https://maps.google.com/maps?
Here are more pictures:
Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Week 16- 3 picture and a Link
Michael has shared a link with us. You can see exactly where he is. He was joking when he said he is right next to the jungle.
https://maps.google.com/maps?
Here are more pictures:
https://maps.google.com/maps?
Here are more pictures:
Monday, January 14, 2013
Week 16
Hey guys!!! Im back!!!
I had a wonderful week, one of the fastest that has passed by yet. We had wonderful weather all week and actually me and elder Mathis fell asleep in the sun during language study. I'm so lucky to have such a sick mission. Really the best mission in the world. The only thing is I'm still not the biggest fan of big cities seriously, everyone gots to experience this city once. I've decided that when I'm back from my mission, after a certain time I'm going to return in car and visit all the hot spots of the country. Maybe even another road trip with the old gang or the old family.
We normally can handle the dogs here, but we got chased by a straight wolf, at like 9:25 we were running back home to make it in in time. We have a bad habit of spending to much time with our investigators, because we teach and then after everyone pulls out all the food. It was way dark and a straight wolf was all barking and holding its ground. It then chased us I actually got it on camera. I really want to get some dog videos I think you guys would love them. Luckily it just ran right by us. Speaking of dogs, there is a wild dog in the midle of this intershop laying next to me. Me and elder Mathis have been arguing whether or not the book of mormons title is "the book of mormon" or the "book of mormon" either way it was so stereotypical missionary argument.
On sundays the city comes alive which makes the day of rest a hard commandment for people to follow. There are "tiagnis" which are those small food shops all over the streets and taco shops every three feet. This sacrament meeting was crazy. First we had 4 investigators show up. They ran out of water in the cups and so some people just didn't get to take it.
So mexico... then a wild dog ran into the middle of the foyer and was running wild, people were trying to grab it. Us, 4 elder were cracking up. Then an hermano (brother) gave a talk about temple recomends. He actually made people raise their hand if they didn't have their recomend valid. He starting to planch them or chew them out. The Bishop had to get up and tell him to change the topic. Babies cry all the time because there are tons of babies here and the parents never ever ever take them out. You guys might not believe me but while walking home from comida (Food) one day we saw a guy in the middle of a road crapping in the street. Straight taking a dumb with kids and everyone around. Stepping in human crap is twice as worse as dog crap.
One of our investigators kept talking about reincarnation. While her granddaughter wants to kill herself or something. It was a weird lesson but I still think she is a chosen investigator. We put a date with the daughter of the lady that we baptized, at first she didn't want anything to do with her, but she saw her moms baptism and accepted a date for the 26, that's 3 more this month for the 26th and more lined up for next month. I'm so blessed to be in a mission where you can physically see your success it makes me humble myself when I think of some of those euro missions that are rough. There are a lot of beggars that see us and think we are rich but really as missionaries your pretty poor. I think that is to keep you humble and thrifty!!
We got some dominos pizza and it was the best thing I've ever tasted. The spanish too is coming along nicely. I just sent two letters today to Ashley and Harrison, speaking of Harrison. I received a package yesterday from him that he sent a month ago. I opened it in the back of a taxi. I got some candy, a cookie in a tin can thing and a nutcracker that tells 4 really cheesing jokes. I gave the taxi's some of my sour patch kids and he wanted a bit more. So when I offered him more he took 3 fourths the bag...hahaha... he then saw my cookies and literally wanted them from me. He was really interested in us guerros and our purpose the city. It being sunday and I couldn't actually sell him it. We agreed on the cost of the taxi, at first I would have gave it to him free if he went to the capilla (Chapel) this sunday. Harrison could have been part of saving someone's soul, but he didn't want to. 50 pesos. I thought it was a good deal. I'm sorry though Harrison for selling your cookie to a taxist. He liked us so much that We took some pictures at the end. I'll send that one home.
I've learned this week just how much we are in a war zone here against Satan. I say that all the time, but we are literally fighting a war here with our pens as our swords. No actually, the libro (book) and the spiritu (spirit) as our weapons. We worked really hard this week and we have seen success every day. I'm not looking forward to the day when I'm put through the slow phase of my mission, because its all action all day long. We went to a restaurant and I had no idea what I order but it was good. We got agua (water) de melon which is my favorite drink here. You guys should make it. It's just water, sugar, and cantaloupe. It's the best thing that's ever gone through my mouth. Things I miss this week though are good sleep, lemon juice, Harry Potter again, and the Prince of Egypt.
We have a zone conference this wednesday and I'm going to get my hair cut again today. I love hearing from you and I'm curios about the old blog. People say that they are reading it and like it. I hope Ellie is getting all of my photos, but were going to buy some more food for the house, We are out again and I'm already running low on pesos again. I weighed myself and I dropped 10 pounds. AHHH yeyh!! I've never lost pounds ever in my life. One of our investigators that "had" a baptismal date we found drunk. It's really hard to get these people to stop drinking and smoking weed, because everyone does it. I haven't seen or heard anything crazy (at least that i haven't seen before) in a while, no guns or dogs, except for one. A huge mother dog as big as the one on the sand lot. Me and elder Mathis had that exact scene in that movie where we are hoping fences and running through theaters and the dog on our tail. (not really, but kinda) another contact dogs almost got my leg. I got a video of it after. I'm always laughing at dogs here, it's really indescribable how many there are and I literally saw a dog wait for cars to pass and walk across after looking both ways.
We heard some thunder a couple nights ago, the night that it rained. Belen one of our investigators is pregnant with her third child, she 19 and her two kids are crazy wild, they were drawing and ripping everything I had, while teaching a lesson I fought off the kids and elder Mathis taught. We kind of had the spirit there, but I got punched in the nose during the prayer. Things are going great here and the package from Harry helped enlighten my days even more. I love you all and expect I will be writing sooner than you or I think ;)
Love, Elder Ordway, qué Dios les bendiga!!! ( God's Bless)
I had a wonderful week, one of the fastest that has passed by yet. We had wonderful weather all week and actually me and elder Mathis fell asleep in the sun during language study. I'm so lucky to have such a sick mission. Really the best mission in the world. The only thing is I'm still not the biggest fan of big cities seriously, everyone gots to experience this city once. I've decided that when I'm back from my mission, after a certain time I'm going to return in car and visit all the hot spots of the country. Maybe even another road trip with the old gang or the old family.
We normally can handle the dogs here, but we got chased by a straight wolf, at like 9:25 we were running back home to make it in in time. We have a bad habit of spending to much time with our investigators, because we teach and then after everyone pulls out all the food. It was way dark and a straight wolf was all barking and holding its ground. It then chased us I actually got it on camera. I really want to get some dog videos I think you guys would love them. Luckily it just ran right by us. Speaking of dogs, there is a wild dog in the midle of this intershop laying next to me. Me and elder Mathis have been arguing whether or not the book of mormons title is "the book of mormon" or the "book of mormon" either way it was so stereotypical missionary argument.
On sundays the city comes alive which makes the day of rest a hard commandment for people to follow. There are "tiagnis" which are those small food shops all over the streets and taco shops every three feet. This sacrament meeting was crazy. First we had 4 investigators show up. They ran out of water in the cups and so some people just didn't get to take it.
So mexico... then a wild dog ran into the middle of the foyer and was running wild, people were trying to grab it. Us, 4 elder were cracking up. Then an hermano (brother) gave a talk about temple recomends. He actually made people raise their hand if they didn't have their recomend valid. He starting to planch them or chew them out. The Bishop had to get up and tell him to change the topic. Babies cry all the time because there are tons of babies here and the parents never ever ever take them out. You guys might not believe me but while walking home from comida (Food) one day we saw a guy in the middle of a road crapping in the street. Straight taking a dumb with kids and everyone around. Stepping in human crap is twice as worse as dog crap.
One of our investigators kept talking about reincarnation. While her granddaughter wants to kill herself or something. It was a weird lesson but I still think she is a chosen investigator. We put a date with the daughter of the lady that we baptized, at first she didn't want anything to do with her, but she saw her moms baptism and accepted a date for the 26, that's 3 more this month for the 26th and more lined up for next month. I'm so blessed to be in a mission where you can physically see your success it makes me humble myself when I think of some of those euro missions that are rough. There are a lot of beggars that see us and think we are rich but really as missionaries your pretty poor. I think that is to keep you humble and thrifty!!
We got some dominos pizza and it was the best thing I've ever tasted. The spanish too is coming along nicely. I just sent two letters today to Ashley and Harrison, speaking of Harrison. I received a package yesterday from him that he sent a month ago. I opened it in the back of a taxi. I got some candy, a cookie in a tin can thing and a nutcracker that tells 4 really cheesing jokes. I gave the taxi's some of my sour patch kids and he wanted a bit more. So when I offered him more he took 3 fourths the bag...hahaha... he then saw my cookies and literally wanted them from me. He was really interested in us guerros and our purpose the city. It being sunday and I couldn't actually sell him it. We agreed on the cost of the taxi, at first I would have gave it to him free if he went to the capilla (Chapel) this sunday. Harrison could have been part of saving someone's soul, but he didn't want to. 50 pesos. I thought it was a good deal. I'm sorry though Harrison for selling your cookie to a taxist. He liked us so much that We took some pictures at the end. I'll send that one home.
