Chicken foot soup blah!!!

This week was pretty good my comp and I worked with the other missionaries and had a Talent Night in the ward that was super fun. This last Friday as well I got the chance to eat pata de pollo or chicken foot and apparently it is rare to get it because the other missionaries that we eat with both have 3 months left in the mission and they said it was the first time they ever had it. Honestly it wasn't that bad, the flavor was fine, and if you like to eat flesh and ligaments this is the perfect thing to eat. I ate the whole thing and was totally fine, but my comp and one of the other missionaries couldn't eat it. With these other missionaries my comp and I are helping them to find a new house that is better and doesn't have a crazy dueña. So the other day we talked with some members from our ward and they said they have an apartment open where they live so we went to check it out. After looking at it for awhile we went to the roof to see the boiler and when we got there, there was a dead cat that looked like it caught fire and died. I have some photos or it and will send some so you can see it. Ok so my comp is the district leader and ever Sunday we have to go report our numbers to the Zone leaders. They pretty much told me I have a 95% chance of being changed this net cycle which I was already sure of, but I will find out if I do have changes this Saturday. Other than that not much has been going on.

 

1st transfer!!!!

Changes coming up and I'm going to leave my first area finally and I have been here almost 6 months. Changes are on the 29th and of course I have no idea where they will send me, but I'm ready to leave this area and meet new people and try to find more people to teach. I have had a ton of fun in this area with both of my comps and have learned a ton in the last 6 months here in Mexico. This last Saturday we had an activity in the church to help us find news and get referrals from the members. We made a little visitors center with a bunch of pictures of Jesus Christ and other things and contacted a ton of people outside of the church to get people to come in through this visitors center and teach a little so that we could find some that where interested in taking the discussions from us. My comp did this in his last area and it had a ton of success and they found a good amount of people that wanted to listen so that's why we decided to do it again, but here. Honestly it went pretty bad and we didn't get any news and the people outside were very rude. This is how it would go down, " Good morning how are you doing? Well we have a little visitor center going on here in the church to get to know a little bit more about us and it's super fast and will only take 5-10 minutes." A lot of these people would either keep walking and not look at us, say they didn't have time, or when we went to shake their hand would jump out of the way and start to laugh as if we had some disease. As well as we didn't get that much help from the members which really hurt us. After all of this it bugged me a little because we didn't get the help of the members and the people in the street were rough, but in these moments I always remember Jesus Christ and how he was the Son of God and people still rejected him, laughed at him, spat on him, and later killed him. I had a good time though with this activity and it helped me practice my Spanish. 

Sick really we have had a bunch of people get sick with influenza here and it has been going around, but luckily my comp and I haven't been sick yet.  Oh my word I have an investigator that is 14 and she has the same face as Madison and almost the same attitude. It is the Mexican version of Maddy for real. Anyways I love you all and hope that you just having a blast.

Crazy lady spilled the rice!!!

Success is finally coming after 6 months of people not progressing and struggling to find new people to teach my comp and I have had three baptisms and we are working with others to get to that point. Sorry I couldn't write yesterday I didn't get any time so I'm writing today. First off HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABE!!!!!! I hope you had a great birthday and had tons of fun I love you so much and send you my love all the way from Mexico. I'm doing pretty good and I am learning a lot everyday. It's crazy that Gabe is 13 now everybody is getting so big and a lot is changing back at home it's a little weird because I will have 8 months in the mission on the 22nd of this month and it still feels like I just left. 

So in our area we have this really crazy lady that has something wrong with her head, but she acts normal every once in awhile. The other day we had a little ward party and she was there with her daughter and she wanted to help with the arroz con leche or rice with milk. So she put about 15 cups of this arroz con leche on a tray and started to pass it around, but the hermano said it wasn't time yet so she put the tray on a chair. The hermano told her to take the tray back to the kitchen, but when she picked up the tray it caught the edge of the chair and fell all over the floor it was pretty funny. This Crazy lady has also yelled in my face multiple times and for other white missionaries she tells them that they are the father of her kid and one time she said to me, "I have my papers I have my paper to go to the US!!" This lady is bonkers, but she is one person I will never forget.

Time of our lives!

Wow sounds like you guys are having the time of your lives back at home meeting with the VP, Church leaders, the Secret Service, new jobs, and Pro basketball games. And it's all happening after I left oh well. I'm pretty sure I will have changes on the 29th of March because this is my first area and I have been here almost 6 months and Pres doesn't like to keep missionaries in the same area for more than 6 months, but we will see how that goes. Ok a little story about my comp. The first day we were together and got to the house he pulled out a rubix cube and started to play with it. Later he asked if I knew how to solve it and of course I didn't so he taught me. Apparently there is a place down here that sells every cube known to man and over the past few weeks he has bought a ton because he really likes them and I bought a few just for fun. That's so cool with Kyall and her job and really she has a bigger office and she gets to go to Indiana how lucky is she. Dad to getting to talk to the Secret Service guys and some of them are in the Air-force and of course I know dad got a big kick out of that. Congrats dad with your reward that is super cool. I'm still trying to learn the guitar and it's going alright the problem I have is moving my fingers fast enough and with ease because right now it's like I have claw síndrome. 

Ok mom apparently when you send packages they have certain qualifications because if they don't meet the Presidents wife has to pay for the package to get here. Continue with the USPS, but it needs to be $49 or less to be free for the mission because if it is more the mission has to pay and they don't want to do that so it will come all the way here to Mexico and go back to the US. I love you all and well it looks like your week has just been a blast and awesome.

-Elder Wolford      

Baptism!!!

