October 17, 2011

Hey mom,
It's good to hear from you once again! Here we are doing ok. Me and my comp are getting along better. I guess here in the mission a lot of companionships are having tough times together. So we aren"t the only ones haha. President must want us to learn something from it. Church went ok. Magdalena came again. She still doesn't want to commit to baptism. So it's frustrating, but she said she liked church more this Sunday. So its a positive step. Church was good. A lady that we reactivated spoke yesterday in sacrament so it was cool.

Sounds like Ashton has a good time at work. I bet it's funny stopping the fights. little kids are crazy. so young and they are already fighting, but it's good for Ashton.

Oh and I got the package. It's sweet! Only one thing... I don't have those little pieces to shine the shoes. The little things that I put in the shoe shine stuff and then on to the shoes. And that I need mid tan and not brown. But I'll see if it works and if not oh well.  I took a little money out this last week. It works like a charm. So thanks mom. I'm stoked to eat the Skittles, Reeses, jerky and all that. Thanks. And the jerky you sent this time is better. The last time you sent like some cylindrical ones or something. They aren't so good. haha. And we put up the ghosts. So you can see some pics of that.

Now for football that's a bummer we still cant beat freaking Morgan. One day we will get em. Hopefully they can beat Grantsville. It's cool I saw the paper cut out. 4 straight Iron Horse games won. That's awesome. Then hopefully the girls can beat Park City.. I don't like them much either haha.

Now the temple I think it's in the Mexico City East mission. And no we don't get to go often  cause its outside of the mission. And we have to do missionary work and not temple work. Those are the main reasons why.

Now for investigators, it was another tough week, but we should have a baptism this Saturday. Rosa so we are excited for that one. Then yesterday we were knocking doors and we got into a house. It was a grandma her two kids then 2 grand kids. So we were like sweet!!  So we taught and they accepted everything really well. Even the 21 and 17 year old boys. So it was sweet. Then at the end of the lesson the grandma told us I wasn't going to open the door for you guys. I saw you two and I said to myself that no, but for some reason I opened the door, I don't know why. And we were like thank you Heavenly Father haha. It's sweet how the Lord touches peoples hearts. Now I just hope that they can keep progressing cause it would suck if they just said nope. But I know they felt the spirit so we will see how it goes. We started out this week a lot better than the other weeks. Now as for victor and Carla, they didn't go. They aren't very good investigators, but we don't really ever do service. That was like my third time in my mission. Everyone here is scared cause people rob them so they are scared or they just don't want to let us help them.

What kind of phone did you get mom? Is it sweet or what. Sounds like it, but you should of got the i phone!! haha Here it doesn't rain really now. We are out of the rainy season. And mom we aren't in Mexico City. We are in the estado De Mexico, not in el disrito federal. It rains more there than here. As for clothes we are doing good. Just see if you can get those little things for shining my shoes.

Hunter wrote me. He says he might come over to the house sometime. He asked me if Misti was dead. Nope she is alive and kicking it sounds like haha. Just keep Makelle's dog away from her and she will be fine. Well I'm doing ok. Today we played bowling again. It was fun. I like bowling. It was weird cause there was Jews there haha and they are way whiter than me. Well that's it for this one. I hope you are doing good. Here are some pictures. First one is me and my comp and Ricardo, he is the secretary of the ward. He is cool and always helps us out. Then the next one is the some ghosts in the window. How scary! haha Love you mom and you are the best mom.  Love you, bye!!

