April 26, 2010

Alright important things first. I have NOT received the packge, I asked special permission to go all the ay to the offices last week and get it but then they told me interviews are in the hosue on friday, so I said why waste time, vamanos. Well they were postponed until tomorrow, so i still haven´t gotten anything since the end of march...lol. But don´t worry it´s just around the corner, a few years away...


Second, elder Shumway´s gong to check here in a second for the number.

Third, I didn´t mean that ina bad way!!! I retract it forget I said it, lol. The Exclamation mark button doesn´t work, or else I would have thrown a lot more in...lol. ElderShumway and I are throwing down a lot of work here, disfortunately we don´t have a whole lot going for us, but looking at the good is we still have Salvador, who went for the second week this last Sunday. His wifes a retard but that´s ok, we´re working with him. Sunday morning we left the house at about 10:20 and went for 5 families. FIVE FAMILIES... the first said he´d be there, didn´t show. The second was sick, the third wasn´t home, the fourth hid from us and the fifth was still asleep.... and we couldn´t wake her up banging on the door. oh well.. No one showed. The other people we had invited didn´t go either. Francisco disappeared on us and moved out of the house with his parents, who live just around the corner. Imagine this....the family hasn´t seen him in 2 weeks...he lives from our house to the Smith´s house.... an they have NO IDEA what he´s up too. We went wit hthe family but they won´t tell us anything... and we can´t find him, so ... we´re still trying. If we find him, we´ll work with him and Salvador... all of our other families aren´t proressing... but we´ll see...

the mission´s getting stricter every day. It´s by general opinion ´not really fun anymore´ but we´re still puhing away. District class is now 2 hours long from 7:30 int he morning to 10 (ish) then we have to go out and work at 3 or 5 depending onthe month. We really don´t have a whole lot of time. But it definately could be worse...so i´m happy we leave at five... ... Sounds like everythings fun at ome . but I just ran out of things to say and ... well I´ll get the letters tomorrow and maybe have something to say. I do want to express yto you my new found testimoy ofhthe truthfulness of the gospel, the perfection and truthfulness of the book of mormon and solidtruth that Jesus is the Christ. That little over 2000 years ago was born into this world as the humble boy Jesus of Nazareth, andthat he payed the unimgainable price for our sins...

I may be trunky but I sure am working my nuts off....

A few points of interest:

David gone to church?



Tell that family who´s going to church I said hi and that I admonish them with my testimony that this ist he true church of God,

