the fastest changes in your mission are when you're training, so that should be nice, pass some time pretty fast. Kind of strange to think about that. 

Anyways, thanks for the package and everything, I don't know what Alex and Dayoung are talking about, I replied to both of their emails. It's just kind of hard now to be able to repy to anyone, they keep cutting back on our email times so I just honestly don't have time to reply to everyone. People were abusing internet time so yeah, sorry. But even if it was small, that's the best I could do. As for Liv doing the same thing that I did, I would say go for it. It was sooo worth it. BYU is a so beyond FHS, it's a waste of time to be in FHS. She is smart and mature enough to do it. Did you also realize if she does that she will start the semester I get home too, so it's not like she will be up there alone. And I will be able to beat up any of the zoobs that try and marry her. Oh and the A quote literally killed me. If my kids aren't that cool I will be super disappointed.
Love you all, talk to you next week
Adam

8-26-12

Hey moms,
Not a whole lot to report on this week, the only day that anything exciting happened was Saturday. We finally had a baptism. She was this really old lady of a family that just got baptised a few weeks ago. So it was a little bit of a freebie, but eh, I'll take what I can get. The bishop told us he was going to go in the morning and fill up the font for us, but at three o clock when we were eathing lunch he called me and told me he had forgotten and asked us if we could go.  So we left, running in order to have it all ready to go before the baptism all started. While my comp and I were just sitting there waiting for the font to fill we checked to see if the heater was working, aaaaand just like everthing else in this country, it was broken. We started to panic a little bit because the lady told us she would only get baptised if the water was really hot. So for the next few hours we were filling up water in pots and boiling it on the stove in the church and throwing it in the font. Since we were a little busy we called the zone leaders and asked them if they could stop by the house of the lady and bring her here. They had been there multiple times and knew the family well so they said that they could do that no problem. They called us like a minute before the baptism started and were like uhhhh sorry we were running a little late. We can't go get them. My comp and I were dying, just nothing was going right haha. But then like two minutes later the whole family walked in and then everything went fine. I will admit I had three mini heart attacks in three hours, but she did get baptized, so thats the good news haha. She is such a sweet old lady, she is 58 years old. It was just crazy because she looks like she is about 70 something. She had her first kid at 15, never learned how to read, nothing. Just a really simple hard life. On sunday my comp and I and the Bishop confirmed her, afterwards she had the biggest smile on her face and just tears streaming down. Made me so happy to see someone like that so happy. Its hard to see the lives of people here sometimes, always humbles me a little bit. But when I can see that I've helped them in someway, usually miniscule, makes things a lot better for me. 

As for the work gloves...I gave them to a member. I dont need them, I can deal with blisters, they are out working in the field a lot more than I am. I am really really looking forward to this package though. I'll have to beg the zonies to go and check if the mail came this week or not.

That's crazy Liv is driving. Remember the first time you let me drive and I hit the curb right in front of 7/11 and you started freaking out on me haha. I always remembered that when I drove by there, every single time. You scarred me haha. I still just can't picture her being old enough to drive though. That is a strange thought. Also funny that you mention you think I am going to live in Denver. I have always kind of had that in the back of my mind as the place I would like to go, big surprise right? No I really really do love it there, all the mountains and what not, that would be prime country for me. I always loved going there with pops, some good memories. Ski trip December 2013? Ummmmmm...

As for the earthquake, that is the first thing I have heard about it, we didnt feel anything. Also there is a giant volcano inbetween us and the coast so I am pretty sure we're safe and sound here. Nothing dangerous ever really happens here, its a pretty safe and secluded area of the country. No need to worry moms. My comp is still pretty sick, turns out it wasnt amoebas or parasites, so its probably some type of infection, well probably have to go see the doctor this week sometime but we havent really found out anything new just yet. I am a little sick right now, but nothing out of the ordinary, just lots of boo. Its really not that bad, the whole mission has it and you just get used to it, part of life here haha. I haven't been taking the brewers yeast, sorry, I left it somewhere in the midst of my million changes. I will be alright without it I am sure. I am still alive and haven't been taking it for the last 6 months or so so.....

