August 29, 2011

Hey mom!
How are you doing? Sounds like it is nice and hot up there in Utah, that's good to hear haha. And wow mom that is weird that you are starting to get into political stuff. I would have never imagined that. But that's cool. Ethan wrote me and told me its hard to read my letters cause I don't put spaces in them. I don't know if that's true but I'll put some spaces in this one just for him. haha and its good to hear that your class is going good too, mom. Just keep doing what you have been and you will be fine. And tell hi to your class for me.  I hope they are being good kids or when I get back I'll deal with them. haha. And yes mom you should probably get some different ones, I'll try to send you some right now if I can get them on, the comps in this internet where we are at are kinda crappy. So whatever.
But today we went to one of the churches and we had french toast, it wasn't the best french toast but its better than nothing. Then we played some basketball for a little bit. It kinda sucked because we only have 3 companionships in our district and one of the companionships is a trio of hermanas. The other two elders aren't good at basketball but whatever haha it was still fun. Then this last week was pretty crappy during the week, we couldn't find anybody that was good but then on Friday we decided to check out a less active family and we found out that one of the children hasn't been baptized! So we were excited to reactivate them and baptize their kid. Their kid is actually pretty smart. She understood a lot better than some adults haha. She and her mom went to church yesterday so it was cool. Then we had our baptism! It was crazy though. So our church starts at 8 in the morning so we got up went for our people and got to the church but when we got there I checked the font and it was all dirty with about a foot and a half of water! And a bunch of dead insects in there. But the problem was is that we couldn't drain the water because the system here in Mexico with the water is they save the water from the font and use it to water the grass. So the system was full of water and we couldn't drain it. So I decided to get in and try to clean it out a little bit. I was in there for like a half hour and I decided that I was wasting my time because it wasn't getting really cleaner. So we decided that we were going to have it in another church. So we went to the other church and filled up the font and had the baptism in the end. Satan always puts problems in our ways so that we can't do our job! haha But it went good in the end.
Now about your calling mom, I'm sure you are doing a great job and that is why they keep you there because they can't find anyone else that can do better! I don't know why you are trippin mom. Don't worry about that you are doing a good job. Keep doing it like the way you are doing. Dad is there to help you too. So you will be fine. Just keep praying and studying for your lessons. And about the peeps that are getting married, that's fine everyone has their time. My time will be in like while anyways haha. And man I want to see the best 2 years that movie is funny.
Now to answer your questions, we haven't had any problems where we live about not having power. We are fine with that. I heard that one part got struck by lightning so they don't have power in the zone of Valle Dorado. I think, not sure though. And me and my comp are doing good. We don't argue too much. Oh then before our baptism of Susana we had a miracle! So we went to the other church and some guy had shown up to that church solo. So come to find out he lives in our area and he wants to get baptized! We are excited for that. We are going to visit him tonight to get to know him a little better and to prepare for baptism. His name is Alejandro. But during the week it wasn't that good. We had a hard time finding people but in the end we have some good people that can progress and be baptized in this month of September. So we are excited for that. Then during church we showed a cool little movie that the mission gave us in priesthood meeting. My comp just talked about how the holders of the priesthood needed to do better in the ward. It was good and funny cause my comp just shredded em haha. Then as you can see in the pictures that I sent you it rained really good on Monday. It was cool, we got home and it started to downpour! So we changed and went out and took some pictures. And I had some friends in one of the pictures. We will see if you can see them haha. I think my pictures will answer your questions about the rain. Sometimes it rains hard and sometimes it doesn't really rain at all. But I don't have rain boots. I only have my shoes. And I need some new shoe polish, black and the mid tan. I left my little packet of shoe shine stuff in my last area. I'm mad about that so i was wondering if you could send me one again cause it is nice.
Then that is cool that you had stake conference, it sounds like it went good. Elder rasband is cool. I wish he could come here haha but we don't get those privileges that often. I hope that the people can really take into heart what they heard and have better relationships with their spouses because that is the person they are gunna live with forever haha. If they aren't happy or cant fix their problems here, I feel bad for them.
But that's about it for this letter. I hope you are all doing good. Here its cool and I'm liking it. Tomorrow we are having a meeting with Pres. Call. So I'm looking forward to that. But I heard that it is going to go forever. So I'm not looking forward to the time that we are going to be there in the seats. But I'm sure we will learn a lot of stuff. I love you mom and I hope you are doing well with dad and ash. Keep strong in the faith. Love you all and I hope you enjoy the pictures. Love you.
Elder Malan

Mason in the rain!

