June 24, 2011

The baptism of Brian and Vanessa with Elders Malan and Baez

Hey Mom,

I'm doing really well. We are already in the 5 week of the change and Pres. and Hermana Nancollas leave today! So that is kind of weird. As for the new pres., I still haven't met him. We get to meet him this Friday. We have interviews and a meeting with him. So I hope it goes good. And I haven't heard anything about the mission address changing. I don't think that it will change from what I know. So I think with the one we have right now will be fine. So don't worry about it. This week went decently for us. We had a hard time finding new people but at the end we got one new person in church. Her name is Juana and she is Christiana so she is a little crazy. They do weird things in that church. But we had two baptisms yesterday of the kids, Brian and Vanessa. They were really excited about their baptisms so it went good. I baptized Vanessa and Elder Baez baptized Brian. And his name is Victor, mom. Not Jesus. Jesus is the dude that talks to me in English all the time. But Victor wasn't able to be baptized. He is still struggling with the cigarros. And cigarros, mom, are cigarettes. Just so you don't get confused. Cigarros are the Spanish word for them. About the marriages, when you know people, mom, you get benefits, haha. But she isn't a member from what I have heard. But I don't know for sure. I am glad to hear that your birdies are safe and sound there in the house. haha Hopefully they will keep growing so they can fly one day. That is a bummer that you can't go to president's homecoming. But I'm sure they wouldn't mind going out to dinner or something like that. You will just have to talk to them about that. How long are you guys going to be in the DR and when do you leave? Are you going to visit Ethan or what? If you do give my boy the shout out from Mexico. When we were meeting with Pres. Nancollas, he said we want to hear from all of you after you are done with the mission. And Elder Malan, you have no excuse not to talk to us. You live really close and if you don't, I'll come hunt you down! haha It was a little scary when he said that. haha Then as for Jesus and his kid, they couldn't go to church yesterday. Jesus had to go to work and his wife won't let the kid come to church. She is a Nazi. haha She doesn't want to listen to us either. As for his English, I can understand, but I have to listen hard. I would rather just speak English with him because it's easier for the both of us. haha Then for suits, I like having two, but I think you could live with one. I just like to change it up cause the suit will get really dirty. And speaking of dirty, the rainy season has started here. It has rained four days straight and usually during this time it rains everyday, like in the afternoon. On Friday it rained pretty hard. I was surprised how hard it rained and my comp said that is nothing compared to Veracruz. So I'm glad I'm here. And mom, I just use an umbrella. I don't think a coat would work as well. As for the sweater, we can't wear unless we wear a suit so I don't really ever wear a sweater and it usually doesn't get that cold. Then for my other clothes, they are doing good. I like having 12 shirts cause they don't really get dirty cause I change them out everyday. And socks, I'm still doing good, too. Also my shoes are doing good. The shoes last a lot longer if you change them out every other day like I have been doing. I have seen some Elders that have the same time as me and only use one pair of their shoes and they are beat up. How did the relay go for you on 25th Street? I don't know how you would do that, but I hope it went good. And yes, you are wimps. You should have stuck out the whole night! As for Independence Day, we won't do anything. It doesn't mean anything here in Mexico. The Independence Day here in Mexico is on the 15th of September so that day will be really crazy. Everyone will be partying and drinking. They change the law of fireworks now because they know I'm not there to cause damage. haha I'm glad to hear that your lesson went well. The Ultima Cena is special for that we go to the church every Sunday to take the sacrament. It's important that we do that. Now I will explain a little bit about last week. We didn't have a great week, but we had the baptisms and we had someone new in church. This week we are working with a family of three that we are trying to help get to the waters of baptism. The are cool. I just hope that they can take this decision and do it because this is what will bring the real happiness. We hope to find more people this week to bring to church so they can know the true church. Yesterday, we were outside of a bank and a Jehovah's Witness came and talked to us. Man that dude is confused. He knew a lot of scriptures, but when we were right he switched the subject like that. haha It's not good to argue though. I thought of something cool to say the next time someone wants to argue. So I will let you know how it goes when I use it and it's not saying anything bad either. That's the best part and it punks the homie. haha But here we are doing good. Today we played soccer and it was fun. I'm sore now though. I haven't played like that for a little bit. Now it's time to go and rest a little bit. It's crazy we are almost in July. And the United States lost in soccer against Mexico. All the people in the church let me know that haha. They know I like soccer, but we will get them the next time. Well the church is true. Even though Joseph Smith's name doesn't come in the bible. haha Poor people with their hard hearts.

Well I love you, take care!

Elder Malan