Week 43

  All I know is that this area has completely turned around. When I got here, Elder Perez and I had no success, we were always sitting in front of the chucrh offering tours to whoever wanted it, but it never worked out. I've now learned how to be a lot better missionary since than, I've been able to use my personality to attract people to the gospel, I've had to change a lot though.. I've seriously think that I've been able to get rid of all evil from my heart and head and  just become a way better person. We had the most successful week in all of my mission. We had a ton of lessons with a member and we are working with the ward a lot more than I've ever done. That's really were the trick is, working with the ward members!!! Even though it's not some secret, it's all in preach my gospel, which I have been using like none-stop since our president came out with a success model. or....basically is just a little book that has the best and most important stuff in preach my gospel specifically for this mission. 

   I love being in the big city, sometime it gets me a little discourged though. I have to say though that this week was the most successful. We were teaching a lesson every hour all week long, even though it's still a little tough to baptize here, it makes me feel really happy that I'm giving it my all. I was so tired this week. I thought I was working hard in contreras because it was just  on the side of a mountain, but we are now teaching like 8 lessons a day and I feel really happy. I just can't express what I'm feeling in this area, I'm sure it's just a phase, but we taught a ton of investigators. We found a ton of new people, and I'm finally putting the bar high for my district. Using my area as the example of success. I can't say that it's perfect, but we found a ton of new people this week. One of which had lost her daughter and her mom. So we started with the plan of salvation and it was a balling lesson, she lives right by a member too so there is no doubt in my mind that she is getting baptized soon!!! 

   We have to marry a couple of people and help a lot of people stop drinking, so many here have marriage problems and drugs problems, well...like every country has that problem. That makes me really happy that Madison went through the temple. It will be cool to come back and be able to enter with a lot of my friends and family. I don't have too much time to write this week because we are going to go try going to a big old forest..I'll see you later!!!! 

Elder Ordway

Week 42

OK so I didn't get changed, I stay here in San Pedro 2!! With my comp, soIi will finish his training and maybe even more. Blanca didn't pass her interview, so we didn't baptize on saturday, but all is good. We started our week by playing more pool, this time my comp and I trashed the other comps in our district. I really love being a district leader, because I can help every single missionary. We are all really good friends, and it hurts me to see some of them go. Elder Gee is heading over to Iztapalapa, to open up a brand new area. Elder Perez is training again but going to open a new area as well!! Elder Valenzuela is training and Elder Yancey is training also, basically Everyone I know is training. 

   I'm now the oldest in my district and 3 of us six are being trained, and Elder valenzuela just ended his training. It's soooo young. I'm going to miss elder Gee and elder Perez though. We did a lot of fun things together, and it was cool seeing our whole district grow and baptize. The week itself wasn't the best of weeks, we had 3 intercambios (Changes), and so Elder Carrigan was in the area twice the time I was in it.  So things kind of fell apart, but it's all part of learning. Getting lost and then not having any lessons...hah, but this change we are going to haul tail. I swear we area going to baptize, every week I'm learning so much as to how to be a good missionaries. All I know too is that there are a lot of missionaries that area leaving and a lot that are coming, I think almost a quarter of the missionary right now is training. All of my old friends are now leaving. Elder Jones, who was my first zone leader left yesterday, and elder Vargus too. My trainer elder Mathis only has 12 weeks left before he's gone. Even though he's already in an other mission.

  Elder  Carrigan and I are doing really good. Not once we had a problem. He still struggles a little bit of wanting to sleep all the time, but he never ever complains. I'm glad he has the same desire that I have to work. That's great that Every is doing good and I should be writing a couple letters, it's just really busy all the time, I haven't had  p-day to myself since I became district leader. Carrigan's spanish is a lot better too. He understands just as much as I do, he just can't speak it very fast. It's also funny, because here no one learns to read, there area lot of fully grown adults that just don't read, so like 70% of the population doesn't know how to write whatsoever, 

  

   Things are going really good in San Pedro, a member is sewing me an orange tie, ive always been gainging a ton of weight, like literally a ton of wieght. I eat so much, like never before. I swear if I returned home tomorrow, I would put sweet tomato out of buisness...It's cold here,and rains every day without fail at 5 o'clock. My shoes are getting trashed with all the walking and all the rain, but there holding in there, I want to keep my shoes the whole mission. A less active gave me a sweet pair of mexican church shoes that I really like. The area is so mexicany. It's hard not being able to knock doors, or contact in the street. We have been prohibited  to do that by our president, he says that if we are just trying luck, we are not allowing the spirit to do it's job, I've never felt the spirit guide me so much in my life, I've got a strong testimony of the work that I'm doing. there are a lot of americans coming into the mission. and personally, I like having mexican comps. I feel quilty when I'm talking english.......I love you all and will write a letter more interesting next week

Week 41

   Wow, well to start the letter, the Valcano next to the city is called Popocateptl, and it's erupting, so there is Ash all over the city. All the cars are covered in white ash, and then if you don't clean it off before night fall, the rain comes and it becomes like brick, all the windows and everything is covered in ash it's so crazy, it's actually really bad to breathe in the city with all the ash fall. 