I've learned this week just how much we are in a war zone here against Satan. I say that all the time, but we are literally fighting a war here with our pens as our swords. No actually, the libro (book) and the spiritu (spirit) as our weapons. We worked really hard this week and we have seen success every day. I'm not looking forward to the day when I'm put through the slow phase of my mission, because its all action all day long. We went to a restaurant and I had no idea what I order but it was good. We got agua (water) de melon which is my favorite drink here. You guys should make it. It's just water, sugar, and cantaloupe. It's the best thing that's ever gone through my mouth. Things I miss this week though are good sleep, lemon juice, Harry Potter again, and the Prince of Egypt.
We have a zone conference this wednesday and I'm going to get my hair cut again today. I love hearing from you and I'm curios about the old blog. People say that they are reading it and like it. I hope Ellie is getting all of my photos, but were going to buy some more food for the house, We are out again and I'm already running low on pesos again. I weighed myself and I dropped 10 pounds. AHHH yeyh!! I've never lost pounds ever in my life. One of our investigators that "had" a baptismal date we found drunk. It's really hard to get these people to stop drinking and smoking weed, because everyone does it. I haven't seen or heard anything crazy (at least that i haven't seen before) in a while, no guns or dogs, except for one. A huge mother dog as big as the one on the sand lot. Me and elder Mathis had that exact scene in that movie where we are hoping fences and running through theaters and the dog on our tail. (not really, but kinda) another contact dogs almost got my leg. I got a video of it after. I'm always laughing at dogs here, it's really indescribable how many there are and I literally saw a dog wait for cars to pass and walk across after looking both ways.
We heard some thunder a couple nights ago, the night that it rained. Belen one of our investigators is pregnant with her third child, she 19 and her two kids are crazy wild, they were drawing and ripping everything I had, while teaching a lesson I fought off the kids and elder Mathis taught. We kind of had the spirit there, but I got punched in the nose during the prayer. Things are going great here and the package from Harry helped enlighten my days even more. I love you all and expect I will be writing sooner than you or I think ;)
Monday, January 7, 2013
Week 15
Hey guys!!! I'm back!!
This week was so awesome like normal. I got to talk to my mission President just one on one for a while which doesn't happen because there are so many missionaries in this mission. Mexico City is really calmed down. People are so drunk all the time and it's been a while since I've seen someone passes out right outside our door.
We got paid money for this month which was lucky because I was running out. haha still I'm not the best at watching my money, but we get 1400 pesos a month which really isn't that much, luckily the members help us out a ton with dinners and stuff. Other wise we would burn through money fast than this city burns through alcohol haha.
I'm stoked to start this new cambio (change). This next 6 weeks we have the same elders in our ward and I still got elder Mathis to hang on to, but we have a lot of investigators. Like all day We are packed with people and we have to burn a lot of money on taxis and busses to fit them all in. Not to mention meetings all week long. Some elders that I really like in my district are leaving to another part of the city Istapalapa; which is one of the most dirtiest dangerous parts of the city and the baptismal water there is green. I'm going to try to get a leather case for my scriptures made here in a little leather shop. I'm thinking of the tree of life ( the one here in mexico ) for my Book of Mormon and the aztec calender for my bible but I'm not sure yet.
I got to be a part of three confirmations of our three converts. The spirit was thick like smoke and I wasn't even giving the blessing and I was shaking, I felt it so strong. I really learned this week to rely on prayer too. I been doing things my own way and not relying on the Lord but I have repented and am really going to try hard now to always rely on prayer.
Here in Mexico, Christmas really isn't that big. They believe in all the same things but they like here what is called Dia de los Reyes Magos (Wise Man Day), which is the day of the three wise men from the story of jesuss birth. How it works is on the 5th i think people and kids put their wish list in balloons and send them off into the air. The next morning the three wise men somehow gets inside their protected homes and leaves gifts for them. It's way cool and I think it's just as cool as Christmas, I love the idea of the balloons, but also they eat here what is called a Rosca which is just a really big circular bread thing, but inside are little muñecas (dolls). That if you bite into you have to buy tamales on the 2nd of Febuary. It's completely random, but I think it's hilarious. So I have to buy two on the 2nd because I bite into two.
Also their new year here is interesting. They wait till 12:10 and they have a Thanksgiving dinner size dinner. After which they eat 12 uvas(grapes) and a piece of cheese for luck or something. So we ate some good chicken ( as usual ) and celebrated that. Me and Elder Mathis are working really hard. We have two baptism lined up for the 19th and these people are muy escogido (chosen). They do all the commitments and have a huge testimony already. It's so true that if the members like you, they give you more references which means more work and more baptisms, haha, but I also have a new found testimony for fasting. I had one the hardest fasts of my life but it paid off. We are fasting for an investigator that we have. We gave him a blessing because he is on his death bed and can't walk, he said that if he was healed he would join our church. Which is good and bad, it means that if God has mercy on him, we have a new convert, but he's waiting till after a miracle to have a testimony, so were going to try and fix that attitude but still keep his promise. The lady that we taught, she got baptized and confirmed now with two of her 3 daughters, the other one is 19 and didn't want anything to do with the church. She has two kids, one is 4 almost 5 and the other is 3. yeah I know that's crazy, but she accepted to have us come over and teach her after she saw the baptism of her mom. I think the spirit really chaged her heart, but I know you guys love to hear about the city instead of the mission.
Let's see.... well it's dark here at like 6 so for a couple of hours we are walking around the streets at night in the dark alleys which is where all the weirdos live, and come out. Also the freaking wolfs. The huge black dogs that hate everything living... come out, but like I said earlier, we are protect from God himself. So I never worry. It reminds me of a story of George Albert Smith, when he was sleeping one night and the mob came and threatened them that if he didn't come out they would come in and kill them all. George felt that everything would be alright. The mob fired 5 rounds into the house from all directions while he was still in bed. Destroyed everything in the house but the people in it. That is a miracle that I know everyone can have if they have enough faith.
School started again here so there are kids all over the streets again in their school uniforms. We have investigators coming to church regularly now and I absolutely love it. When I got here things were not good for the ward for investigators they didn't have a baptism in a long time and Mathis barely had investigators, in fact the only one he had we had to drop. He's a hard core drug addict that we taught everything to and he won't change or I come to church but ¨has a testimony¨ yeah whatever Raul.
Anyways the language is coming better and better. I can understand a lot, but when people have long stories I start to lose it. One lady said that she was lost from her whole family and the day that she finally found one of her long lost sisters, we showed up and taught her whole family. It was a big lesson, with like 15 people in this one room all cramped, and we taught the first lesson. I really miss butterfingers, McDonalds fries, Harry Potter and Lost this week, in case anyone is interested, but I would love to hear from more of you guys. So please send me dear elders. not emails. I literally have to pay to read them, but the more that you learn how to handle the city, the less scary and cool things become, like you can always tell when people are straight lying and as a missionary you really have a higher, I don't know, power or authority to find the needs of people and know what to say always.
I bore my testimony and had not a clue what I was going to say, but I got tons of thanks for it. Our ward is learning how to do family history because it's not really big here. I also missed everyone, I started writing this memory book of all the cool memories I have before my mission because I didn't write a journal, and can't speak for my friends but I had like the best childhood ever so it need to be written. Our toilets still busted and we deep cleaned our bathroom. We got all the mold out from our shower and cloroxed everything. Stuff like that is expensive but I wouldn't trust anything else to clean our bathroom. It ALWAYS SMELLS terrible. I don't even know what to say.
I got a new agenda brand new, without all the drawings in it, like everyone her between the ages 18 and 30 have a ton of kids; so whenever we teach them, they grab all my stuff and start ripping things in half and my Libro de Mormon (Book of Mormon) is trashed I'm a bit mad but I really love it because it reminds me of how mexican this city is and how I can always look at that, so I let them draw with my scripture markers in my agenda it's really no big deal. I'lll send home the rest of the pictures I hope you got all of them mom I sent home ton it took me forever because the internet here sucks.
We'll they also have this drink here that is called Ponche and it's all over the place. Every house that we go into they give us their own version of Ponche because you really can't buy it in stores. Sometimes it's rico (yummy) but others it tastes bad bad bad, and we get to eat it with sugar cane, which is cool. Sometimes we eat so much food that I can barely make it back to the house without exploding, but also a lady in the ward made us a pumpkin pie, of course it was the day that we were fasting so the whole day we carried around this pie with us that we couldn't eat. We fasted for 26 hours which was hardddddd, simply because we had to go to meetings. We really have to do a ton of paperwork too. We are to teach the whole ward and all menos activos (less active) the first three lessons and report it every week. So We plan for 30 minutes every night and we use every minutes of it. I'm going to send home more pictures, for those of you who don't get them hassle my mom she should have them all. I would love for you guys to see them too. oh and Susan Eggleston I would love to keep getting everyone's letters if its not to hard. I love you all and can't wait to write you again next week.
I think, I should give my testimony because I haven't in a while. Let's see.
yo sé qué tenemos una profeta hoy que no dirigi y que él es un hombre de dios. yo sé qué el saucerdocio dedios realmente funciona y que tenemos el poder de dios para actuar en su nombre y que con suficiente fé en él. vamos a ver milagros en nuestros vidss. yo sé con todo mui corazon que josé smith era un profeta y que jesucristo realmente restauro su ilgesia yque tenemos la p´lentidus del eveangleiop hoy en dia. estoy muy agredecido por mi familia y amigos y tengo mucho consuelo con la facto que voy a entrar en el templio con cada uno de ellos. estoy muy agradecido por mi papa, siemple siendo digno a darme un bendicion. mi mama es todo a mi en mi vida y deseo que yo tenia mas tiempo con ella antes de mi mission. yo sé que somos misioneros de dios y que tenemos su nombre y tenemos que actuar como el. les ama todo.