Oh my goodness what a week and Eli really that's how you break your wrist jumping over one of your friends at school I thought you would have broken it playing volleyball or something. Well this week was good we got some new people to teach and I had my first baptism last Saturday and it was super awesome because he is the boyfriend of a less active and she brought him to church one day and said that he is interested in learning about the church and how she wants to come to church more often as well, but I got to baptize him on Saturday. They have plans to get married and get married in the temple so that's super cool. My comp and I are doing really well in our area and we are starting to have a lot of success and finding people that are interested in learning more. I was talking with another missionary in my zone yesterday about missionary work and living up to your potential and seeing where you were before and where you are now. It was awesome talking to this Elder because I have known him since I've been here and he is a great example to me, but as we were talking we got on the subject of how difficult it is to see your own progress. He told me that he still feels the same and he has 5 months left, but his family keeps telling him that he is totally different and that's when I thought to my self a little bit. It really is true you can't really see your progress until after someone tells you or you take the time to evaluate. I meet a guy in the street the other night and he asked where I was from in some what English and I told him Utah. He smiled and said, "I live there for 10 years." and yes he said live, but after talking with him for awhile I realized that I could speak better Spanish only having 5 months in Mexico than his English for being in the US for 10. I am truly being blessed. With the same Elder we talked about the importance of reading the scriptures. Honestly before the mission I hardly read the scriptures in fact I hardly read because I wasn't a big fan. I would rather watch tv, play video games, hangout with my friend, etc than read in the scriptures. I want to tell you now that the scriptures should be and are the #1 priority before anything else. It gives us the protection we need throughout the day and here in the mission it is one of my favorite things to do because I learn so much more and I love reading because I find things I can use for me and for my investigators. I enjoy the scriptures and it helps me to know who Jesus Christ is so that when he comes I will be able to recognize him. It is important to read everyday and apply it to your lives to help you become better. As I was reading the other day a chapter in the Book of Mormon really helped me a ton in was 2 Nephi 4  I really liked verses 30-33. Anyways nothing to crazy happened here this week except today while my comp and I were walking a semi-truck drove right past us and one of the tires popped and it sounded like a gun shot so I jumped a little and my comp and I were laughing pretty hard about it. I love you guys and hope that all is well except Eli breaking his wrist like a dill-weed.

-Elder Wolford  

Tarzan and Nintendo 64

Hey what's going on?

Sorry I haven't written in a long time it's because last Monday we got back late from a place called the Baños de Neza and by the time we got back we went straight to our meeting which was with Pres because he wanted to interview everybody. This week has been crazy too because they are reopening one of our areas and putting two new missionaries here  so we had to find an apartment for them before Tuesday and our leaders told us to cancel all our appointments until we find one. It took almost 1 whole day to find one that was not out of budget. We also had a bunch of lessons and service this week, like my comp and had to clean the baptismal font because we had our first baptism this last Saturday it was a little girl named Cora and she is the granddaughter of a member so we got permission from her parents to get baptized. I did get my package I got it last Monday and it was super awesome especially in the letter that Maddy sent that said I want you to have a crappy birthday because I want you to miss me and also that she said her volleyball team wants to date me when I get back that should be fun. Last Monday as well we were in a little bus on our way home and there was a ton of police cars and an ambulance in the street next to us and that's when I say two people dead in the middle of the street because the cops were taking pictures and looking around the scene, so that was no cool, but I saw it. I'm staying in my area still with Elder Martinez and we have some people that are looking like they will enter into the waters of baptism, but we are still working with them and now this cycle our area is becoming smaller again which cuts off some of our investigators, but not all. I meet a missionary here that is going to the St. George mission he had some problems with his visa as well. Other than that not much is happening here other than today I found the Tarzan game for the Nintendo 64. I love you all and hope that this week will be a good one for you.

-Elder Wolford

I can't make dirty pudding

So this week has been a little different because Pres gave us three days out of the week to go to the temple and do a session, but we had to work on Monday because the three days we could go where yesterday today and tomorrow. Anyways a lot has happened like I was in the hospital for 24 with another Elder because he had something wrong with his brain and Pres needed someone to spend the night because his comp had slept there the night before so I happily volunteered. I can kinda play one song now on the guitar and I will try to send you a video of me playing when I get it down a little bit better. That's so cool that you got to meet Cody and go to a Jazz game it seems that the blessings are coming now that I'm out of the house. Tell Kyall that one of my friends from high school is going to Calgary Canada Feb 17th and I told her to get in contact with her. We have a baptism not this Saturday, but the next one and it's a little girl and she is 9 years old has a boyfriend and likes to drink coffee so we had to teach her a little bit about that. We are also teaching a family that is very similar to our family they have two older daughters and three younger brothers and they are super cool. One day in Gospel Principals our investigator was in the class with us and the teacher started to teach a little apostasy and she made a commit and told this guy what was right. It was pretty funny. Oh yeah the other day my comp and I were in a micro which is pretty much a bus, but anyway as we were on our way home I looked out the window and saw a man up ahead, but he looked funny for some reason. As we got closer it became more clear he was bending over and his pants were on the ground with his butt facing the bus and my comp and I looked at each other and started to laugh. So I got some Christmas cards this week from the Day family, Gradma-B, Aunt Ashley as well as the birthday card from them and the package from the Wilsons which had everything inside and was super awesome because it had a bunch of goodies a boss book and a byu t-shirt. I still don't know if I have the package waiting in the offices or if it hasn't come yet, but I think my comp and I are going to check soon. Spanish is coming and I still can't find pudding so that blows because I can't make dirty pudding yet. Well that's pretty much it I love you all so much and hope you have a wonderful week.

-Elder Wolford