Week 16 (Anáhuac, Mexico)

The work is going well, we have some zone leaders that are pushing everyone to the limit. everyone says that they have never worked so hard. there has been a lot of work and a lot of success. they are trying to make a stake here in Cuauhtémoc.

Throughout the day on Thanksgiving we just went around the city hanging up posters and stapling fliers to telephone poles. The fliers and posters are for the church video that is coming out 'He is the Gift'. There is a bunch of promotion that is going on for this video so that is what we got to do on Thanksgiving. The goal of the church is to help people remember the true meaning of Christmas and get people to look beyond the material aspects of Christmas.

During the day for Thanksgiving, all I could think about was the pies, rolls, and mashed potatoes. For Thanksgiving dinner we were given enchiladas (which was some corn tortillas covered in the red chile colorado sauce filled with cheese) some beans, rice with green chile in it and also some orchata with jello for dessert. It was no Thanksgiving dinner but it was really good.

Sounds like you are keeping busy with the temple. It has been forever since I went last it would be nice to go again.

It has been warm here too but only during the days. It is perfect weather but I have to carry around my jacket and sweater all day because it gets way cold when the sun goes down.

Wow the Christmas tree is up already?  I haven't seen a lot of Christmas decorations or heard a lot of music so it doesn't feel like it is time for the holidays. But the time is going so fast I can't believe it has already been Thanksgiving and Halloween.

This week was crazy I slept in a house other than mine starting Tuesday until Sunday night when I got to go home. During this time I worked with a bunch of different people. I worked with Elder Moyle for a bit (he is from Utah and went to Olympus and played soccer with Pulani). We walked a ton because we were both assigned to work in someone else's area that was very far away. He is a district leader and we had to find someone to do a baptismal interview. Luckily we ended up finding the house after walking around forever in the dark, and the interview was a success I think the guy is getting baptized next week.

I also worked with another guy named Elder Hogan, he is from Herriman Utah and played rugby. We were both assigned to work in some area that was also very far away, we had to take a bus and walked for like 20 minutes and only had time for one lesson. the lesson went well but the guy had both of his babies during the lesson and they kept crying and made it hard for him to pay attention.

On Saturday we were at the church in Cuauhtémoc because there were two little kids that were going to be baptized. The mom and the dad both showed but to the baptism with their kids but only the mom was a member. They had interviewed the dad at the beginning of the week and everything was good with the guy he only didn't have the desire to be baptized. So before the baptism the district leader who was there named Elder Vyke (from Utah, played soccer at West Jordan) and I talked with this guy to see what the deal was. Elder Vyke shared a few scriptures and told the guy about eternal families and how this was the way to achieve that and during this time the kids were begging prodding and pleading with him to get baptized. He decided to be baptized with his kids and the kids went crazy they were all excited and happy. It was a cool experience to see.

The other day I helped Elder Hogan and his companion Elder Minquiz (from somewhere in Mexico) move houses. There boiler was broken so they had no hot water. we had to carry a washing machine like six blocks, it wasn't bad there were just no hand holds and it was slippery and when we got to the apartment we had to carry it up two flights of stairs.

Today we played soccer again but this time it was with a few more people from the other zone. It was fun but both of the balls that we had popped so we weren't able to play for as long but it was fun.

I wasn't able to go to the church in Anáhuac on Sunday because I was in Cuauhtémoc all day and went to church there. elder Maldonado said that all of the members were asking about me which was pretty cool to hear. We are both pretty good friends with the members but this last week I just never saw any of them. We don't really do any more service than washing our dishes after we eat because they never want any help with anything.

Sorry no pictures this week, never had any time to take out the camera, I will try to get some for next week.

Love Elder Blanchard