October 3, 2011

Hey mom! This last week went a lot better than the last couple of weeks had gone. We brought 5 people to the conference on Sunday then one to the conference on Saturday. So it went a lot better for us. It was a good relief that we finally got some people to church. It was a little easier though because it started at 11 here. But that's fine, we will see how this week goes for us going back to the 8 oclock schedule. As for my talks, I liked one that talked about time, it was a 70 on Saturday in the afternoon. It talked about how we are really quick to respond a text message or a email, but how fast are we to kneel and pray to Heavenly Father? It was a good talk. Then Pres. Monsons talk too was really good. He is way cool, and we got to watch it in English. So it was good for that reason too. its so much better in English.
As for the ZLs and the DL yes they are a lot better. They all are cool now. I have Elder Gray as one of my Zls, so he is cool. He was my dl in Prados for a change. So I like him. And yes mom we study for an hour by ourselves then an hour as comps. So it's good. I really like to read the scriptures even though sometimes I don't exactly understand what it wants to say to me. And for the priesthood session, we got there late cause we were teaching a lesson. But we watched the half of it. Now for the shoe shine boys, there aren't any. There are a couple little stands that some old guys have to shine shoes, but that is it. And like my brown shoes are a different brown so I didn't want them to screw em up.  At night we plan for the next day I write in my journal then I shower and go to bed. It's starting to get cold here during the night. These houses aren't the best for keeping heat out or cold air. They are hot or cold, depending on the weather.  I am still with my comp. so we will be together for another 6 weeks. 
Now for the people that we are teaching right now, the mom and the daughter, the daughter lives with her grandparents far away so we aren't really teaching her. But the mom is Isela. She is cool, she didn't go to the conference though so we were bummed. Then a guy named Antonio. He was a reference and man, he has a bunch of problems. His wife kicked him out of his house so he is really bummed right now and mad. So we are helping him, he went to conference and he liked it. Then we have a mom and a daughter named Mercedes and Irene. We contacted Mercedes in the street and we passed by last week, she went to conference in the afternoon session on sunday and didn't like it! She didnt understand I think thats why. She said she almost fell asleep. So we have to go get her excited about church. Then we have a lady named Magdalena. She is cool, she really liked conference and is now more interested in the church. She like the talk by Sister Dalton. Then we found out that the mom of Abril, the girl that we baptized a couple weeks ago isn't a member! She was baptized, but she never got her name and stuff taken down and in the files of the church. So we can baptize her again. We got lucky there.  Those are all the people that went to church and that we are teaching right now. Hopefully this week we can find more people.
As for Ashton, I'm glad he likes his job and that he is beatin up the little kids. That's good to hear. I only had one little fight in Shadow Valley. It was easy. I heard that dad is living more peacefully in work too. I hope it is going well for you too mom. I hoped you all enjoyed conference too and learned a lot from it. There is always so much we can learn from the talks and that's why I'm excited to read the Liahona to get all the talks and check em out. There is so much cool stuff in there.
Now here we will see how it goes these next couple weeks. I've almost got a year here in mexico! Pretty crazy where the time goes.  But isn't Spencers b day soon? Lemme know. I'm thankful for the time and effort that you give me and the support. Really its awesome having a family that is strong in the Gospel. We are receiving so many blessings for it. Keep working hard and being examples for everyone. Love you all. Take care!

October 10, 2011

Hey mom! This week was pretty tough, but we managed to get some people to church. So it was worth it. Sounds like your week was a little crazy haha. How did St George go for you? Nice and warm? I hope that you had a good time down there, and all the ward bailed on you guys? What a bummer. But at least you had a good time and enjoyed the temple. We found out that we will be going to the temple here in November. So I'm excited for that one. The temple is way cool here. How did you guys pass the time with Brent and Vicki? How are those two doing?  Hopefully good. Now for Spencer I'm gunna write him and tell him happy b day. He is getting old! 21.

Now for this week, we dropped two of the investigators. She didn't want to change so we had to let her go. It was a bummer cause the first time we visited with her she looked like she was going to progress but then she didn't. So it was a bummer, and you are right mom Satan never sleeps. He is always working on the people so they don't get baptized. That just means we have to work better and follow the spirit. Then we brought a lady named Magdalena again. She is pretty cool but she doesn't want to accept a baptismal date yet. She wants to learn more first then do it. So we will see what we can do with here. She is gunna be a sweet member if she gets baptized. Then we brought 2 more named Carla and Victor. we found these two people doing service on Saturday. So that day had gone bad, Saturday a couple of our appointments fell and we didn't really know what to do so we saw a lady there cutting her weeds. I would say grass, but it was just weeds really haha. There really isn't grass here. So we started helping her and we cut it all and Victor showed up. They are kinda dating and we started talking and then we saw Carla starting to drink some brews. haha So we talked with them for a little bit and invited them to church. They said they would come but we didn't really think that they would, but them we saw them show up on Sunday! It was cool Victor was pretty happý there. Carla was a little confused cause she had never really gone to church before, but Victor looks to be good. So we will see what happens with them.  We should have the baptism of Rosa not this Saturday but the next. So we are looking forward to that too.