Elder Shumway´s grandma´s number is - (480) 898-0817



With all the love that my oversized body can muster,

Elder Jake D. Taylor

February 1, 2010 - Transferring to Independencia

I started out with one of my favorite lines too, from how firm a foundation. I´m downloading the General Conferences music from this last session onto those USB drives you sent me. I´m upset again. I woke up, eh-eh, but then, cheered up as ELder Nichols and I went to go write at the ciber. We were there for ... 1 and something and the computer froze on me twice, I got really upset after all that. The good thing is that it didn´t erase all my photos, I was uploading photos and it could have formatted the memory but in the end it didn´t happen. Then I had already written you a great letter, when the computer froze. I´m doing alot at once right now too... uploading photos, downloading music and writing. I have eight windows open right now, lol. I don´t remember what I wrote then, I was really happy too.. We got our changes yesterday. I´m going back to Guadalajara. It´s an interesting story. The assistents called and informed that I would be returning to Bellenes, with Elder Oakes. Same zone, same area, same campanion. I was devastated. I didn´t know how I was going to do it. A few hours later the assistants called back and informed me that I had changes and that I was going to Independencia. It´s all good. I´m sattisfied with Independencia, I don´t have any reason to not want to be there, so I´m content. It´s really close to several converts I have there too, but I´ll have to see if Presidente Saucedo gives me permission to go in to the old mission boundaries. My old area Jardines got moved to the other mission, so it´s now out of boundaries. Today we got back to the house I read a little bit in the BOok of Mormon and then we headed to the branch ´camp day´ we went to a little grove of trees on the outskirts of the city and played games had some snacks, football(soccer). It was entertaining but we were there for a little while. It´s now 3:42... whole day gone already. Anyway, here´s the good news. This week was really hard. But we have our fruits. We baptized Irma Bernal. She´s a sweet little woman. She really is tiny, that´s why I said little. Lol. SHe´s 26 ...and single... lol and has a testimony. Elder Perez actually went to a little pueblo that day and couldn´t come to the baptism. I manned up on the details. I´m so sick of, but used to, doing whatever Elder Perez says, so it´s awkward for me to make decisions again, especially when I don´t know what´s planned or in store, but I got the job done, and it´s the first baptism that you could really feel the Spirit of God in the room. That was our ward mission leader's sister. Now our ward mission leaders wife is going to have her entire family over for a family home evening tonight, so we should hvae some fun there! Well they´ll have the rewards right. Oh, yeah... guess who THEY will be. Elder Perez stays here and gets elder Harding! HAHA! but that´s ok, i know I have a loving famiyl and great friends waiting for me at home and great converts and families here that I´m looking forward to visit again with Daniel when I come back. .I look forward to the blessings of home and family and friends and a new changes and atmosphere for now. ELder Huerta will be my new campanion, I know the kid...he´s not bad, I´m not to familiarized with him, but that´s ok. I´m just ready to leave. I´m going to go pack right now...See´s candy eh?? THANKS! Lol, it wasn´t easy to pass them out, but fater what they had done for me, it was worth it. Boots, chocolate bars, food skarf. They´ve been a real blessing. We´re going to eat with them tomorrow, right before I leave! YEAHH!!!! He´s inactive now though, I´m sad... he´s got 4 weeks without going to church and I don´t know why. I want to love more people in a more loving way. That´s my desire, now i have to make it a goal...see how that goes. Pray that Elder Huerta will strive to get along with me, that he´ll be humble and allow me to take part and that we will thrive as companions, that´s my plee for you all. Packages are cool, but don´t worry so much, i¨m good for now! In this flippin´ zone we just spend a lot of money, that´s been my problem, that and I´m VERY generous when I share...lol. I end up loosing alot of money really fast. Lol. Tomorrow we´re going to baptize Lorena just before i go! I´m so excited! AND I GET TO BAPTIZE HER!!! OH MAN I¨M SOOOOOOOO HAPPY TO THINK ABOUT THAT! I´m going to start planning that baptism right now! I need to go pray about the little details, so that the Lord will help me with those things...alright well I¨m out of here, and I can´t wait to see those pictures! Say hi to the guys for me, a special shout out to Ben if you could, it´s been a while since I heard from him. Love, Jake

