Week 52- One year down, one more to go

    Hey Everybody! man I'm typing on the worst keyboard ever right now, so if some words don't make very much sense, it's not my fault. 

   This week was really awesome, Elder Rojas and I are working really hard, and just got a new mission leader, who just barely completed a year as a member. He is a bit "evangelico" (which  bascally means, he talks about God being the same as Jesus and temples the same as the church, and harvesting souls and stuff, so Elder Rojas and I are going to have to trained him up good. He's really excited and is like 70 years old or something, but he's got a car, which is really all the matters to me. Man!! members with cars are the best, because they can give you rides, which is way nicer than taking the micros (bus). 

   We are finding a lot of investigators, and it's really all the Lord doing the work. This ward is a lot different than my last ward, because this ward works hard. The bishop is always willing to help and talk about investigators in ward council. I feel like I have learned so much in this mission, in the year that I have here in mexico:

-How to chew out mission leaders. 

-How to work with the members.

- How to talk in council with ward and stake leaders. 

I feel awesome, is really what it comes down to. This thursday I'm going to complete 1 year in the mission!!! 

     Another one of my shirts ripped this week, and I'm not sure if this time I'm going to be able to sew it. I'm officially the oldest in my district too by 6 months, there is like no one in the mission that has more than a year and a half. So I'm like one of the oldest in the mission, which makes me feel really weird. 

     My new camera is woking really well. It's a "sony cyber-shot" 14 mega pixels. It's not the nicest of cameras, but it works. I'm going to send home my other camera, hopfelly you  guys can get it fixed. Elder Rojas is a good comp, he's a bit disobedient, but I know the Lord put him with me for  a reason, but we are one of the best comps in the mission and we are working really hard, i feel like every miunute of our time if so precius, and im trying to alwys remember that, that we are in the Lord's work, on his time, so it's always precious. 

   I had a dream that we were all at grandma's house eating mexican food and pancakes, it was one of the best dreams I've had in a long time.  The food in this area is as good as ever,  I love you all very much. 

Elder Ordway

Week 51

       Wow, so I didn't have too much time to write you guys last week, but seriously a lot has happened in the last two weeks, I  think I start from two weeks ago: 

   -So I left San Pedro and got here in Culhuacán, which is really really different than my last two areas. This part of the city is really really flat, unlike my last two areas, where I had to hike up to the other side of my area, this area is easy. The only thing I have to climb up is the stairs to cross the freeway. There is a big old freeway that splits our area in half, but no one here in Mexico uses the bridge anyways. It gets pretty crazy crossing highways here because you're allowed to stand in the middle of the freeway and move up one lane at a time, while cars cross you on both sides.

  -Elder Natareno and I were really getting along nicely. He's really funny and hasn't had too many american comps. We even bought a ton of food, there is a pretty cheap store in our area and a huge ine of tiangis, which area is  like a black market stores, where they sell stuff for really cheap, that either is fake or stolen, but it's cheap!!! We blew a ton of money there and made a lot of plans for our new area. I have personality of work a lot different tan he does, but together we were dominating. I like to talk to people in the Street and he likes to teach a lot. I use my light skin to atract them, and he teaches them like a boss. He's a really good teacher. We had to go to xochilmilco, which is a part of the mission that I have never been to, but we kind of got lost on the way there, and had to take a taxi to get us un lost. But...in the morning, the president called me and told me that we had special changes. Elder Natareno was to leave and open a new area in Ermita, and I was to get a new comp!!! I was a bit nervous especially because this area is pure centers, I didn't know the area at all but Elder Rojas got here and we started dominating immediately.

  - I had a spirit contact that was truly spirit inspired, and he led us to his family, and we put baptism dates with almost the whole family. We have a good amount of investigators here, and it kind of sucks not knowing the Ward nor the area, but Elder Rojas is cool. He's waiting for his visa to go to Argentina, so he's a Little bit disobedient. Well.... a lot...but I think I have gained his trust and he's already changing a lot. He's a really good guy, but he is really rich and is big into girls. So he's really distracted in that. 

  -I bought a new camera and it's working out really nice for me, same with the new shoes that you guys sent me. There is about a month and a half of pour rain here and then it will be Winter and the rain will go away. Seriously I was waiting all Winter for a nice summer, but just rain...In my district, there are 2 sisters that are in an area absolutely dead. They had a grand total of 5 lessons this week, that's less than one a day!! and the Elders in Coapa had 7 lessons, but just baptized though. Someone who had completely lost his mind and was like 90. I felt weird in the interview with him as he had no idea who Joseph Smith was, but the president had already told me about people like that and that you have to work around the difficulties. I'm getting stoked about this Ward, because the bishop is really awesome and is a hard worker. Our president is also looking for 2 more senior comps, there are  so many missionaries arriving every week, that people who just ended there first 12 weeks are training and almost everyone in the mission who is somewhat obedient is training. Things here in mexico area are awesome. 