( I know that we have a Prophet, that gives us, and he is a man of God. I know that God's priesthood really works and that we have the power of God to act in his name, and that we have enough faith in him we can see miracles in our own lives. I know with all my heart that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Jesus Christ really restored the church and that we have the gospel today. I'm very grateful for my family and friends, and I find much comfort to know I will walk into the temple with each one of them. I'm very grateful about my dad, always worthy and willing to give me a blessing. My mom is everything to me, and I wish I could had spent more time with her before my mission. I know that messengers of God, and that we need to behave after him and act like him. He loves us all.)
I love you all and I'll see you next week!!!
- Elder Ordway. Don't forget dear elders!!!
This week was so awesome like normal. I got to talk to my mission President just one on one for a while which doesn't happen because there are so many missionaries in this mission. Mexico City is really calmed down. People are so drunk all the time and it's been a while since I've seen someone passes out right outside our door.
We got paid money for this month which was lucky because I was running out. haha still I'm not the best at watching my money, but we get 1400 pesos a month which really isn't that much, luckily the members help us out a ton with dinners and stuff. Other wise we would burn through money fast than this city burns through alcohol haha.
I'm stoked to start this new cambio (change). This next 6 weeks we have the same elders in our ward and I still got elder Mathis to hang on to, but we have a lot of investigators. Like all day We are packed with people and we have to burn a lot of money on taxis and busses to fit them all in. Not to mention meetings all week long. Some elders that I really like in my district are leaving to another part of the city Istapalapa; which is one of the most dirtiest dangerous parts of the city and the baptismal water there is green. I'm going to try to get a leather case for my scriptures made here in a little leather shop. I'm thinking of the tree of life ( the one here in mexico ) for my Book of Mormon and the aztec calender for my bible but I'm not sure yet.
I got to be a part of three confirmations of our three converts. The spirit was thick like smoke and I wasn't even giving the blessing and I was shaking, I felt it so strong. I really learned this week to rely on prayer too. I been doing things my own way and not relying on the Lord but I have repented and am really going to try hard now to always rely on prayer.
Here in Mexico, Christmas really isn't that big. They believe in all the same things but they like here what is called Dia de los Reyes Magos (Wise Man Day), which is the day of the three wise men from the story of jesuss birth. How it works is on the 5th i think people and kids put their wish list in balloons and send them off into the air. The next morning the three wise men somehow gets inside their protected homes and leaves gifts for them. It's way cool and I think it's just as cool as Christmas, I love the idea of the balloons, but also they eat here what is called a Rosca which is just a really big circular bread thing, but inside are little muñecas (dolls). That if you bite into you have to buy tamales on the 2nd of Febuary. It's completely random, but I think it's hilarious. So I have to buy two on the 2nd because I bite into two.
Also their new year here is interesting. They wait till 12:10 and they have a Thanksgiving dinner size dinner. After which they eat 12 uvas(grapes) and a piece of cheese for luck or something. So we ate some good chicken ( as usual ) and celebrated that. Me and Elder Mathis are working really hard. We have two baptism lined up for the 19th and these people are muy escogido (chosen). They do all the commitments and have a huge testimony already. It's so true that if the members like you, they give you more references which means more work and more baptisms, haha, but I also have a new found testimony for fasting. I had one the hardest fasts of my life but it paid off. We are fasting for an investigator that we have. We gave him a blessing because he is on his death bed and can't walk, he said that if he was healed he would join our church. Which is good and bad, it means that if God has mercy on him, we have a new convert, but he's waiting till after a miracle to have a testimony, so were going to try and fix that attitude but still keep his promise. The lady that we taught, she got baptized and confirmed now with two of her 3 daughters, the other one is 19 and didn't want anything to do with the church. She has two kids, one is 4 almost 5 and the other is 3. yeah I know that's crazy, but she accepted to have us come over and teach her after she saw the baptism of her mom. I think the spirit really chaged her heart, but I know you guys love to hear about the city instead of the mission.
Let's see.... well it's dark here at like 6 so for a couple of hours we are walking around the streets at night in the dark alleys which is where all the weirdos live, and come out. Also the freaking wolfs. The huge black dogs that hate everything living... come out, but like I said earlier, we are protect from God himself. So I never worry. It reminds me of a story of George Albert Smith, when he was sleeping one night and the mob came and threatened them that if he didn't come out they would come in and kill them all. George felt that everything would be alright. The mob fired 5 rounds into the house from all directions while he was still in bed. Destroyed everything in the house but the people in it. That is a miracle that I know everyone can have if they have enough faith.
School started again here so there are kids all over the streets again in their school uniforms. We have investigators coming to church regularly now and I absolutely love it. When I got here things were not good for the ward for investigators they didn't have a baptism in a long time and Mathis barely had investigators, in fact the only one he had we had to drop. He's a hard core drug addict that we taught everything to and he won't change or I come to church but ¨has a testimony¨ yeah whatever Raul.
Anyways the language is coming better and better. I can understand a lot, but when people have long stories I start to lose it. One lady said that she was lost from her whole family and the day that she finally found one of her long lost sisters, we showed up and taught her whole family. It was a big lesson, with like 15 people in this one room all cramped, and we taught the first lesson. I really miss butterfingers, McDonalds fries, Harry Potter and Lost this week, in case anyone is interested, but I would love to hear from more of you guys. So please send me dear elders. not emails. I literally have to pay to read them, but the more that you learn how to handle the city, the less scary and cool things become, like you can always tell when people are straight lying and as a missionary you really have a higher, I don't know, power or authority to find the needs of people and know what to say always.
I bore my testimony and had not a clue what I was going to say, but I got tons of thanks for it. Our ward is learning how to do family history because it's not really big here. I also missed everyone, I started writing this memory book of all the cool memories I have before my mission because I didn't write a journal, and can't speak for my friends but I had like the best childhood ever so it need to be written. Our toilets still busted and we deep cleaned our bathroom. We got all the mold out from our shower and cloroxed everything. Stuff like that is expensive but I wouldn't trust anything else to clean our bathroom. It ALWAYS SMELLS terrible. I don't even know what to say.
I got a new agenda brand new, without all the drawings in it, like everyone her between the ages 18 and 30 have a ton of kids; so whenever we teach them, they grab all my stuff and start ripping things in half and my Libro de Mormon (Book of Mormon) is trashed I'm a bit mad but I really love it because it reminds me of how mexican this city is and how I can always look at that, so I let them draw with my scripture markers in my agenda it's really no big deal. I'lll send home the rest of the pictures I hope you got all of them mom I sent home ton it took me forever because the internet here sucks.
We'll they also have this drink here that is called Ponche and it's all over the place. Every house that we go into they give us their own version of Ponche because you really can't buy it in stores. Sometimes it's rico (yummy) but others it tastes bad bad bad, and we get to eat it with sugar cane, which is cool. Sometimes we eat so much food that I can barely make it back to the house without exploding, but also a lady in the ward made us a pumpkin pie, of course it was the day that we were fasting so the whole day we carried around this pie with us that we couldn't eat. We fasted for 26 hours which was hardddddd, simply because we had to go to meetings. We really have to do a ton of paperwork too. We are to teach the whole ward and all menos activos (less active) the first three lessons and report it every week. So We plan for 30 minutes every night and we use every minutes of it. I'm going to send home more pictures, for those of you who don't get them hassle my mom she should have them all. I would love for you guys to see them too. oh and Susan Eggleston I would love to keep getting everyone's letters if its not to hard. I love you all and can't wait to write you again next week.
I think, I should give my testimony because I haven't in a while. Let's see.
yo sé qué tenemos una profeta hoy que no dirigi y que él es un hombre de dios. yo sé qué el saucerdocio dedios realmente funciona y que tenemos el poder de dios para actuar en su nombre y que con suficiente fé en él. vamos a ver milagros en nuestros vidss. yo sé con todo mui corazon que josé smith era un profeta y que jesucristo realmente restauro su ilgesia yque tenemos la p´lentidus del eveangleiop hoy en dia. estoy muy agredecido por mi familia y amigos y tengo mucho consuelo con la facto que voy a entrar en el templio con cada uno de ellos. estoy muy agradecido por mi papa, siemple siendo digno a darme un bendicion. mi mama es todo a mi en mi vida y deseo que yo tenia mas tiempo con ella antes de mi mission. yo sé que somos misioneros de dios y que tenemos su nombre y tenemos que actuar como el. les ama todo.
( I know that we have a Prophet, that gives us, and he is a man of God. I know that God's priesthood really works and that we have the power of God to act in his name, and that we have enough faith in him we can see miracles in our own lives. I know with all my heart that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that Jesus Christ really restored the church and that we have the gospel today. I'm very grateful for my family and friends, and I find much comfort to know I will walk into the temple with each one of them. I'm very grateful about my dad, always worthy and willing to give me a blessing. My mom is everything to me, and I wish I could had spent more time with her before my mission. I know that messengers of God, and that we need to behave after him and act like him. He loves us all.)
I love you all and I'll see you next week!!!
- Elder Ordway. Don't forget dear elders!!!
Friday, January 4, 2013
Week 14
Hey Guys!!!
Man it was nice to be able to talk to everyone. I loved how everyone could hear me kind of and that Christopher was on the line too. That was the fastest 40 minutes of my life I swear but it was great to hear everyone's voices and just to talk in English.