January 18, 2010

Well, first things first. I already have 2 and a half hours on this dang computer. Therefore I thought I´d send you a copy of what I was doing. One thursday I was waiting/studying in the study room waiting passively for ELder PErez to come in so we could plan. Reluctantly and resisntantly I got up to see what they were doing. I walked in the other room to see them pondering over my Pokémon poster that a member here had given me picking names for the 10 elders and 12 other members of the branch... therefore attached above is the result of this fatal incident...the Ciudad Guzman Zone T-Shirt. Lol Enjoy.Well to answer the questions there are 174 elders currently in the mission. Elder Wahlquist arrived 4 weeks here in Guadalajara. Stewart also, but I don´t know him. The other elders you mentioned, I know them all. Lol. Elder Wahlquist is having a HARD time thoug.. H...A:....R....D....time. When I met him at least, he´s currently in Colima, with Zone Leaders Elder McGowen and ELder Anaya. Good, good elders. They should have been able to help him by now. It´s already week four, but it´s only week four...funny how that works. There´s a book mark here in the house from Elder Guevara that talks about ´Altos y Bajos´ de la misión. (Ups and Downs) It goes on to talk about how great you feel in the mission but how horrible you feel, how much you want to go home, but how you wish it´d last forever. How you´ve never had more friends, but never felt so alone. It´s a perfect description. I´ll see if I can copy it down and send it to you (in English) next week. Thanks for writing ELder Record, you sent him an E-Mail huh?? If he got it that fast and replied it had to be an e-mail. He called and told me you wrote him and his slightly confused voice told me I had to talk to president Saucedo for that kind of permission. I told the elder, yeah...so could you like ... translate the letter and give it to him please?? That´s why she wrote it...for President Saucedo not you. Lol, I didn´t say it so frank, but you get the jist of the message. This week we´ve been having fun and games. I´m just kinding of popping along. Still talking to the social worker guy. It´s going good. I´ve learned so much about life, and the functions of everything. Why things are why they happen. I´ve learned so much doctrine and am seeing so much more! The only problem is I can´t express it... in Spanish or English, I just can´t get he words out. I´ve learned alot about pride...and have recognized that that´s been one of my greatest obstacles. Probably THE greatest. I made brownies for the elders last night, I´m ASSUMING they ate them all. Which translated from ELDERic language to Enlglish, I haven´t seen the plate in over 14 hours, but it´s a house of missionaries I can´t IMAGINE that they didn´t. I have a few more pictures, but I´m going to wait til theyré a few more til I stick´em all on. It was Elder Perez´s birthday yesterday, I got him a t-shirt and a wallet. I hope he liked it, he´s not very expressive, and he´s very humble, you could give him a pencil and he´d SAY thank you, he´d thank you generously, but in a sort of....monotone sort of voice. Am I explaining that very well? Bueno, point of the case is that I think he liked it. Today we´re going to have a H U G E carne asada atthe church we have 7 kilos (4 poundish??) of carne asada and we´ve invited about 20 people. Everyones bringing someting. We´re teaching our new ward mission leaders sister AND his sister in law and they´re both doing VERY well...so I´m hoping that we can help them here still. Juan and Lorena are getting married here and if not this Saturday the next we´ll baptize Lorena. That´ll be awesome. We just met her parents too this ... yesterday, and they should be going to church this week! So we´ll see. We´ll have to contact them and see how they feel, get someone to go escort them or accompany them to the church, or go ourselves. Fernando our Convert Erika´s husband is ... mas o menos. He knows it´s true now, but he works in a carnicería (butcher) on Sunday for a small and measly 900 PESOS. It´s all down to that now, he doesn´t ... need... the money, but that´s the challenge, money or God. We´re fasting and praying and helping him on that descision. Awesome on the buggies, hop on getting the casino business. make sure that´s in place. That´s the first thing we need. That and permission to ride out there in the desert. I don´t know how long you´re looking on making each excursion but the national saguaro forest, the petrified forest, monument valley, and the Grand Canyon are all PERFECT spots. They´re not going to be seeing any animals with us going through there, so that´s not important, but something with a pretty view. Well I´m pooped so I´m going to roll. I have not gotten the packages yet, I mentioned before we don´t know if we´ll have interviews or not, so if not, I won´t get them until February... 10th or so... the 14th. I hope we have interviews, lol. Alright, I love you so much and appreciate everything you do! I hope you get to hear from me soon, if you get the drift...lol. One favor, could you update me on David´s book of mormon reading. And see how he feels on it...like his testimony. That´ll obviously be a private call. Alright, talk to you next week!-Jake