Mason and his "friends"! (they are the rats on the cover!)

Baptism of Susana!

August 22, 2011

Hey Mom!

Your Spanish is improving a lot!  That's good to hear.  haha  The cabin sounds like it went really good and I'm sorry about your neighbor that ran a lot.  My week went good during the week then it went bad on Sunday.  So it was a bummer because Sunday is the day that counts.  The interview went good.  I felt better after having the interview.  We had changes today but me and my comp stayed here in the area.  So it's fine.  We weren't expecting any changes here.  We heard that Pres. Call wants to start leaving missionaries in one area for at least 6 months!  That's something that Pres. Nancollas hardly ever did.  So that is going to be a big change.  That means I might be in my second to last area!  Crazy to think about that if it is true.  The only change that affected us is that we are changing districts because we have another companionship coming in so we are going to be in another district.  But that's it.  Our district leader changed and my comp isn't happy about that because he was his comp before and he says he is really prideful.  So we will see how it goes.  Yesterday, Sunday, we only had one new person in church and 2 in total.  So three of our people didn't go the second time so we are really bummed about that.  But hopefully they can keep listening to us and progressing and get baptized.  The zl that was here left and we get Elder Gray as our zl.  He is cool, he was my dl in Prados so I'm excited for that one.  Hopefully Ash can get a job here soon.  What's this I hear about him getting a sick new computer?? Must be nice.  haha  But it will be mine in a little less than a year.  So I'm excited for a new computer for me, too.  It's good to hear that he is happy as a clam right now.  Are you going to come to Mexico?  Or what do you want to do?  Here it's not pretty.  So we will have to talk about that more closer to when I am going to be home.  But I would like to go to New York and see grandma and grandpa.  That would be really cool  It's also good to hear that we have 7 missionaries out.  That's good stuff.  It's good to hear that you got a comp to help you teach that class.  Is anyone getting married yet in that class?  Besides Chase.  That's crazy that fool is already married!!  I got his announcement and by the time I got it he was already married!  haha  I'm going to send the flash drive home.  I copied all the pictures on that bad boy so it should be better like that because then I won't lose the memory card or the pictures.  Then those pictures with the worms are nice.  I ate the worm.  She didn't have the crickets.  So ya, I have never eaten those things since, so I don't think that is a really a meal here.  And yes, I have some more pictures than I send you.  A little photo album wouldn't be bad.  I would like another one. Maybe for Christmas.  That would be cool  And no word on the debit card.  I think it will get here next week about so we should be fine.  I'll call the secretary in the offices and tell him to watch for a letter for me.  No, it's hard to believe that school already starts again for you guys!  It's crazy how the time is going right now.  We are almost in September!  Crazy stuff.  But I think this year will go by fast for you again, mom.  Because everyone is going to start getting home from the missions.  The cell phone is broke?  What did I tell you about the Samsung phones??!  haha  Use my blackberry, mom.  It's a good phone.  It's a little old but it's good.  And yes a lot of people have cell phones here.  Some of them are nice and some of them are really crappy.  Nobody really has an iphone though.  They are really expensive here.  All the electronics that are new and not stolen are a bunch of money here.  Well this week we hope to have a baptism of a 14 year old girl names Suzanna.  She is cool.  She is from Hidalgo.  So we are excited for that.  We should have had a couple more this week but the 3 people didn't go to church!  So it was a bummer, but we will work with them and help them out.  This last week was good, until Sunday, then it sucked.  But I think that this week will get better.  I sent you a letter last week so we will see how long it takes to get there.haha  Right now they aren't taking too long to get here, like 2 weeks, sometimes less.  They always take forever to get there.  Oh well.  I'm feeling better and I am liking the mission.  I think it will get better because now I have a different dl and zl.  So I am excited, I like the changes sometimes.  I also bought a cool Brazil jersey.  Israel would be proud of that baby.  The next one is going to be a black Mexico one, it is sick.  Here for p-day, I don't think we will do anything.  There isn't much to do and it's changes today so all the other missionaries are doing that.  We will probably just relax and get all rested up for this week.  Thanks for the love mom and dad.  You are the best, really, always here for me.  Even though we are far away.  I hope all is going well.  I heard that there is a crisis in the US right now.  So I hope that isn't affecting much of you guys.  Ummm, what more happened this week. nothing really exciting happened.  Oh wait, I got a story for you.  So Tuesday, we were looking for a contact that we had and we couldn't find it so we started to knock doors.  Then we found a lady that had been to church in someplace, but had never gotten baptized!  So we taught her and she accepted everything and she is progressing and doing well.  We are excited for her, too.  Her name is Alicia.  She has her baptismal date for the 4th of September.  But I love you and thanks for everything, mom! 