  The food is soo good. The metro is awesome. I saw a limbo bug today and just saw two cars crash. Crazy mexican drivers. I love you all and will try and remember what else is happening here. 

    -Elder Ordway

Week 50

Hey everbody!! wow , a lot happened in the last week. 

First off, when I received our transfers, I was stoked, because they just put enough missionaries in my old zone to split it in half, so the mission just opened up two new zones, one of which is zone Culhuacan!! the zone I just got transferred to. It's not too far away from my other areas, but pretty far. I've never been on this side of the mission before, so I don't know the streets at all! but I went around and said goobye to everyone I liked most (; and took some pictues, my camera is almost completely busted from all the rain pour, but I made it last until changes.. I was sad to leave San Pedro. I also felt like I left a good amount of my heart in that area. I also new the whole ward inside and out, along with all the streets like the back of my hand. I gave my last district meeting there in talpan, and it was completly bs{ed. I didn't study whatsoever for it, because I was sure the zone leaders weren't coming to inspect it, but of course, they came and they even told me that I did a great job with the meeting, little did they know that it was completly bs{ed.

     We arrived at tasqueña really early, at 6 in the morning, and were the first ones there. I met my new comp Elder Natareno who is from Guatamala, he's a really interesting comp, he has been raised in really ugly conditions, he always tells me how many killing there are, and how you can't mess around with anyone, because they will "tirar el plomo" or drop the lead, as they say it here, he was peer pressured in going on a mission, and is the only member in his family. He is very interesting, as he doesn't feel love. He's like a robot that teaches and applies techniques in his teaching, he literally cleaned half of everything in the house this morning and left the other half for me, like half the floor, half the bathroom, half the dishes. So we will see how it goes with Elder Natareno. He's cool though, hes' helping me learn Guatemalan spanish. 

      The house was a complete dump too when I got here. Nothing was organized in this place, there has been pure mexican missionaries here for like a year now and you can tell too, I don't have very much time, but all in all, it's really cool here, the whole district is completely dead, we are barely teaching anyone here, the area is pure apartments. I've never seen anything like it before and there is a hugeeeeeee Santa Muerte outside our house, twice the size of me, I would take a picture, but that is were all the gang thugs hang out. 

     Ill let you in on more of what's happening here in Culhuacan next week, along with the pictures. I bought a hammock today for 9 $ and a bunch of other stuff here in the tiangis, I'm going to try and send you guys home a package!! 

    Love,

             Elder Ordway

Week 49

Oh man, I got changed...!!! All this week I was working so hard, we have so many  people going to church and preparing for baptism, and I  got changed...Elder Carrigan is going to be staying here with Elder Yancey, literally my best friend in the whole mission is coming to my area to be a district leader. I'm so happy for him!! I'm really stoked to have cahnges, even though I love this area, and I feel like my work isn't done here. I'm going to have a native comp again!!! I'll be able to master my spanish for sure, from what I've heard though, he is from a different country, but I'm not sure which. 

   Im going to an area that is called Cuhluacan!! It's on the other side of the mission, so I'm stoked to get to learn that area. I'm sad that I'm not going to be here for the baptism of Rosa Maria, Jesus, Julis, Rocio, Juan, Fatima, Pedro, Angel, and a couple others, but I also got your package mom!!. It was awesome. my shoes were so trashed and i needed new ones. I feel like I'm set for a while on shoes polish and floss!!. and the cheeze it's were the best. My camera has also been on the verge of getting busted, I think I'm going to send it home in a package and see if you guys can send it in to get it fixed, but I will need another camera in the mean time. 

The rain just beat all the way down through my backpack, and it eventually got to the camera. it really is trashed and it makes a really scary sound, but I think it will make it through the changes. I'm going around saying goodbye to everyone and it's really hard, because there area so many less actives that came back to church.

 I don't have to much time to write, but we moved into our house and it's really cool there. A lot cooler than our old house, and so I've had to pack up two times this week. I'll let you know if I'm dead yet in a week, because I don't know how nice the area is!! 

    I love you all and I'm dying of hunger. Fasting..:!!! 

                                             Love Elder Ordway