January 25, 2010 - Still in Guzman

WElll.....this week was very full...Monday, I forgot what I wrote you, but we went and played football and had a carne asada to which we played basketball afterwards...and I got really really pissed...lol. I wasn´t playing very well, and I missed a lot of easy shots. I didn´t care that we were losing so much. But ... ok we lost 10 to 1, I was playing with a good teammate too.... I just lost it, end of story. lol. It´s all good now. We went home and just chilled for a bit and then headed out as normal.. I ´ll tell you what though. I´m a little bit lazier now. I don´t really talk to a whole lot of peole in the streats and stuff. Alot of it has to do with circunstaces and I´m affected ALOT by those who are around me. Personality and attitude. Anyway, I´m still in the race, I just feel a little lazy. As much as I love Guzman and surrounding pueblos, I´m kind of waiting for a change... I´m human, I´m sorry! Haha. Friday was interviews and I was reproved by President for my lack of patience with companion, zone and self. So my goal for the rest of this year is to have more patience. I DID get my packages!!!! YAAAAAAAY!!!!! Of the which were probaby some of the finest packages I´ve ever received. I´ve noticed the missionary and his family seem to grow simultaneously. He Missionary grows in Christ-like attributes, knowledge of the gospel and teaching skills...while the family grows significantly in reading and writing skills, patience with their distanced family member and package arranging skills as time goes by. Lol. Thank you very much for the packages, they were great! I liked the chili...and beans...and see´s. Speaking of the see´s candy. There is a member of the ward who recently moved to the ward again from another area of the mission titled Tepic. Since his arrival, 1 month ago, he has given me a pàir of combat boots (that fit me!), a scarf and assorted candies and food items (from the United States, such as barbeque sauce, balogne and butterfingers). I enjoy his presence beyond description and imagination. Now for having been so kind to me I gave him the see´s candy...even though I did eat about three before giivng them away. Lol. I gave the peppermints to our relief society president and the paydays I distributed amongst the elders. I have already devoured the rest. Thanks for the pants and ties! I´m going to give the red tie to Elder Nichols as a special little gift with an American Dollar. Lol, I keep challenging him to ridiculous things for U.S. Dollars and he keeps doing them... he just never manges to do it..lol so I keep the dollar. Yesterday was fast, we helped a member put up a lamina (I don´t know what that is in English) roof for the young women´s president, but it took ... from 4 to 9. Saturday was fast too, I don´t even remember what we did...so anyway.... now I get to talk about ... Today! Last night I get home to see ELder Nichols, we talked and complained about life for 3 hours as we made chili, chili´s rellenos (left over from the day before) and brownies! We pulled out the brownies took´em upstairs to the balcony where we conveniently located the couch and enjoyed the night sky as we continued grunmbing about all the nonsense we ceaslessly deal with, lol. It´s rather entertaining. Went to bed and woke up. Had our district meeting at 7:30 and left for MAZAMITLA! Elder Nichols and I went solos, but we headed out about 9 and got there about 12ish. Mazamitla is known as one of Mexico´s ´magic towns´(pueblos magicos). We took a bus from Guzman to Tamazula and from tamazula hitched a ride with a guy from the Jalisco FBI to Mazamitla, the guy has studied Theology for 20 years and was happy to tell us how much he ´knows´ about our father in heaven and other such things. I was touching his automatic rifle with my knee as he drove with a gloc pistol in between his legs. We passed around in Mazmitla for a few hours saw what there was to see bought what there was to buy and headed out. It´s prettyy... it´s REALLY pretty. I´ll take you there and we´ll stay in a cabaña later. for Christmas. We hoped on a bus to Tamazula and got a ride from there to Guzman with some nice ladies, we sat in the bed of the truck. Well... we kneeled. There wasnt anyroom but we made it happen! The Lord blessed us incredibly today. Lot´s of miracles! It was sooooooo COOL! My testimony of the Lord increased by exponents (exponentionally). Just a good set of results, I just got to get my mouth open and talk. So that´s the jist of my week. Irma´s getting baptized this Saturday and we´re still waiting on Lorena´s wedding. We found another cool reference and we hope to help them too. Then there's Paty and her Sister Leti with their combined 5 children... We´ll see if they come to church. LOVE YOU SO MUCH, I can't stop thinking about you two and how wonderfully fantasmically amazing it will be to be with and hang out and do stuff with ya´ll in a few months. Pray for me... that I stay sane. I´ll talk to you later!Tell Josh he has a testimony of the church I can see it, and David that he´s awesome.-Jake

January 11, 2010 (Still in Guzman!!)