Elder Malan

The worms we ate with the Nancollas'

August 15, 2011

Baptism of Mauricio and Emiliano

Hey mom!

Well, this last week was pretty crazy, too. Lots of things happened. It was a up and down week and luckily, at the end of the week we had a good week. So we had two baptisms of Mauricio, the dad, and his kid, Emiliano. His other two kids didn't want to do it. The other Mauricio was going to do it but his brother, Christopher, talked him out of it! So it was a real bummer. He knows it's true. But oh well. But we will start out at the start of the week. So we had really nothing at the start of the week and the leaders were not happy with us. They came over and told us that on Thursday. I'm just going to keep doing what I know I should do and we will have results like we have been. We ended up bringing 4 new people to the church so it went really well for us. I think all four have a really good chance of getting baptized, so I'm really excited too for them. Two of them are a mom and daughter. Their names are Rebecca and Sariat. They are cool. We found them doing a street contact. They are doing really well and completing with reading the Book of Mormon and they went to Stake conference with us yesterday! So we are excited for them. Then another one is a lady named Laura. We found her knocking doors and she has a lot of questions, but we are answering them and she went to church with us, too yesterday. I think the speakers did really well with their talks and I think they helped her a lot. The last one is a reference from a lady. Her name is Suzanna. She had to come here from Hildago to get an education. She is ok. She is home sick because she lived there and she can't see her parents. But I think she could progress if we work with her. Those are the four people that we brought to church and I think they are all good. I think this week will be good, too. Today I have an interview with Pres. Call. I'm excited for that, too. He spoke in the stake conference here yesterday and it was really good. He is a good guy, really spiritual, too. That's sweet that you guys went to dinner with Pres. Nancollas and the hermana. They are cool, huh? Then we even have the same dog name, that's pretty crazy. haha How was the food? You should have gone to a steak house, but oh well. We will just have to go when I get back. Then I hope, mom, you got all your questions answered. Then about the worms, I ate a worm. It just tasted like dirt. I didn't like it very much. I wouldn't want to eat it again. I haven't seen Elder Olsen for a long time. But we have changes this next week so we will see what happens with everybody. Where everyone goes and where everyone stays. As for writing Ash, I don't have that many cool stories, really. There is just a couple of things. haha But I'll try to have some more scary stories now mom, that I have your approval. That's cool that we are having more missionaries from our ward go on missions. How many missionaries do we have out right now as a ward? Like 7 or something like that I think. Not sure. Mom, are you still the teacher of young single adults? Or what. You have had that calling for awhile now, no? Like almost 2 years or something, right around there I think. That's crazy, mom! And yes, you need to get on inviting people to hear the missionaries! Help them out if they are good. If not, don't give them anything. I just copied my photos on my flash drive so I will send the flash drive so I will send my flash drive home soon. The next package you send, send a yellow envelope that has the little cooshing inside so I can send it to you. So you can see everything. Well, I'm getting close to 13 months, Ethan reminded me and that's crazy how time flies. I remember thinking before the mission, when Ben and Israel are home I will have 15 months. Man, that time is coming quick! I know the church is true and that we always need to keep striving to keep the commandments and endure to the end and help everyone out so that we can accomplish that as a family, like you say mom. That's the important part, that we can be a family in the temple one day. That would be awesome. I know that we can be together forever if we keep the commandments and complete and honor the covenants we have made. I love you all and thanks for all you do for me.