Anyways, not much to update you guys on this week, one more week and we find out about changes and all, so I will let you know soon but not just yet, hopefully  Im sticking around here for a few more changes, I have settled in nicely. Love you guys, have a good week. 
Love,
Adam

9-3-12

Hey Moms, 

First of all, D made the football team at byu?! Holly crap. I had goose bumps just reading that. What a stud. Also that J is qb1! That makes me so happy you have no idea. I always loved that kid. I remember one day we were practicing defense so I was out doing my thing, and J was waiting to get some snaps as back up qb on the scrubs team. I remember I kind of walked over to him and was like hey, you should get some reps at corner with us on defense since the qb (or the kid who was the qb) was taking snaps. He just looked me in the eyes and said, no I'm going to be starting qb one day, so I need the practice here. I was just kind of like uhhh whoa a-ight ha-ha but didn’t really believe him. But the kid got it. I have never been so happy to have someone prove me wrong. I have goose bumps right now, another stud.

I am just here in the last week of this change. Yeah it wasn’t just you, this change went by fast, really really fast. Maybe it’s because I really love my comp, I have been praying one of us doesn’t have changes but I am pretty sure he is out. He is almost pulling 6 months here in this area.

We played soccer today against another zone and saw Elder V again. I love that kid, my comp from the CCM. He says he is dying right now because he still can’t speak Spanish. In his first area they just spoke Mam, and now he is in an area where they only speak Quiche. Such a bummer ha-ha, I literally have zero problems with Spanish, its weird to think.

Only one thing crazy happened this week, but trust me, it was CRAZY. We were walking on Saturday and one of our investigators runs around the corner of the street and starts talking to us, but he is acting really really weird. His last name is R but we just call him chompipe, which is rooster here, and he is just a crazy crazy guy in the first place. He was like showing us his facebook a few weeks ago, his facebook name is Arkon Lance, like I have no idea why he calls himself that, but he does. He is so weird. Anyways he runs up to us and is talking really really fast but just gibberish, like nothing that makes sense, and then he is like ohhhh I have been drinking today, but we are pretty sure he was on drugs, because drunk people were not acting like this guy was acting, he was tripping on something crazy. Anyways, while this is going on, our most positive investigators, this 18-year-old kid, B, and his 15-year-old sister (the ones from the photo with the cake last week or so) turn around the corner on the other side of the street. He kind of whistles at us and yells ¨hey, Mormons!¨ at us, and then puts his hand up in the air and waves. Chompipe, who was standing next to us just kind of stops talking for like ten seconds and then starts running across the street towards B, just runs up to him from behind and cold clocks him straight in the jaw, then he just starts throwing punches at this kid and everything, then he starts trying to like karate kick him and stuff. When my comp and I realize what’s going on were just like uhhhhhh, and run over and hold this guy back and were just yelling at him calm down what the freak are you doing!?! He starts yelling at B that he did the equivalent of flipping him off. Here if you flip someone off they will have no idea what that means, like the middle finger. Here its like.... if your playing rock-paper-scissors and you play paper, that is the hand signal for ¨your mom¨. But its suuuuper suuuuuper offensive. We were trying to explain to this drugged out investigator of ours that he never did that, but he was just waving to us. He was just like of like no, he gave me the your mom, he gave me the your mom. He also had some books and stuff in his hands, he just hands me his books, and then runs away. Just books it out of there, gone. We were just like, uhhhhh what just happened. Like we couldn’t even believe that that had just happened. We were talking with B and he was just like, yeah I am fine. Took those punches like a champ. Kind of had a bloody lip but was fine. Later that night we found out the members who had given us the reference for B talked to him and he told them what happened. This member was so mad that he went out to find this guy to beat him up. He is lucky he didn’t find him too because the member is a big mean dude ha-ha.  Anyways, were not exactly sure what were going to do about this all now, I still have this guys books and stuff, but uhhh kind of scared to go visit him ha-ha. B came and played soccer with us this morning, he seems like all back to normal so that’s good. 

As for the letters, since I haven’t gotten a letter in the last 9 months from anyone other than dad and the girls, I hate being so pessimistic buuuut, I will see it when I believe it. I have been getting all of those though, papa che always gives me the spiritual lift I need with a mission story, and the girls give me comic relief with their letters. One of Bree’s letters I got  a while ago starts out Dear Alex, then she scratched out Alex with one line and wrote Adam beneath it, then when she finished her letter it said, ¨I love you Adaam¨, she was so close to spelling my name right ha-ha, sooo close.

I am still sick, nothing super crazy just boo, and lots of it. They finally figured out what was wrong with my comp, he has some kind of bacteria called H Pylori or something like that, he has to take pills every day for 40 days. Whoa. Anyways, that’s what’s going on here. Love you guys, have a good week. 

Adam

P.S. Is it bad I fasted this week for Mitt Romney to win the election? Are them some kind of rules against that or something?