Ha! Poor dad doesn´t get to write! Lol Well, I just started writing and it´s 53 minutes on the clock. Writing presidente and sorting letters and reading all the gobbly-goop the assistants send me is annoying and time consuming. That and I was also dinking around with Walmart.com... i now have a startling and impressive addition of 194-195 photos. Today in the morning we went on a 4:45 a.m. journey to the ´volcan´ (which is volcano). We all got ready by 5, waited a little for the ride to get there (our elder´s quorum president) and we shipped off, picked up a girl in the ward who wanted to go, Christian Diaz, the young men´s leader also went and we headed up the mountain. The first pictures you will see is the ´choir´ I have told you about so emotionally, which I FINALLY get to load up and then a few random opens, then when you see 10 elders tightly grouped togther in the back of a truck with blankets and mattress pads, bundled down in sweaters and coats and jackets, that´s us in the back of Pdt. Espinoza´s work truck headed out. The Road was frost bitten and white, the trees were empty and shadowed, then at 6:30 we broke the horizon limit going up the side of the moutnain and found a FANTASTIC sun rise. We later got up and the rest our photos of our volcano adventure. We are on the mountain/dormant volcano - Nevado del Colima. It´s called ´del Colima´ even thought it´s technically in Jalisco. The tall peaked one with snow is this volcano. You´ll see several other photos of a large volcano shaped mountain with an open top and smoke coming out. That´s Fuego del Colima; an active volcano currently holding a ´caution´ rating, due to the possibly pending erruption. YEAH!!! Now we´re in the ciber writing. This week was impossibly hard. We baptized Erika on Sunday. It was interesting. The entire week her family and friends have been cutting her open with their comments and criticisms. Mom destroyed her, her best friends decided they didnt´want to be friends anymore, relatives mock and criticize her, husband threatened to divorce her (but thankfully isn´t...whew...) and just a slew of crap. She stayed firm, she knew what she wanted to do and she did it. I´m very happy and honored to say I had the blessings of seeing her in that process. Yesterday I was DEPRESSED. It was bad... This week was just rough. I don´t know if it´ll be any better this next week but I´m just going through the motions right now. I still don´t have my head on straight. I complain alot. Either I´m happy and everyone hates on me, or I´m depressed and everyone´s fine. That´s my point of view, the social worker I´ve been talking to has helped me kind of stop and take a step back looking at the situation and I´m sure it´s not that bad a situtaion. I took a picture of me one day in my room. You´ll see one of my just ... upset looking resting my head on my fist. That day was just a pissy day. Lol, so I took a picture. I´m just tired...I´ll tell you what, I´m exhausted. Everythings tested. Leadership, discipline, obedience, physical (I´m been constantly sick with one thing or another), testimony, love & charity... EVERYTHING is being tested and challenged. And I´m exhausted...The good news is that we´ve had success. Like I said we´re kinding of just going through the motions, but we´ve had lots of success. There´s a 17 yr old girl getting baptized the 24th of the month, she´s getting married to an inactive member of the ward who has several active family members. Those family members invited her and we´ve been teaching her, and it´s great, she also has a great testimony. I like the quote you sent me my Presidente Benson about pride, because I think i´m guilty, for example I´ve thought recently that she takes a little more to Elder Perez, but I think I´m just sensitive to others way of looking at me. It´s all added up though, the comments that I receive everyday. I understand oh, they´re just kids yelling at me, or oh they´re jsut jealous that you´re tall, things like that, etc. etc. so on and so forth, but it all just builds up. I relax on Mondays and then TUesday and Wednesday are fine, I deal with, laught it off. THen THursdya it´s a little...ha, ok..yeah... Friday I´m just dealing with it and then Saturday I¨m just done, I´m just.... DONE, sick of hearing GUERO GUERO GRINGO GRINGO GRINGO GINGO Hablas Ingles (doy ou speak Ingles???) Gran Khali! (Some WWE wrestler). I´m sick of people swearing at me I´m sick of stupid comments, idiotic assumptions about everything. It just builds up. That doesn´t limit the problem either. I have 4 months in this forsaken city and I love it here, I really do. More than almost all areas I´ve had. But I haven´t had anything to show for it. I´m really tired...I don´t have a whole lot of positive things to say about this country...I march forward. 9 Months. Not that long...To answer a few questions. A new suit, that would probably come in handy...lol. The ones I have are pretty gnarly...lol. It would just have to be a lot smaller. Lol. Ther´s o Men´s Wearhouse in Guadalajara, if there is, I have no idea how to find it...nor do I believe they would carry the same product, they large chains usually don´t. Walmart for example is completely Mexican based with very few articles from the states found there. You´re selling the little white and blue ones?? Why so? The Thing too??? Now i can´t fit in the little thing so I´m not reall going to miss it that much, but that´s fine piece of property. Mom really should get out an drive it more, but ... I don´t know. The Mountain Dew one is pretty slick, but thinking bout it... a paint job I can get on any buggy. Look at he parts before the paint...well Dad you know a whole lot mroe than I do, just pick the one you thinks best.Spekaing of cars..have you talked to trick my truck yet??? Lol, andale! (let´s move it...lol)The packages I don´t think I´ll get til February. We only get them every 3 weeks and this time around we aren´t even goign to have interviews so our packags won´t come in...I mean to say they´re there in the offices but we won´t be receiving them for a while.Now I have a few fvors I´d like to ask of you. Could you, by some way, write the offices here and ask if I could go to a chiropractor or get some sort of therapy. Sister Nobel maybe?? She does that...I think it´s a possible shot, if my back is out or my neck, that could cause this head and body pain. A pinched nerve for an inflame or stressed muscle. I lie down and night and just watch and feel my body twitch. The contracting and spasming of my muscles in every centimeter of my body. Maybe it´s not that bad, but I got to spice it up a bit so I get some attention here, actually it really does feel that bad, that´s a very accurate description...lol. Head pain, sinus squeeze, stress and anxiety, lack of concentration. Sorry, I like to complain, but this is ridiculous, haha. (Note I write this with the best of humor...that I can muster, lol) Well just to finish it off as I´ve gone over by an hour, lol. I´m wearing the read nintendo shirt! YEAH! Lol. Your beloved and wonderful dashingly, handsome and wittingly intelligent with magestically English accented son,-JakeLolP.S.Send Ties! (X-Long)

