I Ate Chicken Feet

This week was pretty crazy!  We had a lot going on!  Tuesday was a normal day for the most part we went and had a good work.  We went and saw some less actives and that was really productive for us!  We had some good lessons with them and we had tons of success because six went to church on Sunday so we were very excited for that!!  

Wednesday we went and saw another family we are trying to get married but it is really hard and then saw the family Alva and that was a good lesson we had but we are just upset a little with them! We realize the problem is that the mom doesn't really understand her role as a member and she is preventing her children from getting baptized because she won't go or take them to church.  So we are going to have a nice firm talk with her this week to help her understand!  We will just do it with love but she needs to know!!  It is just hard when the family is sooooo close but for something that isn't their fault they keep not being able to do it!  This day we also did divisions and took a missionary to the hospital.  It was a good day and everything worked out.

Thursday was good we went and saw Laura (a member he baptized) and she is doing soo great still!  She also took us out for Yogurtland and she told us all about how much the gospel has helped her!  She is the best and that is one of the coolest things that has happened so far in the time that I have been here.

Friday we went and saw Julio.  He is having lots of work and so we actually just found him in his house!  Julio has had to work lots of hours because of the pan de muertos (dead bread) since we are at dia de los muertos (day of the dead) season (Day of the Dead (Spanish: Día de Muertos) is a Mexican holiday celebrated throughout Mexico, in particular the Central and South regions, and acknowledged around the world in other cultures. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died, and help support their spiritual journey) so we haven't been able to see him much and then we were just like lets go see if he is home.  We have a ward activity so at least we will be able to invite his family even though he won't be there.  So we went and I got a phone call outside their door and they happened to walk out to go to the store and he was so happy to see us and he said they couldn't call because their phone battery died and he was praying we would pass and we did!  Then yesterday we had a followup appointment with a guy we helped with an english interview and he was like I hope it is alright I invited my friend I started reading the Book of Mormon and I was interested and so is my friend so they are going to come to church this week we hope!  Then we contacted tons of less actives!  

Then on Saturday we had a ward activity and we were glad to finally have that!

Our ward is finally trying to be a good fully functional ward and they aren't doing too bad!  They need help but things are going good!  I also ate chicken feet for the first time in my mission so that was an interesting experience!  It tastes like chicken you just get over the fact that you are eating their feet and you are good!

Literally nothing from the hurricane affected us it wasn't close at all!  I was pretty sad about it honestly I wanted a really cool story to be able to take home and I ended up with nothing!

Have a good week! I love you!

Elder Orchard

We Hung Out With the Deads

Alright well this week was changes!  Yeah it was a crazy week!  Monday we hung out with the news and capacitated them all day! There were almost twenty of them and so the bed situation was crazy because we have our beds and like ten downstairs so we just threw matresses all over the place and such it was super crazy but everyone slept in a bed except one who slept on the couch.  Tuesday was changes and that was more crazy for us because we had to take two missionaries to the airport so we did that.  We went and taught a lesson or two that day and then came home and hung out with the deads! (I am guessing those are the Elder's going home that no longer have companions after changes.  Mission lingo!)

Wednesday we went to the airport multiple times because we had people flying out of two terminals and so that meant we had to go and help the president.  So we woke up at three to make sure the missionaries started to get up on time and then basically from then on we were up helping people and going to the airport.   We slept for like an hour between four and like five thirty before it was back on to getting things done.  When we came home for the day we just did office stuff and crashed because we were exhausted! 

Thursday we went and worked like normal and so that was good we saw one of our investigators and that went well!  Julio is doing awesome!  He is progressing and reading and understanding like a boss! He even changed his job so he can go to church on Sundays and that way he can get out of the bad habit he was in from his job so he can stop drinking and smoking and such so he is just doing good!  He is awesome!

Friday I was sick so we went to just a dinner appointment and still got a few good lessons in.  I got invited again to stay at a members house in Puerto Vallarta so I am excited to go visit them!  

Alva still hasn't gone to church so it is hard to baptize them like that.  We are going to go this week and just really lay it out on the line for them!  They say they want to get baptized but they don't go to church because they always have something more that they can do or an excuse so it is hard!  If they don't go on Sunday we are just going to drop them.  It is sad but they just haven't been progressing so it is like what do you do with them? 

Saturday we had a full work day!  We went for tacos with a member for the food and then we worked and had some awesome citas with people and we put a few fechas with Julio for the 8th of November!  Crazy we are almost to November it is flying by and almost my birthday! 

Sunday was a good day we found another new family doing an English interview with someone that couldn't speak English at all! It was funny.  He asked Elder Olson something and I was recording and he looked and was like I don't know what he said.. I was like me either and so he just said no I haven't yet! Turns out the guy asked if he liked animals it was great!  I love you guys have a good week!

Elder Orchard

Does Elder Olson cook or just take pictures of Douglas cooking?

Looks like Elder Orchard grilled up some beef jerky!

Our Investigators Are Progressing

Picking up the new missionaries at the CCM (Mexico City MTC)

Alright not much to report this week and we also have all the news here.  There are 20 people here so it is pretty cray cray.

Alright so this week we went with Alva on Tuesday and that was awesome!!  We were able to have a good lesson with them and so they are committed to get baptized on the 17th of October!  We are really happy for that and finally they are going to do it!  Also we were able to find Julio and his family again and they are good!  They went to church which was honestly a miracle he was able to get work off!  We will put a fecha with them here this week I think and it will probably be for like the 31 of October or around there!  Everything is going good here!  We are going to try and find some more cool people here this week that can progress!  I love you guys!! Have a good one!

Elder Orchard

Never a Dull Moment

Tuesday we sit down and start studying and we get a call that we need to buy some plane tickets.  So we get on that and we had to end up being in the offices for when the missionaries got here.  So we went to the food then came home to wait for them to get here!  Turns out there is another missionary that is having a lot of problems with his back and he ended up staying here too.  We just started what feels like another crazy week!

Wednesday we had to go and clean out a house.

Apart from this Pres had to do an interview, take missionaries to the airport and a few other things!  Then we went out to do all sorts of stuff with Pres and we have been running around dropping things off to missionaries and cleaning out houses and all sorts of stuff like that!  We also got up at 3:30 to wake up the missionaries going home and it was a long day at the start of another long week!

Thursday I took  a missionary to the temple to go and see his brother that is just getting back from his mission!  It was cool for him to be able to go see him and hang out with them for a little while!  We came back and then I went with Elder Brown to go and do a baptismal interview!

Friday!  Mine and Olson's first day to go and work in the area!  We had tons of people in the offices for all sorts of things!  Interviews and sick missionaries and all sorts of stuff!  So then after all of that happened we went out to go and work which was awesome!  We ended up finding a new and we are hoping things can be better with her!  The Family Alva, well we won't be able to see them for a few more days so that is sad.   They went on vacation.  We are excited for conference tomorrow and seeing what will all happen!  Hopefully we can have lots of people come here in the next few days so that way we can find some more news and have people in church!

Saturday we just went to the conference and had a good day there! We watched it in English which was nice.  We just hung out at the stake center all day except for the food.

Sunday same thing just hung out at conference and it was good!  My Favorite conference talk was probably Elder Christofferson's talk he did really good and it was something that we are trying to get one of our investigators to understand so it was a really good talk I thought. 

This week we already have an appointment with the Family Alva and we are excited for that. Hopefully we can get them baptized this week that would be the goal!  We will see how it goes though!  

I love you have a good week!

Elder Orchard

I'm guessing Elder Orchard sent this picture to remind his mother how much she HATES GRASSHOPPERS!

A little lost in translation:)