My English sucks now though and it's only getting worse, I don't blame the keyboard anymore for the bad typing, it's all me. I use weird words like what does that signify and should we get in the automobile haha. I'm going to send home a ton of pictures to you guys all that I have, but man the more and more that I grow up and lose weight the more I realize how much I look like dad.
I finally saw it in the mirror of a miembros (members) bathroom. I saw my face and saw dad, I laughed. but this last two weeks were awesome. I don't know if I said anything but about 2 weeks ago we met a family of 3 and yesterday we baptized them, that's how fast you can prepare people for baptism. I feel bad because we really shoved the gospel down their throats fast, but it was all out of love and they were escogido (chosen) for sure. I got to baptize a 15 year old girl named Wendy and Elder Mathis her sister and a hermano (brother) in our ward baptized the mom. The experience to teach them was awesome and I have a new desire to work as hard as I can to "harvest more souls". I still think that is a really weird frase people say haha, but I'm learning Spanish real well.
Like I said earlier the dificult stuff is left and there are so many verbs I don't know yet. I probably won't be able to type as long as I would like to because I Ieft my journal in the apartment and that really has all. I can't think of everything because there is so much to describe and talk about. I don't have problems with dogs anymore because we figured out a way to scare them off. The really don't stand a chance at a servant of the Lord. I heard a couple more gun shots this morning but that's usual. Sometimes they are fireworks and sometimes guns usually you can tell the difference.
I've gotten really good at blessing people in spanish, I gave my third one the other day and have participated in a ton. Everyone has the respect for the church they just don't show their faith. " faith without works is dead" ni modo (no way), but I really have a new found testimony for alot of things. Like how people can be my own age but have a totally different maturity level. Adults here are ridiculous, especially the catholics. They are really all babies in my opinion. They have to sense of respect for anything and an investigator that we were teaching got planched after our discussion with her, so she said that we couldn't come over anymore and that her children weren't allowed to go to church with her brother and his wife.
We teach a ton of menos activos (less active) because it's as if I'm cleaning up other missionarie's mess. Every one we talk to says " when I said that I would be baptized I didn't commit going to church" which is retarted because baptism is a commitment with God. Kids here talk terribly and it's hard to understand them but I love to play with them. The kids here are so entertained by natural things like the brothers and sister and a crayon and a wall. haha there is a lot of paperwork to do and meetings all over the city, one would never know the life of a missionary until being one. I haven't knocked a sinlge door, nor will I have to. We get enough references becasue the members love us. That's what is really all about is working hard and be friendly the members a ton, which means that you have to ask for seconds even if your stuffed into your brain. I have never known the meening of stuffed until I got here. It's really cold in our house always and our gas tank is running out so I have to take cold showers sometimes. I always have to wash my garments in the shower with me. It's weird but there is nothing else we can do. There is no food in our house, so every monring me and Elder mathis eat christmas candy for breakfast. haha. Alright well I'm going to send the rest of my pictures and if I have time I will write you guys some more.
Man it was nice to be able to talk to everyone. I loved how everyone could hear me kind of and that Christopher was on the line too. That was the fastest 40 minutes of my life I swear but it was great to hear everyone's voices and just to talk in English.
My English sucks now though and it's only getting worse, I don't blame the keyboard anymore for the bad typing, it's all me. I use weird words like what does that signify and should we get in the automobile haha. I'm going to send home a ton of pictures to you guys all that I have, but man the more and more that I grow up and lose weight the more I realize how much I look like dad.
I finally saw it in the mirror of a miembros (members) bathroom. I saw my face and saw dad, I laughed. but this last two weeks were awesome. I don't know if I said anything but about 2 weeks ago we met a family of 3 and yesterday we baptized them, that's how fast you can prepare people for baptism. I feel bad because we really shoved the gospel down their throats fast, but it was all out of love and they were escogido (chosen) for sure. I got to baptize a 15 year old girl named Wendy and Elder Mathis her sister and a hermano (brother) in our ward baptized the mom. The experience to teach them was awesome and I have a new desire to work as hard as I can to "harvest more souls". I still think that is a really weird frase people say haha, but I'm learning Spanish real well.
Like I said earlier the dificult stuff is left and there are so many verbs I don't know yet. I probably won't be able to type as long as I would like to because I Ieft my journal in the apartment and that really has all. I can't think of everything because there is so much to describe and talk about. I don't have problems with dogs anymore because we figured out a way to scare them off. The really don't stand a chance at a servant of the Lord. I heard a couple more gun shots this morning but that's usual. Sometimes they are fireworks and sometimes guns usually you can tell the difference.
I've gotten really good at blessing people in spanish, I gave my third one the other day and have participated in a ton. Everyone has the respect for the church they just don't show their faith. " faith without works is dead" ni modo (no way), but I really have a new found testimony for alot of things. Like how people can be my own age but have a totally different maturity level. Adults here are ridiculous, especially the catholics. They are really all babies in my opinion. They have to sense of respect for anything and an investigator that we were teaching got planched after our discussion with her, so she said that we couldn't come over anymore and that her children weren't allowed to go to church with her brother and his wife.
We teach a ton of menos activos (less active) because it's as if I'm cleaning up other missionarie's mess. Every one we talk to says " when I said that I would be baptized I didn't commit going to church" which is retarted because baptism is a commitment with God. Kids here talk terribly and it's hard to understand them but I love to play with them. The kids here are so entertained by natural things like the brothers and sister and a crayon and a wall. haha there is a lot of paperwork to do and meetings all over the city, one would never know the life of a missionary until being one. I haven't knocked a sinlge door, nor will I have to. We get enough references becasue the members love us. That's what is really all about is working hard and be friendly the members a ton, which means that you have to ask for seconds even if your stuffed into your brain. I have never known the meening of stuffed until I got here. It's really cold in our house always and our gas tank is running out so I have to take cold showers sometimes. I always have to wash my garments in the shower with me. It's weird but there is nothing else we can do. There is no food in our house, so every monring me and Elder mathis eat christmas candy for breakfast. haha. Alright well I'm going to send the rest of my pictures and if I have time I will write you guys some more.
I love you all and remember to send me dear elders not emails. I get them more often then I do emails and I get the time to read them in the apartment.
Love , Elder Michael Ordway
P.S: So on christmas we went to this river and took a bunch of sweet pics, We ate tons and tons of food and had to work on christmas eve. We gave gifts to people on christmas so I really didn't have a christmas to myself, but it doesn't matter to me anymore. When I baptized Wendy the water was freezing but a ton of people showed up and they almost didn't make it to the sacrament meeting that they had to go to tho be baptize that day. We have a bunch of other investigators that have dates too but now that I've baptized I'm happy and I'll let the ward baptize the rest of all my investigators but Adela and her kids insisted that me and Elder mathis baptize. My laundry bill was a lot this month with all the baptism clothes and p-day clothes from christmas. me and elder mathis are really tight now and we work really hard. Our bishop is the one that wants a lot of baptism. he's a good guy but he just wants his numbers. but I think he's happy now. well i got to go i love you !!
Monday, December 17, 2012
Week 12
Hey guys
I'm so glad to hear from you. I really enjoy this hour to write to you all and the letters was excellent. My shoes are good the echos are really nice and are holding up nicely. They are always dusty and shining them is practically useless because within an hour they will be just as dirty again. The orthopedics are life savers, I haven't had any pain in my feet even though we walk a ton. I always feel like I'm blessed with this kind of stuff. I see people's pants ripping or shirts tearing but all of my stuff is holding up nicely. I'm sure it's only a matter of time though.
I love hearing about the ward and other missionaries in the ward too. It does my heart good to hear that the Coopers are preparing, they are really going to love serving the Lord. The honor to see miracles every which way you look is the best thing for anyones testimony, and I think if I've learned anything this week it's the power of my calling. I got to give two blessings this week. All the members and inactive have a lot of respect for the missionaries and love to receive blessings here. So me and elder Mathis are constantly busy with the inactive. There is like a inactive every corner because ( I might have already said this ) but 70 percent of the members here are inactive, but this week was more walking than ever.
I'm in the best shape of my life right now. Only my back pains me after hauling the backpack full of libros de mormons around. I feel great though. I sleep like a rock every night and the only mission rule that is hard is the waking up in the mornings. I'm still not used to 6 to 6.30 wake up. I did enjoy my time staying up late, but I get to see the sun rise every morning during my morning work outs I get to see it come over the volcanos and it really is a sight to see. I'm so blessed with my apartment and the beautiful view that we have. We were running low on food again this week. I had to resort to oatmeal with no sugar and extra water to make it last, but as for dinner... We are always booked. Speaking of which, some of the food here does not suit me well, but other food is amazing. Like I said earlier I'm in the uttermost south part of the city next to the jungle and it's really poor because we are on the side of the mountain, so the food is not the best either.
The other day I had cactus and onion tacos. I thought I was going to die. They have cactus all the time here and it feels like I'm eating rubber. Always I have had the runs now for 6 days. Some days I almost didn't make it back to the aparment before I exploded. It's really getting to my stomach but I feel fine for about 3 hours after.
I dont have too much use for my gold watch because if I wore it out in the open it would be stolen fast, but dad your right people don't really have any beaf with the missionaries. They just like to make fun of us because we are white and we look rich with our shirts and ties, but on the 12 was the dia de la virgen ( Day of the Virgen). They abosolutly love the virgen Mary here actually they call her guadolupe for who knows what reason becasue there is a word for Mary in spanish. But fireworks were going all night and drunk people everywhere. Since alot of people here are die hard catholics.