January 4, 2010....YEA its 2010....He'll be back in 2010!!!!!! YEA!!!!!

Everything sounds normal over there, but to start off: BUY THE MOUNTAIN DEW DUNEBUGGY; BUY IT BUY IT BUY IT (and make it extra long so I can fit in it...and drive) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!If that wasn´t very clear: I would really find it a marvelous idea if dad bought the mountain dew dune buggy and made sure I fit to drive it cause I would be pleased in helping him with his dune buggy business! It would also be a very good idea if Dad sent the application for Trick my truck for the armored car before I get home. Confieme no es tan dificil, antes de levantarse de su lugar, si la cilla en lo cual está sentada ahorita mismo, busca ´Trick my Truck´en el internet y llena la aplicación y mandar por hacer clic en el botón nombrado ´send´. Ya despues serán magnificamente asombrados los trabajadores de ´Trick my Truck´y pondrán miles de dólares en restaurar la camioneta y seré muy feliz su extraordinaramente guapismo hijo que te ama desmasiado. Bueno Back to English. Thanks for the letters and packages. Everyone finds toffee a little out of the ordinary but we´re enjoying it here and I loved the bottle of cinnamon. Oh how happy I have been. Lol. I´m not depreciating the other thigns you gave me I´m just glorifying the cinnamon sugar! I loved the Mario Shirt too! I never thought I´d like a red shirt but it´s pretty cool. I didn´t realize it was the shape of a mushroom. Lol. SPeaking of, if anyone is interested in getting me something, like a birthday present, or christmas quanza hannakuh labor day present, something like that...they just came out with Halo legos and I saw them the other day here in Sorianna, and they look really amazing. Lol. Toys are really expensive here though, a Barbie is some 200 pesos. (one of the more common toys I see, not that I´m cecking out the Barbies....)Thank you for the fudge and nuts. Send more nuts. I love nuts and they stay fresh(ish) I love that stuff. Lol, gracias!Some good news for this area is that their is an AMAZING churro stand here where they give you about a food long churro about an inch thick and not as crunchy as I´d like, kind of goo-ey (how do you spell that??) but that´s ok it´s only 4 PESOS! AHAHAHAHAHA! Erika´s getting baptized this Saturday.She told her husband she was getting baptized and he told her ¨If you get baptized i´ll divorce you¨. She replied. Oh well I´m getting baptized. Lol THey´re not getting divorced, but loved her answer. Her famliy, who are members, explained that Satan´s going to put alot of crap in her path but it´s all lies and bullcrap. Don´t believe just keep going forward. We´re still teaching him too, but we don´t have as much time with him as we do her. Several other people are going well. I made a no-no this week. One ofthe active members in the ward ¨La China¨ as they call her (her names Rosa Isela, but they all call her la china caus her hairs curly..don´t ask) well she´s 19 and her 18 year old sister is active also, mom no, and brothers no. Their inactive. Well her little brother (Bryan-17). Is a......Here is where I described him in not obscene nor vulgar words but not very nice ones either......he just iritates me .... alot. He helped his aunt move the other day and he was just being a prick the entire time. Then on the way hom still. I was just patient, didn´t care, calm. He started hitting me. Slapping me on the head. Ok, 1 time.... doen´t matter. Twice, ha....he´s just an idiot.We get to the house... Cool now I don´t need to worry.... BOOM! 3 times. Every emotion in my body curled up into a bitter anger and hatred as I flew outthe truckdoor slamming in onthe way circled rapidly to he camper coverd bed of the truckripped it open siezed the shriveling child bythe ankle and dragged him out of the truck off the tailgate. I was overcome by a calming sensation and suddenly the feelings disappeared, and I know they were taken from me....other wise I would have murdered him with several energized punches. STruggling for how to express the terms ´Cut the crap jerkoff´ in Spanish I yelled drastically. NOOOOO!!! Then helped him up and expressed that he stop the annoying stuff... I called later after we planned and asked how he was, la china replied that he hadn´t said anything and that he was fine...I saw him the next day and saw how he was. I´m going to do a formal apology soon. (When I have a chance) Anyway, that´s the story of the week. We´re going to go roast hot dogs and sausages! See ya´ later.. well, talk to you next week! ----