    We started the week a little slow, we had a couple more meetings in the begging of the week, and I swear that because our mission is so small they have meetings every other day. I also did my first baptismal interviews this week. We had to go about an hour north to Ajusco to do it, and  they have just a house, it's like a mansion house as their meeting house, seeing as they only have a branch there. Whereas in this area, it's really rich and we have a ton of members, which is really nice, because they give us so much food, like I'm gaining so much weight in this area, this is the first time in my life that I've actually had to watch how much I eat. I don't even do it though. I eat as much as I can fit in my stomach without throwing up every meal. I love mexico!! 

   So one of the less active families that we found, their son got baptized. We found them just weeks before he turned 8 years old, so the day he turned 8 he got baptized under the Bishops authority. My comp confirmed him and it was a cool experience.  Elder Carrigan was really nervous to confirm someone in spanish. The family is soo cool and they go to church every week now without our help. The mom is 29 and has 2 kids, her husband was killed 4 years ago right in front of their house by a gang that came by and shot him down to death, sadly his 5 year old daughter was right there next to him. I wanted to cry when I heard the story, that was part of the reason they stopped going to church, but they are now in the temple prep class to get sealed as a family. :) 

    Somedays are really hard as a missionary in the city, but experiences like that change my atitude forever. We got down to work for the rest of the week, and we even saw our awesome mission president chewing out our Stake president. Seriously, I'm so glad that I stayed in this mission with my President. He's so cool and so bold.        Not too many men can chew out Stake presidents. It came down to again, when we needed 9 lessons again. Which is a lot for no transportation in this area, but like it says in 3rd Nephi, "If God has a commandment, he will prepare the way for us to complete it". 
    We got our 9 lessons, and one of the people that we taught I found like 5 weeks ago in the trash, her name was on a piece of paper in the trash, I took it out and it had her address on it. We visited her and she told us she had been waiting for the missionaries for 7 years. 

     I've been rolling with the part down the side of my head with a bunch of gel in the hair, it looked so funny in the begging, but it's something that you HAVE to do in this mission. My comp is rocking his spanish, he's learning it so much faster than I did, and he has a lot of good ideas on how to do the mission work. I need to be more humble in listening to him. Last P-day we climbed a really sweet hill and talked about Zelda and Pokemon for hours, with part of our district. It was nice to be in normal clothes, and then we bought pizza and had our meeting. The house is just as wild as usual, but the other elderes are being more obedient, and being blessed for it. We had an arm wrestling tournament in the house and I won!!! I never thought I was that strong, but I guess the morning workouts are helping. "I'm glad" to hear that your throwing away all the stuff in my room and painting it pink :) I can't wait to come home  to my new and imporved room. I love being a missionary. I don't want the mission to end, even though I only got 9 months and almost a half. Being district leader is my dream and training is a lot of fun. 

Love, Elder Ordway.

Week 40

   Well well well.....Things were going great. It's hard to believe that it was a week ago that we went to the temple. We have a super good couple that we visit almost every day. She is super Catholic and got really offended when we told her that we don't worship the Virgen and he is super christian. 

   He has serious problems with the book of mormon and Jose Smith, but they have the desire to be baptized; and they need a lot of work seeing as they are not married either. Along with that we are teaching a Jehovas witness that is having troubles receiving an answer, because she can't believe it. I've got to admit it though, if someone came to my door telling me the things that we tell her, I wouldn't want to believe it. For that I'm really glad that my parents raised me in the church.  

The week started out really slow. We just weren't having success and saturday morning we were 9 lessons away from the 30 with one day to get 9 lessons. We were called the night before. The zone leaders told me that I had a meeting with all the other district leaders Saturday morning in my old ward chapel!!! I was so excited to go back to my old church and see if there was going to be any members there. We arrived 30 minutes early after getting of the bus a mile early. I couldn't remember where to get off, seeing as I haven't gone over there in a long time. If I didn't get off early, I might have arrived and hour and a half early. Right as we got there the bishop gave me a hug and he told me that there was a ward activity in 30 minutes. I almost died. The Lord prepared that for me, and after our meeting,  I saw them all. Everyone in the ward. All my converts. Nayeli, Carla, Susana, Gabby, Raquel, marlene, were there, but there was 5 that didn't come because of work, but all my favorites were there, and once again after visiting with them, the ZL's told me to scram. I could have been there all day. They gave me a bunch of homemade bracelets and candy, and were crying again when I left. I felt so trunky, but we worked hard all day long and we got the 9 lessons that we needed. A third of our lessons in 1 day. 

     Things are going great here. My comps spanish is a lot better. He teaches a lot like I do. I don't have much time, but I love you guys and I will wite more next week. ohhh and a less active member that I found, her son is going to be baptized tuesday and she asked me to do it...I love that family and I love my family...just a bit more... (; Love Elder Gordway