There was a lot of parties and we almost didn't get to see anyone. About the akas. It's the guards that have the akas and the thugs that have the pistols, but I still have a smile on my face from all the stuff I have seen here. Ashley was totally right when she said that you have such a whole another view on the world when you go to Mexico. I have seen super rich people, more in the middle of the city, and super super poor people, but they are the most humble which is why I love this area so much. I really do love this work it's just hard with the language still. I can understand so much better than when I first arrived but people speak so fast and they don't have good sentence structure here that it's hard to follow people sometimes. I love spanish though I just feel like its always been part of my blood.
It's funny because there really is no such thing as a burrito here. Only way up in the north do they have burritos. its always tacos tacos tacos with things like panista which is simply ground up pig guts and you throw it in a quesadilla. It was not very good but you have to stuff yourself with whatever is given you here and you have to clean your plate or else. Elder Mathis is a funny guy because he is like a hard core boy scout, he works all year round with the scouts and he's kind of a nerdy scout. He always has stories about skits that he's done and merit badges that were hard, and he doesn't like how the church runs the scout program, but I just laugh and try to enjoy his personality, which really isn't too much like mine; but after the scouting experience I have had, I would never complain about how the church runs it. Jeff is the ultimate leader and has prepared me more than anything for this high adventure. Which literally is high. That's why it's so cold. It's so high up even though it's sunny every day. I love the sun but I would much rather have snow or oregon weather right now. I'll probably eat my words but I miss the cold during Christmas. it really doesn't feel like Christmas. Only rich people can afford to buy lights and only a few people have trees. Speaking of which we got this little arobilta which is a small tree. I think it's perfect for out little apartment.
I'm really sorry about no pictures. It's always hard remember to bring my camera to the internet shop on p-days. We barely bring anything with us and the internet is really slow so the pictures take forever to download; but I promise next week I will upload most if not all my pictures here, they are some good ones, but I can't pull out my camerea for the really cool stuff, and the videos I might have to send home, since Elder Mathis is a district leader, we have meetings twice a week at the stake center which is way far away from us, we are kind of in the middle of nowhere mexico. I am actually getting tan and in the middle of december too haha.
We get to go to the temple this month so one of these days I will get to go through a spanish session, I'm way stoked. The language is still really hard, but we got this family as investigadores and within the first lesson we got 3 fechas or baptism dates. I'm so stoked, this is why I love my misison, in fact that I'm actually saving souls, also I have learned more than anything this week that we are in a war just as cruel as the Nephites wars with Satan. He is working really hard and I can actaully see his hand in these people. The people here are really flaky and are afraid of change, my first investigator with a date fell through and said that she never wanted to see us come back again. I was heartbroken but it seems like nothing can get me down. I love the elders in my zone and we are all way happy. We don't get to play sports here because it's really dangerous and too many times missionaries get hurt, but for a christmas present, we all got to play soccer and I can tell you that soccer here is way different than in the states. These mexicans have skills unlike I have ever seen, but it was way fun.
We all had to sing and or dance in this christmas program thing. My districe did white Christmas and I had a solo along with elder Mathis wand we danced too it was awesome. Also I had to give a talk in church this last sunday on service. I thought it was awesome and everyone loved it. As long as your humble about your spanish no one thinks twice. I saw people crying and it was exactly what I needed to get my hops up again. I can't wait to receive those chanlcas or flip flops. I need them I have to use this garbage bag, it's really quite funny when I shower. Also our toilets butsed as usual so we have to flush it with the water that we use from the showers. I really can only write 1 100 of all the cool things that happen here and I love the time I get to warm my fingers up by typing as fast as a can, I don't know why Mathis doesn't write more, he always is finished when I'm halfway though, but I love the guy and were doing really good together.
I love the people as usual, the food is at times too much for me to handle but I can stomach it. I think because I'm new they have different food for me, ike these weird chicken things that were no bueno, but I love you and Mathis is pushing me out the door. Until next week
Elder Ordway!!
I'm so glad to hear from you. I really enjoy this hour to write to you all and the letters was excellent. My shoes are good the echos are really nice and are holding up nicely. They are always dusty and shining them is practically useless because within an hour they will be just as dirty again. The orthopedics are life savers, I haven't had any pain in my feet even though we walk a ton. I always feel like I'm blessed with this kind of stuff. I see people's pants ripping or shirts tearing but all of my stuff is holding up nicely. I'm sure it's only a matter of time though.
I love hearing about the ward and other missionaries in the ward too. It does my heart good to hear that the Coopers are preparing, they are really going to love serving the Lord. The honor to see miracles every which way you look is the best thing for anyones testimony, and I think if I've learned anything this week it's the power of my calling. I got to give two blessings this week. All the members and inactive have a lot of respect for the missionaries and love to receive blessings here. So me and elder Mathis are constantly busy with the inactive. There is like a inactive every corner because ( I might have already said this ) but 70 percent of the members here are inactive, but this week was more walking than ever.
I'm in the best shape of my life right now. Only my back pains me after hauling the backpack full of libros de mormons around. I feel great though. I sleep like a rock every night and the only mission rule that is hard is the waking up in the mornings. I'm still not used to 6 to 6.30 wake up. I did enjoy my time staying up late, but I get to see the sun rise every morning during my morning work outs I get to see it come over the volcanos and it really is a sight to see. I'm so blessed with my apartment and the beautiful view that we have. We were running low on food again this week. I had to resort to oatmeal with no sugar and extra water to make it last, but as for dinner... We are always booked. Speaking of which, some of the food here does not suit me well, but other food is amazing. Like I said earlier I'm in the uttermost south part of the city next to the jungle and it's really poor because we are on the side of the mountain, so the food is not the best either.
The other day I had cactus and onion tacos. I thought I was going to die. They have cactus all the time here and it feels like I'm eating rubber. Always I have had the runs now for 6 days. Some days I almost didn't make it back to the aparment before I exploded. It's really getting to my stomach but I feel fine for about 3 hours after.
I dont have too much use for my gold watch because if I wore it out in the open it would be stolen fast, but dad your right people don't really have any beaf with the missionaries. They just like to make fun of us because we are white and we look rich with our shirts and ties, but on the 12 was the dia de la virgen ( Day of the Virgen). They abosolutly love the virgen Mary here actually they call her guadolupe for who knows what reason becasue there is a word for Mary in spanish. But fireworks were going all night and drunk people everywhere. Since alot of people here are die hard catholics.
There was a lot of parties and we almost didn't get to see anyone. About the akas. It's the guards that have the akas and the thugs that have the pistols, but I still have a smile on my face from all the stuff I have seen here. Ashley was totally right when she said that you have such a whole another view on the world when you go to Mexico. I have seen super rich people, more in the middle of the city, and super super poor people, but they are the most humble which is why I love this area so much. I really do love this work it's just hard with the language still. I can understand so much better than when I first arrived but people speak so fast and they don't have good sentence structure here that it's hard to follow people sometimes. I love spanish though I just feel like its always been part of my blood.
It's funny because there really is no such thing as a burrito here. Only way up in the north do they have burritos. its always tacos tacos tacos with things like panista which is simply ground up pig guts and you throw it in a quesadilla. It was not very good but you have to stuff yourself with whatever is given you here and you have to clean your plate or else. Elder Mathis is a funny guy because he is like a hard core boy scout, he works all year round with the scouts and he's kind of a nerdy scout. He always has stories about skits that he's done and merit badges that were hard, and he doesn't like how the church runs the scout program, but I just laugh and try to enjoy his personality, which really isn't too much like mine; but after the scouting experience I have had, I would never complain about how the church runs it. Jeff is the ultimate leader and has prepared me more than anything for this high adventure. Which literally is high. That's why it's so cold. It's so high up even though it's sunny every day. I love the sun but I would much rather have snow or oregon weather right now. I'll probably eat my words but I miss the cold during Christmas. it really doesn't feel like Christmas. Only rich people can afford to buy lights and only a few people have trees. Speaking of which we got this little arobilta which is a small tree. I think it's perfect for out little apartment.
I'm really sorry about no pictures. It's always hard remember to bring my camera to the internet shop on p-days. We barely bring anything with us and the internet is really slow so the pictures take forever to download; but I promise next week I will upload most if not all my pictures here, they are some good ones, but I can't pull out my camerea for the really cool stuff, and the videos I might have to send home, since Elder Mathis is a district leader, we have meetings twice a week at the stake center which is way far away from us, we are kind of in the middle of nowhere mexico. I am actually getting tan and in the middle of december too haha.
We get to go to the temple this month so one of these days I will get to go through a spanish session, I'm way stoked. The language is still really hard, but we got this family as investigadores and within the first lesson we got 3 fechas or baptism dates. I'm so stoked, this is why I love my misison, in fact that I'm actually saving souls, also I have learned more than anything this week that we are in a war just as cruel as the Nephites wars with Satan. He is working really hard and I can actaully see his hand in these people. The people here are really flaky and are afraid of change, my first investigator with a date fell through and said that she never wanted to see us come back again. I was heartbroken but it seems like nothing can get me down. I love the elders in my zone and we are all way happy. We don't get to play sports here because it's really dangerous and too many times missionaries get hurt, but for a christmas present, we all got to play soccer and I can tell you that soccer here is way different than in the states. These mexicans have skills unlike I have ever seen, but it was way fun.
