4 Marzo 2016

4 Marzo 2016

¡Saludos desde México!

There were a few things I forgot to mention last week, so I'll just go ahead and mention them this time.

Two weeks ago we had stake conference which means I had the chance to see many of the same people that I'd known two years ago. Wendy Orozco was there (she was less than fully active last time I saw her) with her son, Nicolas, who was walking by himself this time. That was fun. Also, Hermano Águila (who now has a son) saw me and said hi and I reminded him that a year and a half ago when I was going to Monclova he told me that the next time I saw him, I would be speaking Spanish a whole lot better and with a thick rancher accent to boot. He laughed and said that apparently he'd been right. I also saw the De la Rosa family who now have a four-year-old son that they've adopted.

I realized this week that March comes before April and not after it, so I noticed that Carlos Moreno is quickly coming up on a year as a member, so it's quite likely we go to the temple one of these days. And if the Alvarez go...and if Karen Sanchez gets active again, that could be three trips to Monterrey. And then if Blanca Cardona goes when her time comes (which sounds like she's still active)...Basically I might be spending many of my last weeks in Monterrey. That sounds like a ton of fun! And the offer is still open: who wants to go with me in August when Mayela gets endowed? (By the way, I've been talking with the missionaries there and sounds like she's basically become the de facto ward mission leader; I think she's going to become the highest baptizing non-missionary of the mission.)

We haven't seen Basilio and his wife recently because she's been sick, but we're going to keep on at it. This last week he left in a huff from Gospel Principles because he wasn't understanding something about tithing but we couldn't really understand what his question was. He went to the Bishop's office and came back about two minutes later and seemed pretty content and didn't say anymore. Later when we were talking with the bishop he mentioned what had happened. This was basically how the conversation went:

Basilio: "Hey, Bishop, I have a question. I make $X000 a week. How much should I pay in tithing?"

Bishop: "You should pay $X00."

Basilio: "Okay, I'll bring it next week."

And that was it. I just hope it's so easy with the Word of Wisdom.

It's SO much fun being back with Elder Flores! We just got right into the groove right away. Elder Ninataype and I got along and worked hard and we even have a lot of great memories, but it's just another level with Elder Flores. We're finding a lot more people now, too. Hopefully I have more to report as far as investigators next week.

We received the new kids this week and sent the old guys home. These new kids are AWESOME! They're much more quiet than the last batch to come through, but they're SUPER focused and seem much better prepared than the new kids a year ago. There have been a lot of changes as far as how to run the mission on world-wide, mexico-wide, and mission-wide levels. It's exciting to be a part of it but saddening to think that I'm just catching the front tail end. It should be super exciting for the people just getting ready to go out on a mission, but it should also be exciting for the people at home because it's going to effect everybody, every member of this church. Retention rates in this mission are rising pretty rapidly. Last month we baptized a record 68 people and a larger percentage of these numbers represent families. Frontera Ward is baptizing twice as it was than when I was there (I think largely due to Mayela and her family) and the converts are staying active. Mayela's dad moved to Monterrey to convert his other kids that live there. I LOVE those people!

And, like I said, we said good-bye to the oldies. Elder Briggs was among them, so it was kind of nice to see him leave. Also Elder Chable left. I was his District Leader in Aeropuerto, so I could see his progress. Not every good missionary ends well. Not even every great missionary. Being here in this ward, I've heard (thankfully few) stories and seen evidences of missionaries that had been my examples that they did not end their missions well. It was very inspiring to see how Elder Chable, who started out as more or less, ended his mission like every missionary should. He worked super hard right up to the last day and knowing that he wasn't going to baptize much found a TON of people for other missionaries to baptize in the next few transfers. I want to end my mission like that.

We're gonig to do a ton of splits this next week. We've already got it all planned out, and I'm basically not even going to be here. But it'll be fun being with other missionaries. And I fully trust Elder Flowers to take care of the area. Also for that same reason, we're taking our P-Day on Wednesday next week.

Yesterday (or was it two days ago), Elder Zapatero asked me to help him with something on the computer. I said sure and walked over to see what it was. It was my flight itinerary to get home. He asked me to write the email. It was like asking a convict to tie his own noose. To all those who read the email: the part with good Enlgish was mine. The part starting with "And please confirm..." was Elder Zapatero.

In these last few weeks, a lot of people told me that words I've been using my whole mission aren't technically correct, but they're used here. So my Spanish is very Rancher/Northern/Spanglishized Spanish.

Well, I'll talk to you all next Wednesday!

Elder Taylor