Elder Malan

August 8, 2011

Mas by the Catholic Cathedral

Mas by the Catholic Cathedral

Hey Mom!

Wow your summer is already over?! That's crazy it's already been that long of a time since school got out. That's cool you went to Park City. I think you guys should change your location of doing that thing to somewhere cool. It's not that cool there. This last week was pretty crazy. So Tuesday night, I called our district leader and he told me that Elder Logan had changes! So he had to be at the offices at 3 on Wednesday. So we were like wow let's go visit the people that you want to visit. So we went and visited everybody. A lot of people liked him here so they were all kind of bummed. But that's how it is. Then I got another Mexican comp named Elder Navarro. He is from Sinaloa. He has 8 months in the mish and we get along alright so far. So we will see how it goes. Then Mauricio is part of the family. They are doing well. I think they will get baptized here soon. Or at least I hope and pray that they will. This last week we didn't really find that many people so it was tough. We are trying to get the members more involved. We are working with them to get it all good to go. So we hope they go well. Then the mall here is like the mall in the U.S. It's big, has stores, but nothing like American Eagle or anything like that. Then as for the jerseys, I couldn't get them on Saturday. We weren't close to the place where I was going to buy them so I think this week I will get them. Then for the DVD players, all the missionaries got them. The First Presidency wants all the missionaries in the world to have them. And no mom, there aren't Red Boxes here. It's a lot cheaper to buy movies because they pirate them all and sell them. haha So if you want movies or music here it's legal to pirate it. haha That's sweet that Ogden got Jantz. He seems like a good coach. They need some good coaches. Are they going back down to 3A? I thought I heard that. But that's sweet this Friday you will be eating with them (Pres. Nancollas)! That will be a really cool experience for the four of you, I'm sure. You can tell them hi from me. haha I don't know, you can just say that. Then for the card, I think that would be good. Then we don't run the risk of having someone take it and go spend all the money with it. So I'm fine with that, mom. I can take a little bit of money if I need it, too. I don't think it will be that big of a problem. Then the conference went good. Pres. Call taught us about how we can help more the investigatores have more faith in Jesus Christ. So it was cool. I learned a lot and I'm trying to put it more into the teaching and planning. Who is Anderson?? But no, Clark isn't in my zone. haha The zone leaders are Elder Montes and Elder Lawrence. The district leader is Elder Barreda. Then for Elder Nowack, actually he is in my zone so I see him once in awhile. He is doing good. I think I could send my card home with Elder Clark, I bet. I don't see any problems with that. Right now I don't take too many pictures. We are in an area where it's not that good so I don't take my camera with me a lot. So here I don't have many pictures and really there isn't anything cool here to take pictures of. haha So that's another reason why. Then yesterday we were teaching an old investigator and she has heard the missionaries for like three years and we were teaching her and we just felt the spirit strong. It was cool. She said she would pray about baptism and all that. So we are hoping she decides to get baptized. But then right as we left, we saw some people making out all nasty and I felt the spirit go away like that! It sucked. It just goes to show how Satan doesn't want us to work by the spirit and always puts things like that in our way to distract us. But we just need to keep thinking good and then the spirit will be with us. That's what I try to do. That's a bummer about Ash. Hopefully he can get a job. I was thinking something in food, a waiter or something. That would be good for him. Well, that's about it for me. Pres. Call asked that we write our comps parents so here is what Elder Navarro wrote for you. Dad can translate it for you. Love you all and thanks for your support.

