Week 12 (Anáhuac, Mexico)

I am doing great, my week has been going great too. I have learned so much, we have done a lot of walking because a lot of investigators are not home during the day, they go to Cuauhtémoc for work.

They do celebrate Halloween a bit. It is nothing like at home but the parents take their kids to the main street where all the stores are and they trick or treat in the stores. A lot of kids just wore masks and rode around on their bikes.

The time change has been so nice, that extra hour was perfect. The time here is exactly the same as in Utah. It has gotten colder here too but probably not even close to what it is there. I am usually good wearing the cardigan that you guys sent me and I usually only need it after the sun goes down.

 This is Elder McKay my old zone leader.

Thanks for the birthday wish and the birthday card picture haha . Thanks for sending me a package, I have not received it yet but it is probably in the mission home. Anything that you guys send me is good, but for the future lots of granola bars and NutriGrain bars anything of that manner would be good.  I love the candy but I can't snack when in the on it because no sugary treats after seven o clock and we get to the house at nine at night.

The new missionaries are great. There is Elder Garivay from Mexico somewhere he is nice but I don't understand a lot of what he says, but he is our district leader and he seems pretty cool. Elder Babb is from Utah, from the Provo area and he is brand new so I get to help him out now, and I know just enough Spanish to roughly translate things for him and help him out.  He came into the MTC knowing no Spanish what so ever and his accent right now is kind of funny but he is doing well.

I have been having a great time, it has been such a great experience. For me it isn't really about the results, I am happy as long as I am working hard, doing all that I can to be a good missionary and I know that even if the people don't get baptized I have planted a seed.

Luz and Manuel have kind of stopped progressing, they say they know the church is true they just don't want to change. Last week we went with the zone leaders and taught them a lesson (about the gospel, the way I wrote it sounds like we punished them or beat them up haha). Luz said she will get baptized if Manuel is baptized because she has seen the way that he has changed. and Manuel just doesn't want to be baptized and go to church because he owns a tortilleria and doesn't want to take a break on Sundays and he know it would be bad or hypocritical of him to do so, well this is what we have come to believe.

He says that he will be baptized if he gets an answer. But the lesson was crazy, he got a blessing to receive an answer and he got a great powerful feeling he said, and the zone leader then did this: he said do you believe that god can speak to you through the scriptures? And Manuel said yes. so the zone leader flipped through the scriptures and told Manuel to tell him when to stop. they stopped randomly somewhere in the third Nephi I can't remember and neither can my companion but I think chapter seven.  And it talks about how having a hard heart is bad or something of that manner and Manuel said ya, I think maybe that is me. And maybe I need to change. So we asked him if he wants to be baptized and he said no. So we are not sure what to do we are kind at a dead end.

 These are all of the missionaries that were in Anáhuac with me.

There is always something keeping me busy here in the mission and it is easy to just get lost in the work.

The weather here has also gotten a bit chilly, it has been pretty windy the past two days but I only need a light jacket every once and a while.

The rules are strange but lots of them are easy to follow.  Some are actually good, like the candy rule, I would be eating candy like crazy if it weren't controlled.  And the soda rule I like that a lot because I don't want to get hooked on the stuff because from what I hear the soda here is amazing.

I had a coke one time in an investigators house, he was a drunk old man and he asked his daughter to bring us something to drink she brought us some coke and my comp and I looked at each other and my comp said in English that we can't because it is soda and I nodded because I knew.  The drunk guy saw that we weren't drinking and said something like what my food isn't good enough for you? Do you not trust me? Something like that and my comp looked to me wide eyed and said drink it! It was actually a funny experience we were never scared or felt that we were in danger, we were there trying to speak with the daughter who was like 30 or so but the coke was nasty and flat. But the rules have been good and I realize they are for my benefit and health and am fine with them.

The language has improved so much I am able to understand a whole lot more. I feel like I can almost always at least pick out the main idea of what is happening. I still talk like a bit of a caveman but in time I will improve.

Love

Elder Blanchard

Week 11 (Anáhuac, Mexico)

Things have been going well, it has been a bit tough because a lot of the people are not ever in their homes or they are too busy at the time to hear our message and our area is big so we spend a lot of time walking from house to house. I have gotten a crazy tan because we are in the sun so much. I have a line on my neck where my collar always is and my watch has left its mark too.

This last week we baptized a little girl named Alejandra and it is crazy how much their family has changed. Her parents were less actives but now they come every week and they are all so happy.

 

My shoes are still in perfect condition no problems, they just get really dirty during the week but when I shine them Sunday morning they look brand new.

Luckily I didn't get transferred, my companion didn't either. Elder McGavin and his companion got transferred and it is sad to see them go, but hopefully the new missionaries will be good.

I am so lucky to have hot water and I am so happy that I don't have to worry about that. We would have to wring out our laundry and hang it up to dry but we decided it is easier to pay like 3 or 4 bucks to get it done at a laundromat which is so much faster and easier. 

I think we do get to see Meet the Mormons, I have no idea how or when but we got an email from the mission office about it so I guess we will find out soon.

