Guadalahonkey

Haha, I got sick too (although I´m peachy now), so I guess we still get sick as a family.
They actually figure more than anything that it was probably a mild case of
dengue.  That´s more cool to think about than anything else, now that it´s
all over.  Solid stools and warm showers are always nice, when I can get
them.  More motivation to get up early and take my vitamins every day.

I traveled solo because we had to take care of some visa paperwork.  I came
down to Colima initially with another greenie, but he´s now in Guadalajara
because he had a diabetic episode and they need to keep him close to the
hospitals.  Everything worked out fine, but yes it seemed a bit odd rule
wise.  I was in Guadalajara for less than 24 hours before returning, just
long enough to sign and fingerprint some stuff.

I´m glad there´s some missionary progress over there, we need more converts in the states.  The church in general is pretty big in Mexico, but our zone and our mission has been dropping lately.  I´ll have to see what I can do about that ;)

We had our first baptism thursday, actually.  His name´s Christopher and he
pretty much found the church on his own.  We´ll see when his mom finally
wants to change her life and follow suit, but now he can baptize her, which
is pretty cool.  I didn´t have much to do with teaching him though as his
baptism was planned before I showed up, but it was still good to see.  I´ll
send pictures when I can, but this ciber doesn´t have any SD card slots and
I didn´t bring my camera cord.

We have 4 more baptisms planned for the 6th, but there´s still some work to
do first.  Transfers are on the 1st as well, so we´ll see what happens
there.  Elder Talbot and I purged and rearranged the house anyways though,
so it´ll be nice for whichever of us four is going to stay.  My comp has 6
months, so does the DL, and Elder Talbot has 4.5.  Then again, anything can
happen.

I keep forgetting to mention the ¨magic zone¨ as well.  it´s an area on the
way to Suchitlán where, due to magnetism or something of the sort, if you
turn off your car and leave it in neutral, it will roll up the hill rather
than down.

The president and his wife are great people, who work very hard to help the church in this area.  They are focusing a lot on obedience.  They also have some affinity for scripture memorization of verses related to being a good missionary, and have some very high goals for this year.  They seem energetic and excited though, and I´m definitely glad to have a good mission president.

Random thought: if and when you send another package, ties and socks are always nice.  Shoes I should probably buy here since I can check the size and awesomeness, etc., but other stuff is always great.

I pray for you all frequently.  Let me know what else I can pray for.  I got your attachments btw, and I enjoyed reading them.

I still can´t figure out why nobody knows how to sing in this country, by
the way.

Say hi to everyone for me!

Love,
Elder Lund

Happy P Day

Hello everyone!

I´m writing from a cyber café here in Colima, Colima, México. Apparently, the mission here covers Nayarit, Jalisco (as far east as Guadalajara and half of the city), and Colima. Things have been plenty interesting here, but we´ll see how much time I have to write about it here.

My companion, Elder Fernandez, is pretty cool. He´s from Cuernavaca and doesn´t speak English. In fact, the only person I see who speaks English is Elder Talbot, who is in the same house as us, but I hardly see him aside from p-day (Mondays, btw) and the mornings/late evenings. So yeah, Spanish immersion programs for the win! As far as grammar principles go, there is little left to learn and a lot to get better at, as well as vocab and the biggest thing of course being able to understand others. I can follow conversations alright, but questions tend to throw me off. With time though, I´m sure I´ll get it.

No baptisms yet, but if all goes well that will change before too long. We have two investigators with baptismal dates and another investigator not far away. I can´t wait for the holiday season to be gone, actually, because I will finally be able to see how much work we can get done in a normal week. The holidays are shaking things up and of course not a very good sample of how day to day life will be. I´m excited to be here though.

We hitchhike everywhere we can, and if we really can´t get there by foot (pretty much just the chapel) we nab a taxi...they´re everywhere. I actually think the MTC should have classes on hitchhiking and j-walking. I´m comfortable with it, and actually kinda like it, but it would have been helpful nonetheless.

There´s two volcanoes visible from pretty much anywhere in Colima, one behind the other. THe big, close one is much more likely to kill us all than the other. We´ve also got a bunch of little villages in our area. It´s time consuming to get out there and it´s expensive for them to travel to church (and they live out there because they´re poor), but we´ll take a day or two and really work out there and see what we can do. If there are enough investigators or members, a branch can be organized out there. However, that´s still in the distance, and there is work to be done right here and right now.

It sounds like the music was interesting to deal with, at the least. I´ve developed a new appreciation for music as I find that less and less of the people I meet are educated in it. I´m sure the performances were great, and the music invited the spirit. That´s all it has to do to be a success, after all.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and I´m glad I got to talk to the family. Keep the faith, remember what´s most important (and do it), and you will find happiness beyond your imagination. I´m doing my best to hit the ground running here, and with any luck we´ll be able to make a big difference here in Mexico, where everyone is cool with talking about God. Especially since the Book of Mormon is a book written by some of their ancestors. They can really feel that.

So I´m trying to be diligent, faithful, and patient as I learn the language, area, and people, and I´m having a great time. I hope all is well at home, and that you are all able to live with the knowledge and happiness that comes from a Heavenly Father that loves us all. My job is to share that with my brothers and sisters, quite simply.

Take care,

Elder Lund