We all had to sing and or dance in this christmas program thing. My districe did white Christmas and I had a solo along with elder Mathis wand we danced too it was awesome. Also I had to give a talk in church this last sunday on service. I thought it was awesome and everyone loved it. As long as your humble about your spanish no one thinks twice. I saw people crying and it was exactly what I needed to get my hops up again. I can't wait to receive those chanlcas or flip flops. I need them I have to use this garbage bag, it's really quite funny when I shower. Also our toilets butsed as usual so we have to flush it with the water that we use from the showers. I really can only write 1 100 of all the cool things that happen here and I love the time I get to warm my fingers up by typing as fast as a can, I don't know why Mathis doesn't write more, he always is finished when I'm halfway though, but I love the guy and were doing really good together.
I love the people as usual, the food is at times too much for me to handle but I can stomach it. I think because I'm new they have different food for me, ike these weird chicken things that were no bueno, but I love you and Mathis is pushing me out the door. Until next week
Elder Ordway!!
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Week 11
Hey everybody:
So I finished another week, and this week was just as crazy as last week. I expect every week will be though. I just saw a guy get thrown out of his store that he runs. His shirt got ripped off and he got the crap beaten out of him by 9 guys with guns. People all over the streets just have AK's and are always drunk. Dogs here are bad. I didn't see it last week but this week, I was fighting dogs off all week, especially in the jungle is were the wild dogs are and one bit me but I only got a little scar on my hand . It didnt enter though, but I never thought I would be using the book of mormon as a weapon.
We got a baptismal date this week with a lady who have a lot of trouble. Every lesson is a cry fest with her, but we do our best. Here are some die hard Catholics and would never think twice about letting us into there house, in fact almost everyone here is Catholic, which means they all believe in God, which means that I haven't had to teach that lesson nor will I probably. Also there are no seat belts in this place. Every taxi and car just drives crazy without a seat belt. Our ward had a Christmas Party with pinadas and food it was cool and we got a family of investigators to come.
Me and my comp are really cool or in nos caimos bien or we fall well together. The language is still really hard, people are speaking way to fast for anyone to understand. People will just ask me direct questions and I won't understand a single word. It's all good though. I'm learing more and more every day. A lot of it just doesn't make sense, you just have to memorize over and over and over again. Today is p-day, and I woke up and worked out. We work out every day here and it's great. I'm already getting really strong. Well at least alot more strong than I was working and eating at wendy's.
I got my first mexican hair cut today and me and Elder Mathis baked a cake together. We are going to give it to this family that lives near us. They aren't very rich but they are always giving giving giving to us everything. Things are so different here, like literally everything. You have to be careful what you say because you never know if people are going to take offense to it. People really don't like americans here because they think they are all racist. We get made fun of daily by people all over the streets. It really doesn't get to me thought because I can't understand what they are saying. Even the members will make fun of us because we can't roll our rr's or because we have alot of arm hair. We have to turn on our biuoler every morming at like 6 because it takes a while to warm up. I honestly cant remember what I've said and what I haven't so I'm just going to speak my mind as fast as I can.
Something really popular here is rice and bananas toghether, go figure but people love it . I'm like in the poorest area in the whole mission which is awesome. I love it. People are so humble and they will just spill all there thoughts and feelings to you and start crying half way throught the apostasy, but people here are reallly flaky. They are never home when they say they will be and it ruins everything. It's pretty cold here actually now that I think of it. It's really high altitude so it makes climbing the hills in my area really hard, btw my area is on a side of a mountain and part of it is in the jungle. It's way cool but it's alot of walking, constantly we have to climb and lower and climb, it's destroys your knees like no other. Some of the micros here play really cool spanish station, and I can help but fall alseep every time I get a seat in the micros. I'm always so tired but I love it. I've seen like 80 people on a micro. its crazy. those who have bags on micros are hated becasue it takes up to much space. one of our investigators wants to get baptized but isn't getting married until May. dahhhhh!!! because the people here are so rich.
The food isn't the best. It's good but really different. You wouldn't find a burrito 100 miles of here, but once I had enchiladas, once. A meal here is different too because they always have a first meal which almost always is some kind of macaroni soup and or rice and bananas. Then they give you the main meal which includes really fatty meat and tortillas. Always tortillas. I haven't had a meal yet that I couldn't stuff into a tortilla. I love it. We are really busy every day and in reality we could use like 8 more people in our area and like 900 more in our mission. I love it because the people here believe in the Santo Muerte or death as an actual being and the fear him so they sacrifice animals. I never thought I would be in such a different place as this.
I always under estimate how different our cultures are, and people are really small here. I think it's so funny that I'm the tall one and people always have me grab things for them. I'm like not tall though so its weird. My whole world feels shrunk in. My legs can't fit in micros seats and my head hits things now. Tall people are so lucky. The sour cream here is funky too it's like really liquidy like a cream and it's not very common. People love their pollo (chicken) here though. We had hot dogs the other day and the hot dogs here are different to but I like them. It's like a salad on a dog. A lot of veggies and chilis and the ketchup here is different too, people love it on their pizza and it's actually pretty good. We don't get the chance to eat out or at the stands because people always want us over for meals. We spring cleaned our house because I have been sick for 3 weeks now. It's no bueno. I'm fighting athletes foot, and it's a battle that I'm losing, I hate it. And with our toilet every other day we have to fix it. Either the water pressure or something is just crappy made, or it's mother clogged for like 5 days.
I also love here how spiderman is called hombre arana. I always laugh at that, there is so much to talk about and I literally have the most interesting journal ever but what really makes my mission awesome is the missionary work. We work really hard with the members and we are constantly late for things because here in mexico people love to talk and talk fast. So they will talk 40 minutes after the appointment. The work is truly inspired of the Lord though. I have seen miracles that I didn't think I would see ever with people and dogs and toilets. You would never have a stronger testimony of this work untill you go on a mission and see with your own eyes the miracles that the Lord has in store for you and his children and his work. I'm so glad to be apart of this and there is no way I'm coming home early. This is where I was meant to be and the fact that I can actually help people is the best feeling ever, all I want to do is do service for poeple
So I finished another week, and this week was just as crazy as last week. I expect every week will be though. I just saw a guy get thrown out of his store that he runs. His shirt got ripped off and he got the crap beaten out of him by 9 guys with guns. People all over the streets just have AK's and are always drunk. Dogs here are bad. I didn't see it last week but this week, I was fighting dogs off all week, especially in the jungle is were the wild dogs are and one bit me but I only got a little scar on my hand . It didnt enter though, but I never thought I would be using the book of mormon as a weapon.
We got a baptismal date this week with a lady who have a lot of trouble. Every lesson is a cry fest with her, but we do our best. Here are some die hard Catholics and would never think twice about letting us into there house, in fact almost everyone here is Catholic, which means they all believe in God, which means that I haven't had to teach that lesson nor will I probably. Also there are no seat belts in this place. Every taxi and car just drives crazy without a seat belt. Our ward had a Christmas Party with pinadas and food it was cool and we got a family of investigators to come.
Me and my comp are really cool or in nos caimos bien or we fall well together. The language is still really hard, people are speaking way to fast for anyone to understand. People will just ask me direct questions and I won't understand a single word. It's all good though. I'm learing more and more every day. A lot of it just doesn't make sense, you just have to memorize over and over and over again. Today is p-day, and I woke up and worked out. We work out every day here and it's great. I'm already getting really strong. Well at least alot more strong than I was working and eating at wendy's.
I got my first mexican hair cut today and me and Elder Mathis baked a cake together. We are going to give it to this family that lives near us. They aren't very rich but they are always giving giving giving to us everything. Things are so different here, like literally everything. You have to be careful what you say because you never know if people are going to take offense to it. People really don't like americans here because they think they are all racist. We get made fun of daily by people all over the streets. It really doesn't get to me thought because I can't understand what they are saying. Even the members will make fun of us because we can't roll our rr's or because we have alot of arm hair. We have to turn on our biuoler every morming at like 6 because it takes a while to warm up. I honestly cant remember what I've said and what I haven't so I'm just going to speak my mind as fast as I can.
Something really popular here is rice and bananas toghether, go figure but people love it . I'm like in the poorest area in the whole mission which is awesome. I love it. People are so humble and they will just spill all there thoughts and feelings to you and start crying half way throught the apostasy, but people here are reallly flaky. They are never home when they say they will be and it ruins everything. It's pretty cold here actually now that I think of it. It's really high altitude so it makes climbing the hills in my area really hard, btw my area is on a side of a mountain and part of it is in the jungle. It's way cool but it's alot of walking, constantly we have to climb and lower and climb, it's destroys your knees like no other. Some of the micros here play really cool spanish station, and I can help but fall alseep every time I get a seat in the micros. I'm always so tired but I love it. I've seen like 80 people on a micro. its crazy. those who have bags on micros are hated becasue it takes up to much space. one of our investigators wants to get baptized but isn't getting married until May. dahhhhh!!! because the people here are so rich.
The food isn't the best. It's good but really different. You wouldn't find a burrito 100 miles of here, but once I had enchiladas, once. A meal here is different too because they always have a first meal which almost always is some kind of macaroni soup and or rice and bananas. Then they give you the main meal which includes really fatty meat and tortillas. Always tortillas. I haven't had a meal yet that I couldn't stuff into a tortilla. I love it. We are really busy every day and in reality we could use like 8 more people in our area and like 900 more in our mission. I love it because the people here believe in the Santo Muerte or death as an actual being and the fear him so they sacrifice animals. I never thought I would be in such a different place as this.
