1/23/12

alright well i am not sure how much longer i have to write.. i don't
know if i can print emails like i could in mtc. anyway. son of a gun,
i do not know where to start. thanks for the emails and the pictures.
in the mtc i could read them then plan what to say, now i just gotta
wing it.

so Monday we got to Monterrey and just chilled in the mission home.
that night pres walker took us all out to this really nice all you can
eat Mexican food place, oh man it was so good, i was so excited to eat
the food for two years. then we chilled until Tuesday at like 2 we
meet our trainers but not me cause mine was in my area so i had to go
with 2 other elders on a 4 hour bus ride to... Reynosa Mexico. it is
up next to the border. that is where i am. then i meet my trainer, his
name is elder Cardenas, forgot how to spell it. he is from Peru , he
is way cool and speaks pretty much fluent English and speaks native
Spanish, so the best of both worlds to help me. man i have about 10
million things to say.  oh one thing that is kinda hard is i can not
understand a dang thing, like strait up nothing. i am getting a tad
better but ha ha still. i feel like the biggest idiot but oh well.
so Wednesday was my first like real day. we walked a ton, took some
crazy buses.. the buses are insane here ha ha. but we tracked a little
and of course i did also myself, i can say stuff but if people say
something back... its elder Cardenas turn to talk ha cause yeah..
anyway yeah Wednesday was a little crazy. but as time has gone on have
started to love it. this place, Reynosa is really different and
absolutely nothing like America but i really like it. people will talk
to you and listen, they all love god and Jesus. the ward here is so
good, and it is big, to big actually for the building that we have
which was built only 2 or 3 years ago, so my goal is to make it a
serious problem that we cant fit, its gonna happen just watch.
the food is so good, i have eaten like 1000 tortillas already, i am in
heaven. we eat with a member every singe day. Saturday we had like 4
meals ha ha which is rare, usually just one. speaking of that one of
those meals was when some members drove us four ( me and elder card.
and Elder Brockbank and elder Sanchez) who live us, they are awesome,
especially Elder Brockbank ( we went on splits on Friday). long story
short, we had tacos from this place. 5 tacos all having a different
part of a cow in each taco. i seriously was scared for my life and i
am pretty sure i lost 5 years of my life from it, oh well its fun and
cool that  get to do stuff like that.
to much to say

anyway maybe the highlight of the week was last night, we stopped by
Emanuel who had only had one lesson and didn't really care to know more
but we got in and taught him about the book of Mormon. at the start i
had to stop and think, is the gospel really for him, do i have faith
that it can change his life and he will come unto Christ. i thought and
said a pray.. well the spirit took over. me and elder card asked
truly inspired questions, applied, listened. used scriptures. it
should have on the district, but it wasn't us. anyway he really was
like confounded ha, he was not interested before, we was now... i think
ha ha. anyway after we left elder Cardenas in his English said... wow,
that is what we call a golden lesson.
anyway i have a million story's and like tons of stuff to communicate.
thanks for the email. mom elder lee was elder cadenza last
companion. and tell elder Weiberg's mom that her son is going to be a
unreal missionary. i love elder Weiberg , we was my closest elder in
my district.

loved talking with you all

happy birthday Michelle, thanks for the email.

i don't have anymore time, ill figure out a system next week.
love you all. i really do love it here and am working really hard on
my faith and hope