December 28, 2009

I´m really tired.... Nothing new there, is there. Well I am currently writing having not bathed in three days vomited 3-5 times and bed-ridden for half a day. I´ll explain in a bit. I would be so excited to hear from R.J., that´s one of the biggest things I look forward to in my life is seeing the changes that have happened in his life. Brazil. The week he gets back we´re going for a pedicure and Sparkling apple cider while playing darts and mario party. Ha. I loved the red Nintendo Shirt it was hilarious and awesomne. Elder Perez isn´t a very emotional guy, but he was thankful and he said to say thanks, alot. He loves (and needed badly) the watch. He put everything on that day and wore it around lol. Kid drives me crazy every once in a while, but a few hours later my head cools and my heart calms down and goes out for him. He was worried that his family had been kidnapped and learned later that they had moved houses but their old house had been shot out by narcos (drug dealers) and his dads public bus service business, several buses had been ransomed for money. It´s been rough. He goes home March 15. I woke up good and read the Book of Mormon (two pages...oh well) and dealt alright with the attitudes going around the house. BUT...they just got to me before we came here. I´m not thinking very positively...lol. It´s allll good I just want to relax today and get away from the norm. By norm I mean, not he daily routine, but the daily list of annoyance I deal with which is now by standard .. a norm. A daily expected occurance that I´m steadily adapting to and dealing with better. Lol Now the story. This week was as follows!:
Monday...changes, We went to a pueblo hour and a half from here, killed a pig, cooked it and ate it. While cooking we got our hands on a pistol and blew a coke bottle to hell and back. We were taught where the Mexican army had come to destroy several acres of weed that had been planted and then we enjoyed carnitas de peurco. YEAH! Lol. Then we got bussed back to the highway where I distanced myself from the other crew and started asking a ride. A kind man and his friend rolled off to the side and asked me where I was headed. I answered: ¨Guzman!¨Hop in he tells me. At this point a parade and stampede of missionaries and young single adults who had come with us (totaling eight) come running from their former hiding/congregation place and piled in the poor pick up who was foolish enough to stop for us. I climbed in as well. IT was a pleasant ride home. Elder Perez had also gotten sick and started to throw up.
Tuesday: Elder Perz is still sick. We stayed in the house as I washed his, mine and Elder Guevara´s clothes. WHich took for EVER! 4-5 hours... Christian came over and we talked video games and wrote down more random game facts to my growing list of characters and stats. Lol.Miercoles: Guadalajara. We get up at 4 o´clock and hitch a bus at 5 to Guadalajara, we sleep on the bus and miss our stop and arrive in Tonalá (a district of Guadalajara VERY VERY FAR AWAY from where we were going). So we grab a taxi for 200 pesos. We arrive (Elder Perez is still sick) and we have our Zone leaders council. It was cool, I got to see and meet a few new people. Elder Oakes still doesn´t want to talk to me. (He´s a zone leader now too). Bus ride back was a ... difficult. Get back, Elder Perez is still sick. And Myself now too. This was my spiritually draining day.
Thursday: Repentance process continues. We plan in the morning and visit Angela a recent convert with cancer, bedridden and fighting hard. We said hi and headed over the meal in which we enjoyed and started for the church to meet up for the caroling group activity. We met with three of the young single adult girls and headed out 6 missionaries and the 3 sisters. Several others couldn´t make it. We went to several less active/inactive homes. It was quite enjoyable. Friday: Christmas: I talked to you and complained about alot. Lol, sorry. 45 minutes went by fast. As all things do. Very pleasant to hear from you, I wasn´t affected at first, but after awhile I started thinking. It´s pretty cool to hear from somebody, talk to the family. You in specific yes. Lol. Realized 9 months is not very far away and as much as I love the mission and am grateful for what I learn am looking forward to it. Mission work is incredible, but it´s a process. I want to prove char estes ultimos meses. Afterwards we went to la comida in which we had a traditional favorite Pozole and I put WAY TO MUCH chile on it. She had gone caroling with us the day before so I gave her the Hershey´s chocolate bar you had given me. Afterwards we went and taught a reference we had received who I will tell you about here in a second and then we went home. I changed 40 bucks out and spent it all already. I bought pizza for everybody. 