I always under estimate how different our cultures are, and people are really small here. I think it's so funny that I'm the tall one and people always have me grab things for them. I'm like not tall though so its weird. My whole world feels shrunk in. My legs can't fit in micros seats and my head hits things now. Tall people are so lucky. The sour cream here is funky too it's like really liquidy like a cream and it's not very common. People love their pollo (chicken) here though. We had hot dogs the other day and the hot dogs here are different to but I like them. It's like a salad on a dog. A lot of veggies and chilis and the ketchup here is different too, people love it on their pizza and it's actually pretty good. We don't get the chance to eat out or at the stands because people always want us over for meals. We spring cleaned our house because I have been sick for 3 weeks now. It's no bueno. I'm fighting athletes foot, and it's a battle that I'm losing, I hate it. And with our toilet every other day we have to fix it. Either the water pressure or something is just crappy made, or it's mother clogged for like 5 days.
I also love here how spiderman is called hombre arana. I always laugh at that, there is so much to talk about and I literally have the most interesting journal ever but what really makes my mission awesome is the missionary work. We work really hard with the members and we are constantly late for things because here in mexico people love to talk and talk fast. So they will talk 40 minutes after the appointment. The work is truly inspired of the Lord though. I have seen miracles that I didn't think I would see ever with people and dogs and toilets. You would never have a stronger testimony of this work untill you go on a mission and see with your own eyes the miracles that the Lord has in store for you and his children and his work. I'm so glad to be apart of this and there is no way I'm coming home early. This is where I was meant to be and the fact that I can actually help people is the best feeling ever, all I want to do is do service for poeple
I'm always sad that they say they don't have any work for us to do, but this city had so much personality and the people here are either really mean to us or too nice to us. My stomach has double but my weight has half. All the walking and working out in this high altitude is rough, but my leg muscles are beast or at least they will be. I miss everyone so much especially at this time of year, I want to be home so badly sitting at the table for some sour cream chili bean bake or taco bell. I still swear that taco bell is the real mexican food.
Did dallas get the preisthood yet?? oh bty my address is
Av. Progreso 106, 3° Piso
Barrio Santa Catarina, Coyoacán
Districto Federal 04010
México
I think it's in my packet that I left home, and sorry for my spelling. I really can't spell anything anymore now that I'm learning spanish. The biggest problem we have here is that everyone drinks, everyone smokes, and everyone lives together and isn't married. That and no one likes to come to church. We have a ward of about 60 people and we share it with 2 other missionaries. So we are working really hard to get baptisms for this ward. The bishop expects a lot out of us. 20 baptisms this month between 4 elders. I have faith though, but time is running out. As far as the christmas spirit goes, this is how you should feel when chrsitmas comes. True love for the Savior and his Atonement. We go around and sing to the members because (there not very good at singing ) We sing christmas songs and share the story in Luke about the Savior's birth.
I miss you guys way to much and can't wait to call you in a couple weeks. We might be able to skype but I'm not sure yet.
I love you guys
Elder Ordway!!!!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Week 10- Mexico!
Hey guys: I'm officially in Mexico.
I've been here for a week and there is so much to talk about ,so much in fact that I probably won't be able to say 1 tenth of what happened. Luckily I have my trusty journal with it all, but the flight was good, we left the mtc at 5 in the morning ,meaning that we needed to wake up by 3:30. By the way, this mexican keybopard is completely different,so my typing will be even worse. but we almost didn't get on a shuttle to the airport.
We flew out and landed in Phoenix, in Phoenix airport we caught our plane to Mexico. It took us a while to leave, and the flight was like 3 and a half hours or something. we had to fill out these immigration forms and I honestly had no idea what I was doing, alot of it was in Spanish and I really can't speak Spanish very well. We landed and the mission President and the AP's picked us up. We headed to the mission home where we dropped off all of our stuff and them we headed to the Presidents house. We had echiladas verdes which were bom, made by his wife. All 15 spent the night in the mission home and the next day we met our comps.
My comps name is Elder Mathis and he's an awesome guy. He doesnt talk to much but nonetheless he is really good at spanish and he's like 8 inches smaller than me. I'm actually like the tallest person in all the city, not really, but I'm always looking over these small mexicans. The people here are amazing, they are so ready to accept the gospel, and if you know how to use your words right, you can always get another visit, in fact one lady was saying that she hated Americans and that she didn't believe that babies are innocent, nonetheless we got a second cita with her (cita is date). We took a taxi to our house and I unloaded everything I have, our house is pretty shotty but it is one of the best views of the city possible which means that we have to climb a mother hill every time we go back to our apartment. There is like no food in it and its always cold , but nonetheless it's home.
Believe it or not I already have athlete's foot. Within 2 days I got it. For that reason I hate mexico, but I'm in an area called contreras dos which is placed on a side of a mountain. The higher up you get in the city the more poor the people are and the people in my area are really poor. I literally had no idea how blessed I was until I left the MTC. Like is hard here for the people. Always having to earn their living and no one here is richer than me. There are a few areas with really really really nice houses, but for the most part everything is made of cement and brick, houses are stacked 3 high and no one has a front door. They live in little communities with like 4 -7 families and there is always like 6 living in each house. The member love to have the missionaries over for dinner, we are booked for the next 3 weeks, which means that we don't have time to eat at the taquerias, the little taco shops. Everything here is really cheap. its like 20 cents to ride the micros(bus) and like 2 bucks for taxis. 3 dollars can stuff two elders full of tacos, and the graffiti here is redic, I have never seen so much graffiti, and people.
The streets are jammed full of people, all walking around and driving. Every other car is a taxi and the rest are micros. Micros are like little busses. We take them everywhere, because our area is pretty big. We take a lot of buses, taxis and micros, and the subway a lot, which makes it hard to learn the city, because there is always a need to take the micros. as far as the food goes, I love it, it's exactly what I wanted for mission food. Sometimes its a little fatty or too many bones for my taste. but its really good. people here don't eat dinner or breakfast, they just have one really really big lunch at like 3. being on the side of a hill is tough, I gained 12 pounds in the MTC and now I'm losing it fast, but it takes a lot out of me. The micros are always full of people and you sometimes have to stand for 1.30 minutes at a time on the micros. The drivers here are crazy, in that sense though, they are really good, because they can do stuff with cars that I would not dream of. every car here is a stick shift bug too, haha, but things are going great. All of mexico is doing this thing where you focus less on baptisms, but focus more on making the inactive come to church, because 70% are inactive here. There are so many catholics is ridiculous as well. You have to be very careful with your words to make sure you get another visit. My favorite lesson yet was in the back of a tienda, or a little store. ( there are these little tiendas, everywhere, I mean everywhere, all selling the same thing coke products. Coke here is like air in eugene, but we taught the first lesson to a investigator. The language is harder than I thought. I can't hardly understand anything that people say or when they talk to me I really can't understand. They talk lightning fast and everything. I know really common frases like where do you live, how much does it cost and who's turn is it to say the pray, but what they teach you in the MTC is nothing like what it is here. People have no mercy with the language. Your not allowed to speak english, but if you really have to you can. So all I can really do is testify, and the people here love to hear me give the prayers. I always get called to give the prayer. They love to here me struggle.
Church was awesome. It was fast and testimony meeting and unlike the United States as soon as the counselor is done talking,half the congregation gets up to bear their testimony. Ididn't even know what was happening before it was to late to introduce myself. No one drinks the water here and in fact drinking water is a pain because it means that you have to use the bathroom, and as a missionary it's harder than you think to find a bathroom. You drink only that which you need to survive here because everything that is drinkable is in bottles. there is no water pressure here either so every toilet clogs every time and you have to throw the toilet paper away instead of flush it. which sucks and stinks literally. There are no plungers either so you have to get creative with water buckets. Sorry for those who didn't want to hear that last part.
We have to take micros all over the city, and its a pain because no one has cars here in the city. So everyone takes the micros. there is also like a smog covering the whole city although I'm at like the highest part of the whole city, I can only see maybe 1 sixteenth of it. speaking of which. the city is massive, I really mean massive, unlike anything I have ever seen before. It's takes 3 hours to drive across the city no joke. It's 2.30 trip to the temple which we get to do once a year. oh yeah church. in Priesthood, they had people come up and give blessings to the sick.
In Priesthood meeting, I saw like 4. I participated in one with some other elders on a comp exchange and I gave my first one in spanish to my comp who asked for one. I've been sick since the MTC with a cold. Our house isn't the cleanest and especially not the city so its hard to fight it off. It took me a while to get used to pesos. The peso is about 1 /13th of the dollar and its like 1 peso for a gumball here. My mission President is hilarious and really nice. He's strict in the things that we can't do like listen to any music whatsoever and a few other things. but on the micros sometime there is american stations playing like 94.5 that I love to listen to. I'm not a big city kind of person and it's hard to deal with its compactness, but I love the sounds here. All day and all night long you can here dogs barking and chickens crowing. There is a dog like every other foot here. None of them are spaded or nudered so they just go around and multiply. There is garbage every where and sometimes like 2 feet high of garbage. The people are so funny in the way when compared to Americans, because they are so nice and they never get to see gueros or gringos, which means white boys. People are always looking at me for how tall i am ( believe it or not) and how white I am and the fact that I'm wearing a shirt and tie. People call us gueros all the time but it really isn't that offensive, at least I don't take offense to it, that and girls that are like 18 or 17 here are always looking at you and smiling, but they all look like there 13 here. One family investigator we had had a daughter that was 18 and she looked at me the whole time. In fact the girl sitting next to me right now is staring at me, I'm not sure if its because I'm white or because I type like 50 times fasters than the people here do.