Elder Malan

August 1, 2011

Baptism of Leticia

One year mark with pizza!

Hey Mom!

Your Spanish is getting better already. So that's a good start. Now, as for people getting married... that's crazy and pretty cool. I bet almost everyone I know will be married by the time I get home if people keep getting married at this rate! They must be listening to the prophet. haha Mak and Mic got a doggie? That's cool, too. I hope that they can put up with her for as long as dad has with Misti. haha But at least now Misti has a friend. Well, hopefully they can be friends. Now for Pres and Hermana Nancollas. That's sweet you are going to go eat with them. That will be a cool experience, I'm sure. They are cool. Pres. Nancollas and Pres. Call are both really cool. Different in many ways, but they are both good people. You go ahead and talk to them about what you want to. haha I don't care. Then as for panista, it's the stomach of a cow. It's not good at all. It smells bad and tastes bad, too. I don't want to eat it ever again. Last week we didn't eat with her because we had a zone conference so we went to that. It went good and they gave us a dvd portable player! We can watch some missionary videos called "The District". We can see what they do good and what they do bad. So it's cool. We can watch the church movies so me and Elder Logan watched The Testaments one night. It was cool. Back to gross things and getting sick. I don't really get sick. So I don't have to take pills. So it's fine. My comp gets sick once in awhile. I'm going to try to send my flash drive home soon. My comp got a virus on his memory card and I don't want that to happen to mine. haha I would just copy them on to the flash drive so they could be on both and send home the flash drive then you could send it back. Oh, my debit card it going to expire this next month. So I will need another debit card if you could do that for me. That is way crazy about Israel and Ben coming home right around the same time. The time goes fast. I was thinking about it and Sammy will be home in December, too! It goes by pretty quick that's for sure. As for this last week for us, we had a baptism! It was good. We baptized Leticia. She is cool, a little crazy, but she is cool. haha We baptized her kid, Norman, but he is 8 years old so he doesn't count for us. But oh well, it still went good. Then this week we brought a family of four to the church. We brought Mauricio, he is cool. He is a cop and like the head cop, I guess. Yesterday in church at the end he was like, "Can I pay tithing?" We hadn't even talked about tithing so we were like, "Yes, you can if you want." haha We taught him the Word of Wisdom and he was like, "Ok, we won't drink coffee any more and I won't smoke." He is really cool. I'm excited for him and his fam. I think they will get baptized within these next two weeks. Other than that the week didn't go so good. We had a hard time finding new people to teach, so I hope this next week we can find more people to teach. That's what we need right now. Then the hardest thing that happened, for the baptism I'm guessing. At first the hot water wasn't even working so we had to fill it up with cold water fast and then the hot water was working and we just turned it to really hot. At the end of the day we got it decently hot. If we don't have hot water sometimes people get sick of the water because they aren't used to cold water! haha It's funny. Here everyone complains that it is hot or cold. They are never happy or feel good, temperature wise. I laugh at it. But ya, this last week was boring. Then today we went to a mall here. It was ok. We ate Chinese food and it was weird because the lady could speak Spanish and Chinese. I'm not used to seeing that everyday. haha Then this Saturday I'm going to buy some sick jerseys that we found. They are cheap and real. So we are excited for that, too. I hope I answered most of your questions. Here, I like it. It's a lot more organized than my last ward. So I am stoked to see what we can do here. Oh ya, Pres. Call wants to get microwaves for everyone! So we are excited for that, too, and maybe even blenders. So we are hoping for those two things so we can eat better. haha But this last week I was able to think and learn more about the atonement of Christ. It's hard to understand, but once we understand it we won't want to sin anymore. That's the truth and we will want everyone to understand it as well. I know this is the true church. Love you all and please check into the debit card. If you are going to send a package, poptarts would be nice, too. Thanks fam. Love you and take care!