Any new elders? There is one that I kinda met today. Elder Smith from Kaysville, but other than that nope. How is the snow treating you? I kinda miss the snow to be honest. Here its usually just hot and muggy. Then it rains and it gets cold. So the two just kinda suck. There really isn't an inbetween.  I dont really need a coat or jacket. It doesnt get cold during the day only during the night, but I'm fine I have clothes and blankets mom. And no I haven't used my debit card. Maybe this week I will check it out. there hasnt been anything cool to buy lately. I don't really know Johnny I think he has glasses and blonde hair, no? He will probably get here to Mexico when I'm getting ready to go home I think. So we might see eachother. We will see what happens though.

Then today we went ice skating and played bowling. I like to bowl, but here it is expensive. I don't lpaying that much for it haha. at Weber its a lot cheaper. And one elder in the district made some lasagna it was good too, not like your lasagna mom. Nothing really compares to that, but it was good. haha  It's starting to get a little colder here in the nights and mornings I like it cause its a little cooler in the day, but not much. Oh, I bought a Butterfinger and Reeses today I'm stoked for that. And, I'm jealous that Ethan has a car. That's a joke! haha Lucky him but oh well. At least my shoes are still doing good. But that's really what's going on here. We are doing better and we hope to keep improving. We can't go back down to where we once where or we didn't learn anything. I hope everyone is good and doing well. Thanks for the prayers and the letters. They really help me out a ton. Love you all. Elder Malan

September 26, 2011

Hey mom! This week went better than the last couple of weeks. Sunday we brought a mom and a daughter to church. They liked it so it went good. They don't really like going to church but we will see if they can progress or what. I hope they can. The mom is pretty cool. Her name is Isela. So we will see what happens with her. Then on Friday we found a mom her daughter and her dad. We taught lesson1 and did a good job and we said we were gunna come back saturday to teach them more and they said ok and they understood like everything! So we were really excited for them. Then we came back saturday and one of the kids answered the door and said my mom wants to give this back to you. It was the Book of Mormon with a little note, and it said we are catholics we aren't going to change religion, we worship the virgin. Man it sucked really bad! I was really bummed. I don't like it when people feel the spirit, understand the message then they reject it! It's always such a bummer for me. So that was the bad or sad part of the week.

Then changes are this next monday. So we will se what happens.  Then as for conference this week, we will be able to watch it. I don't think that we will be able to watch it in english this time though. That's how we did it the last time in Prados. They had a room for us and it was in english. But I can just wait for the Liahona and I will have all the time to read them and study them. And for Pres Call, he is cool. He is a really spiritual guy. He's a lot different than Pres. Nancollas but they are two different people and good at what they do. And we are pretty close to the offices, like 15 minutes away in taxi. 35 minutes in the combi. And as for washing yes we wash clothes with a hermana. She lets us use her washer then we just hang up the clothes to dry for a couple of hours. That's how we do it. Some of those socks are mine. The other ones are my comps.  Really nobody here has a dryer, only the washer cause they hang up their clothes.

Now last weekend sounds exicting! Going to concerts and gunshows and all that stuff. Dad said you were rocking out a little too much mom, but thats fine, cause you were with dad and not me haha. I'm glad you like the womens conference. I'm really excited for conference this week end. Last year we were in the MTC for this conference. I almost have a year in Mexico! Crazy stuff huh.

Now the centro is like the center part of the city. And DF or Mexico City is like 40 minutes away. Here there are a lot of different ways for transport, they have trains buses cars a lot of things. It's crazy cause sometimes in the buses they are like all packed in and sticked out the opening doors. It's cool. I like it. And thats crazy that Ben and Israel are already going home! It seems like yesterday I was at their house saying bye. That's cool though I'm excited for them. I told Israel he could come over and talk to me on Christmas if that's cool with you mom. Now the mosquitos, they are somtimes there sometimes not. It depends. When it's cold no, and when its really hot no. But when its like right now they are there sometimes. And they always go for my ears! But I kill em haha sometimes.  I'm glad that your class is going good mom. You will have a break for this week so enjoy it. What more, have you got the shoe stuff? I need it my brown shoes arent lookin to hot. Then thats about it for me. I'm doing better hopefully this week will just keep getting better for us cause thats what we need. Oh one more story for you, so we found a lady that we contacted in the street we went to her house and she said her husband cheats on her and she knows it and doesn't do anything!! I feel bad cause there are a lot of people like that down here. I'm glad that I have parents that are good examples and brother and sister too. I could never imagine living like that. Well I hope you are all good love you all. Til next week!