In the midst of all this ranting about how bad the city is, I absolutely love it. I love the mexican people and it's an honor to be in the city with them. I love how hard my mission is, it's exactly what I needed to learn how blessed I am. Life is just hard here and that's normal, but I love my comp my apartment, my area, my call, I love the food and how cheap everything is here. I love my view from our balcony and the fact that there is no embarrassment anymore because your on your mission with no social life. I miss american food though. It's just not the same as a good burger, but I feel the spirit and the help of the Lord do things that I would not be able to do especially with the language. I cant understand anything but the Lord helps me keep my courage up to talk to people. I cant wait to come home and talk with Maria and Ellie and whoever else I know that can speak spanish. oh an most important, make sure Ashley hears this part. that one night at like 9.30 we walked past this dance party dinner thing and they were playing the song moli moli from the chipmunks adventure. I smiled for the next 5 days. I love the shops on the side of the roads, and the fact that I'm the only person who doesn't where a coat here. because it really isn't that cold, they just like there mexican warmth. We got the chance to watch the Christmas devotional in spanish, so I didn't understand but I could still feel the spirit. I miss everyone and its so hard to think of how awesome my life was back home, but I love it here and there is nothing that would make me come home early.
I love you all and will talk to you all in a week. <
love,
Elder Ordway
I've been here for a week and there is so much to talk about ,so much in fact that I probably won't be able to say 1 tenth of what happened. Luckily I have my trusty journal with it all, but the flight was good, we left the mtc at 5 in the morning ,meaning that we needed to wake up by 3:30. By the way, this mexican keybopard is completely different,so my typing will be even worse. but we almost didn't get on a shuttle to the airport.
We flew out and landed in Phoenix, in Phoenix airport we caught our plane to Mexico. It took us a while to leave, and the flight was like 3 and a half hours or something. we had to fill out these immigration forms and I honestly had no idea what I was doing, alot of it was in Spanish and I really can't speak Spanish very well. We landed and the mission President and the AP's picked us up. We headed to the mission home where we dropped off all of our stuff and them we headed to the Presidents house. We had echiladas verdes which were bom, made by his wife. All 15 spent the night in the mission home and the next day we met our comps.
My comps name is Elder Mathis and he's an awesome guy. He doesnt talk to much but nonetheless he is really good at spanish and he's like 8 inches smaller than me. I'm actually like the tallest person in all the city, not really, but I'm always looking over these small mexicans. The people here are amazing, they are so ready to accept the gospel, and if you know how to use your words right, you can always get another visit, in fact one lady was saying that she hated Americans and that she didn't believe that babies are innocent, nonetheless we got a second cita with her (cita is date). We took a taxi to our house and I unloaded everything I have, our house is pretty shotty but it is one of the best views of the city possible which means that we have to climb a mother hill every time we go back to our apartment. There is like no food in it and its always cold , but nonetheless it's home.
Believe it or not I already have athlete's foot. Within 2 days I got it. For that reason I hate mexico, but I'm in an area called contreras dos which is placed on a side of a mountain. The higher up you get in the city the more poor the people are and the people in my area are really poor. I literally had no idea how blessed I was until I left the MTC. Like is hard here for the people. Always having to earn their living and no one here is richer than me. There are a few areas with really really really nice houses, but for the most part everything is made of cement and brick, houses are stacked 3 high and no one has a front door. They live in little communities with like 4 -7 families and there is always like 6 living in each house. The member love to have the missionaries over for dinner, we are booked for the next 3 weeks, which means that we don't have time to eat at the taquerias, the little taco shops. Everything here is really cheap. its like 20 cents to ride the micros(bus) and like 2 bucks for taxis. 3 dollars can stuff two elders full of tacos, and the graffiti here is redic, I have never seen so much graffiti, and people.
The streets are jammed full of people, all walking around and driving. Every other car is a taxi and the rest are micros. Micros are like little busses. We take them everywhere, because our area is pretty big. We take a lot of buses, taxis and micros, and the subway a lot, which makes it hard to learn the city, because there is always a need to take the micros. as far as the food goes, I love it, it's exactly what I wanted for mission food. Sometimes its a little fatty or too many bones for my taste. but its really good. people here don't eat dinner or breakfast, they just have one really really big lunch at like 3. being on the side of a hill is tough, I gained 12 pounds in the MTC and now I'm losing it fast, but it takes a lot out of me. The micros are always full of people and you sometimes have to stand for 1.30 minutes at a time on the micros. The drivers here are crazy, in that sense though, they are really good, because they can do stuff with cars that I would not dream of. every car here is a stick shift bug too, haha, but things are going great. All of mexico is doing this thing where you focus less on baptisms, but focus more on making the inactive come to church, because 70% are inactive here. There are so many catholics is ridiculous as well. You have to be very careful with your words to make sure you get another visit. My favorite lesson yet was in the back of a tienda, or a little store. ( there are these little tiendas, everywhere, I mean everywhere, all selling the same thing coke products. Coke here is like air in eugene, but we taught the first lesson to a investigator. The language is harder than I thought. I can't hardly understand anything that people say or when they talk to me I really can't understand. They talk lightning fast and everything. I know really common frases like where do you live, how much does it cost and who's turn is it to say the pray, but what they teach you in the MTC is nothing like what it is here. People have no mercy with the language. Your not allowed to speak english, but if you really have to you can. So all I can really do is testify, and the people here love to hear me give the prayers. I always get called to give the prayer. They love to here me struggle.
Church was awesome. It was fast and testimony meeting and unlike the United States as soon as the counselor is done talking,half the congregation gets up to bear their testimony. Ididn't even know what was happening before it was to late to introduce myself. No one drinks the water here and in fact drinking water is a pain because it means that you have to use the bathroom, and as a missionary it's harder than you think to find a bathroom. You drink only that which you need to survive here because everything that is drinkable is in bottles. there is no water pressure here either so every toilet clogs every time and you have to throw the toilet paper away instead of flush it. which sucks and stinks literally. There are no plungers either so you have to get creative with water buckets. Sorry for those who didn't want to hear that last part.
We have to take micros all over the city, and its a pain because no one has cars here in the city. So everyone takes the micros. there is also like a smog covering the whole city although I'm at like the highest part of the whole city, I can only see maybe 1 sixteenth of it. speaking of which. the city is massive, I really mean massive, unlike anything I have ever seen before. It's takes 3 hours to drive across the city no joke. It's 2.30 trip to the temple which we get to do once a year. oh yeah church. in Priesthood, they had people come up and give blessings to the sick.
In Priesthood meeting, I saw like 4. I participated in one with some other elders on a comp exchange and I gave my first one in spanish to my comp who asked for one. I've been sick since the MTC with a cold. Our house isn't the cleanest and especially not the city so its hard to fight it off. It took me a while to get used to pesos. The peso is about 1 /13th of the dollar and its like 1 peso for a gumball here. My mission President is hilarious and really nice. He's strict in the things that we can't do like listen to any music whatsoever and a few other things. but on the micros sometime there is american stations playing like 94.5 that I love to listen to. I'm not a big city kind of person and it's hard to deal with its compactness, but I love the sounds here. All day and all night long you can here dogs barking and chickens crowing. There is a dog like every other foot here. None of them are spaded or nudered so they just go around and multiply. There is garbage every where and sometimes like 2 feet high of garbage. The people are so funny in the way when compared to Americans, because they are so nice and they never get to see gueros or gringos, which means white boys. People are always looking at me for how tall i am ( believe it or not) and how white I am and the fact that I'm wearing a shirt and tie. People call us gueros all the time but it really isn't that offensive, at least I don't take offense to it, that and girls that are like 18 or 17 here are always looking at you and smiling, but they all look like there 13 here. One family investigator we had had a daughter that was 18 and she looked at me the whole time. In fact the girl sitting next to me right now is staring at me, I'm not sure if its because I'm white or because I type like 50 times fasters than the people here do.
In the midst of all this ranting about how bad the city is, I absolutely love it. I love the mexican people and it's an honor to be in the city with them. I love how hard my mission is, it's exactly what I needed to learn how blessed I am. Life is just hard here and that's normal, but I love my comp my apartment, my area, my call, I love the food and how cheap everything is here. I love my view from our balcony and the fact that there is no embarrassment anymore because your on your mission with no social life. I miss american food though. It's just not the same as a good burger, but I feel the spirit and the help of the Lord do things that I would not be able to do especially with the language. I cant understand anything but the Lord helps me keep my courage up to talk to people. I cant wait to come home and talk with Maria and Ellie and whoever else I know that can speak spanish. oh an most important, make sure Ashley hears this part. that one night at like 9.30 we walked past this dance party dinner thing and they were playing the song moli moli from the chipmunks adventure. I smiled for the next 5 days. I love the shops on the side of the roads, and the fact that I'm the only person who doesn't where a coat here. because it really isn't that cold, they just like there mexican warmth. We got the chance to watch the Christmas devotional in spanish, so I didn't understand but I could still feel the spirit. I miss everyone and its so hard to think of how awesome my life was back home, but I love it here and there is nothing that would make me come home early.
I love you all and will talk to you all in a week. <
love,
Elder Ordway
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)