It sounds like you guys have been eating a lot of Mexican food lately haha. The Mexican food here is great but when they try and do an American thing it is not so great. I haven't been too fond of the spaghetti but its edible, and the mayonnaise they don't use it very often but when they do they use tons of it. But if I don't like something I usually just put tons of beans and rice on it.

We can only have like four tortillas but that one is only if there is a lot of other food if not we can have all that we want. And we can have cold cereal for breakfast just no cereal with sugar. I had cornflakes at first and I just threw in a banana and it was really good. And this week I tried another cereal like honey bunch of oats but with cranberries that was really good. The one that sucks is that we can only eat sugar between 11am and 7pm which sucks because at night I just want to eat the chocolate. There are a bunch of weird rules I will have to send you a picture of the list we got.

Love Elder Blanchard

Week 10 (Anáhuac, Mexico)

This week went well. Most of the time people were not in their houses or too busy for us, but there is a little ten year old girl named Alejandra that is excited to be baptized on Saturday. I could baptize her but I decided not to because there is a rule that you only get one or two baptisms in your area and I would like to baptize someone I know a bit better I just haven't known the language enough to get to know her that well. They have this rule because they want the members to  fellowship the recent converts and having them baptize the person just adds one more friend for them to fall back on. Luz and Manuel are the ones like Abuelita and Abuelito, they didn't have any desire at all before but now they are warming up to the idea of being baptized.

I haven't really had difficult times or been too frustrated it is tough to do because I am just kind of lost in the work I guess or maybe it is just too early. But I have been really enjoying it.

Attitude does play a big role in missionary work. Luckily I am surrounded by positive people who are always looking to  uplift and help others. I got the giant package of goodies this week and that has added to the happiness, there was so much food.

We don't really do much on p-days, there aren't many sites to see here in Anáhuac, and not a lot of time. We usually wake up study, clean, shower, then take our clothes to Cuauhtémoc to be washed, we go to the bank, go to write, eat at subway, and go to any stores we need (clothes, food etc,) after this we go to the church where we have district meetings. in the meetings we role play and are taught lessons from preach my gospel. And after we help clean the church.

We don't really have a lot of time because the mission presidents cut down the p day time it ends at four instead of the time everywhere else in the world. It isn't that big of a deal to me we get everything done that we need to, and I have heard that other missionaries in other areas do hikes every once and a while. And it's hard because our clothes and stuff are in Anáhuac a half an hour away, and we wouldn't have a place to shower or anything which would be uncomfortable because we have meetings after.

Thank you for the package. I really like the ties that you sent me thanks, and wow there is so much candy haha thanks. I was able to pick it up on Tuesday but I don't know when it arrived at the mission home probably a bit earlier but I don't know.

 Sunday was the same as last week it was good. I didn't understand a lot but it was good. we do have Sunday dinners, it switched off between the bishop and one of his councilors. Yesterday we ate breaded chicken legs, beans, and spaghetti.

We eat a lot of meat and its really good but there's nothing like a good steak. But I can't complain with the food. Lots of chicken and potatoes covered in spicy sauces. Luckily the food hasn't been too picante. I am able to eat it all with ease. The beans and juice help take the spiciness down a notch too so that is good. I have eaten a lot of spaghetti here, which is surprising, they have some different red sauce but it is still good.

The weather has been pretty good here too, a bit hot at times but it is cooling down. It is really sunny and at the beginning of this week I noticed the tan lines on my neck and arms, a perfect like on my neck haha. I miss the colors of the leaves of fall, here they are green which is good but it's nothing like the colors of home.

We were able to kind of fix our bikes, well for now. We just filled his tire with air at a gas station and we return every time it gets low. We have tried taking it to the bike repairing guys house but he hasn't been home for a while. I need to fix my bike up too because it is stuck on a low gear and I have to pedal a ton without moving very much or very fast.

Transfers haven't happened yet I don't think they will happen for a couple of weeks but I am almost positive that I will not move, and most people with me won't change either only a few will be transferred.

 This is my district: (Top Left) Elder Garcias from Salt Lake City, Elder Maldonado, me, Elder Ante  (bottom right) Sister Cohou ,Sister Hurst.

Today after I write we are going to head to the store and look for sweaters and jackets and ties, and I will probably buy a jump rope to stay fit, and some more flip flops. We have been browsing around and the prices for good quality clothes actually aren't too bad.

I will have to check out that restaurant when I get back because I will probably be missing the Mexican food. On one of the p-days we want to try and go to the elders in our districts apartment where they will teach us how to make some bread, using a recipe that they learned from a member. They brought the bread to an activity and it was really good and they say it is easy to make.

We always try to leave with a spiritual thought and a scripture. We usually switch off doing it. I usually share Alma 26:12 and I would talk a bit about how I needed god to help me learn the language and that I couldn't rely on myself. But now we are overlapping on families so I will have to find new scriptures to share. It is  good to do this because it helps my Spanish and also leaves the family with some good thoughts.

It is crazy how we take it for granted all of the temples next to our house. Here they bake food during young mens and young womens that they sell to make money to take a trip to the temple.

Thanks for all of the support back home hope you guys have a good week.

Love  Elder Blanchard