1 Macro and another large. Macro is like a Godzilla pizza if you can imagine. It was good. They bought chips and soda and stuff while talking to their families. Saturday: The ´Day´I woke up vomiting and pooping. Who knows what time it was when I started but I was pooping then at 6 something I reluctantly succeeded to throw up. From 7 -9 I proceeded in this process. From 9 until 3 I lied in bed with shivers and a headache and soreness all over. At 3 the other elders got back to the house and asked if I was able to go to Tuxpan to do the interviews, I said yes and we left. I was half way dead. But that´s ok. I interviewed the daughter, Elder Perez the mom and the son and we stayed for the baptism. I fell asleep in the sacrament room while they were preparing for it all. We sang a pretty musical number and then they were baptized. Cleaned up and then they invited us over para cenar... ugh... They just could not understand that I was sick. I can´t eat, I don´t feel very good right now. They respond, He doesn´t like the food down here much does he, speaking to the other elders. The other elders reply no, it´s just cause he´s sick. The family says. He hasn´t gotten used it yet, doesn´t like it? No I¨M SICK.. If I eat I WILL VOMIT!!! Now offended, what you don´t like our food or what?? Glory... This is at 10:30 by the way. Well not the exact conversation but the point is to express what they said to me. It was annoying. Lol. We stayed the night in Tuxpan with Elder Nichols and Elder Aulestia. We put he two beds together and all ..relaxing... very comfortable! = D Lol. Well... Sunday we got up late because we went to bed at Midnight to 1 in the morning after they gave us a ride back from their little town they live in outside the city to the house in Tuxpan. We caught a bus at 8:30 and arrived in Guzman at 9:30, again having missed the proper stop. We popped and caught a bus to the church and there we arrived. Rememer I had not showered yet that day and the day before was sick in bed and their was no gas, so we couldn´t take a warm shower and therefore postponing the time left to Tuxpan without showering. We called before getting there the other Elders to bring out suits and and fresh paiir of garments. We stayed for several meetings and went to a recently reactivated members house who is also our new branch mission leader. Got to the house everyone was home already. They partied until 11:40 and I chipped in the conversation seeing as I was in bed and they all on the floor in the same rooming on their little pads. Lol. Oh well. Woke up at 6:30 but DEATH could, (conditionally speaking) Elder Danielson had gotten there at 2 a.m. from Manzanillo to visit a convert. He hitched a ride with a member from manzanillo in his 18 wheeler to here. We layed around until 7:30 when I got up and started reading. We then commenced district class later and here I am. That´s my week. The investigators I mentioned earlier are Erika and Fernando. Erika showed up at church several weeks ago with her Aunt, Hna. Rodriguez. We arranged that we´d call and put a date later for when we could come by. Called and they called us bck and put the date for Christmas! Lol. We taught her and her husband Fernando who was there asking questions, understanding and all in all it went very well. He works Sunday´s and so we´ll work with that, but Erika came again on Sunday. She´s liking it alot. The family that we ate with on Wednesday´s is struggling bad and can´t afford to help us anymore, and called in to the Relief Society President informing that she wouldn´t be able to attend us. THe issue was addressed in the Relief Society this week and who signed up... Erika, our invetigator... what d´ya know! Lol. That was awesome, she had also shown up to church by herself, the week before she came with her aunt but now she was solo her aunt was out of town. Wow, she´s awesome. Just got to get her husband out of the carniceria and keep helpin´m out. So that´s my week hope you enjoyed it´s already been about an hour in here so I´m out of here!-JakeLOVE YOU SO MUCH OH MY GOOSNESS YEAH LOVE LOVE LOVE! YEHA!----