Sunday, September 29, 2013

September 23, 2013 (Week 58)

September 23, 2013

OH MY GOODNESS.

Well... we just climbed a mountain Cercita a la Casa... oh my goodness. We took a taxi truck, basically you give this guy 10 pesos and he takes you up the the point, but we had to climb a insane uphill jungle type forest in mud, in church clothes to get to the most breathtaking view I've seen of Pico de Orizaba, and for that case, since Kings Peak. but the difference with Kings Peak is that it was suddenly that we made it to the top. it was incredible... I have fotos, I'll send 'em home! We dropped down into the other side of the mountain into a little village... they hardly speak Spanish it was soooo cool. The people speak Nahwalt or something. It's FREAKING AWESOME. but... we are thinking about preaching there. The only problem is, the last Testigos de Jehova [Jehovah's Witnesses] were taken captive, and tied down, and they were literally about to burn them... hahahaha Freaking TJs. They don't show any respect. We will think about it. It was one of the most breathtaking views of my life. Seeing the whoooole city Mendoza, and the pueblito... wow. We came down pretty bruised and cut up, the mountains here aren't like the Rockies. they shoot straight up. Needless to say, the muddy slippery downhill was somewhat of a joy on the way back down. We all slipped and slid, I fell on a branch and literally impaled myself, but a pretty cool miracle or something because it was sharp and didn't draw blood . I might have a broken rib ... pretty sharp pain in my side still haha.... but other than that, man it was amazing.
As for Mendoza, I'm literally in a small city in the middle of the mountains. its connected with two other cities, and its pretty small. one main road. Carlos A. Carrillo still tops it all in smallness haha. there are mountains on all sides, and I'm soooo stoked!!! its amazing. I got here, and we don't have much, but we are gonna start working hard. man. it is pretty hard here. People just ignore you if you contact them, or run in their house. but the ward is pretty strong, and I'm pretty stoked to start working here. as for that, man I have soooo many stories to tell you all. so many... 
 
We are working with a family of 4 right now. He wants to give up alcohol, so we had him pour out his only can of Indio Cerveza, and throw the can as far as he could. I gave them all a ctr ring that you gave me mom, and they loved em. I hope he can let go of the beer. It's a strong vice but he's gonna do it for his family. Hopefully we get to baptize!!! Straight converts to the gospel. So cool. Well, I gotta go. I have so much to tell you all, but its all mixed in my brain, so.. sorry. and sorry I wrote late, internet went out. but.... yeah... I love you all. Garrett, Riley, and whoever else reads this letter, go on a mission. you won't regret it. It's the hardest two years, but you will never ever see things like this any other time in your life. The chance to work with people so amazing and to see them change is crazy. I know this work is true. Go to the temple weekly, really READ your scriptures. 1 Nefi 15. They are a protection in this crazy world! Say good prayers. It makes ALLLLL the difference. And then, when God calls us, we will have no problems saying I'm here. Clean.
 
Love you all.
Elder Monsterson 

 
(they still have no clue how to pronounce my name haha)

September 16, 2013 (Week 57)

September 16, 2013

Well... looks like it will be the end of my days in Tierra Blanca. I guess the señor [the Lord] wants me elsewhere, or the president was tired of hearing Nelson whine every two or three minutes about every littttttttle thing. The good news is.... drumrolllllll... ORIZABA!!!! IM LIKE 20 MINUTES AWAYS FROM PICO DE ORIZABA!!!! COLD!!!!! PUEBLO!!!!! MONTAÑAS [MOUNTAINS]!!!!!! The only bad thing well, cool thing, is there is a hurricane that's gonna hit there this weeek.... :)
wow. I'm pretttttty freakin' stoked. I'm going with Elder Bixler.He's from my MTC district so that'll be fun. Doesn't speak a lick of Spanish either so that'll be fun. It was nice to speak Spanish for 6 weeks. Freak. I'm blowing through compañeros. I'm now on 7 and 5 have been for one change. Freak. I was hoping to FINALLY baptize and reap some of my crop, but... like usual, I'm headin' out! Still DL,so I guess presidente still trusts me, we had interviews and I guess Nelson spilled the beans on everythinggggg because I got in after him and had a whole list of things against me. I had the chance to throw dirt but I just said "well, I'm not perfect." We ended on that note. Told me it was apostate and punishable to go against leaders. I agreed and got myself out.
I'm so stoked about the Red Sox. Finally. Mayweather got another win, United States dominate, and everything is right in the sports world! haha. And as for my shoes, they have shoe repair shops every other corner. 20 pesos for a quick glue and stitch hahahaha. And as for rain, it's crazy. there is a lot of flooding. It's not usually like this here either.
Teachers are on strike, no classes, I guess the US is in another war, man I'm so out of it. People keep telling me Syria used chemical weapons and called Russia and the USA are testing bombs and who in the freak knows what. 
As for moving, it will be cool. We live in a freaking plague right now. I've killed, brutally murdered, or drowned 16 rats and mice. Cool right? The owners won't do anything. Oh well,. not gonna be any ones problem for a while.
Oh yeah, and Elder Carcamo doesn't speak English. I tried to help him but he got frustrated when I laughed when he said the word beach with a bad accent (use your imagination). hahaha. It's now our little joke. Every time we hear the word playa, = beach, we laugh. 
 
But... now its time for me to go away from Tierra blanca and Carcamo. I enjoyed my time with him a lot. Gonna be interesting...
 
Adios. Con amor,


Elder Mortensen

September 9, 2013 (Week 56)

September 9, 2013

[I told Conner about the salsa we made with jalapenos and Anaheim peppers...He wasn't impressed :) ]

Jalapeños?? para que? no hacen nada! [that's nothing!] Jalapeños are for wusses. Plant me some Jabanero y chilpaya and I'll make some salsa so good you'll want to cry. and after eating it, you will cry hahahaha.
 
The 5 weeks is for ALLLLL of Mexico [number of Church meetings an investigator must attend before baptism]. It's from the presidencia de area. It's game changing here in Mexico. GAME CHANGING. Better or worse, we will see hahaha. I think it's a prototype for the Latin world. They always try Mexico first to see. Who knows why.
 
But I don't know. Gotta be positive or you don't have anything. I've felt the down, stressed-out side and I felt like going home to sleep the whole day and forget life. Better to live stress free! jaja.
As for this week, Abi, daughter de Jose Luis y Laura is gonna get baptized, we just gotta find out a way to get her to tell Jonathan (boyfriend) that if he wants back in when he gets home from working, he's gotta get married so she can do it. Still waiting for that baptism. We have a few people that could get baptized, but thanks to 5 weeks we gotta wait. Oh well. it's not too bad to blank change in this time. Understandable with the new rule. Just keep walking, just keep walking... Freak, my shoes are on the downhill slide as well. I've been sewing and cutting rubber from all parts on em jajaja.
 
It's torment season... which means we have gotten SOAKED 5 times. We get to the house, hang up the clothes outside and plan real fast. It rains nightly for more than 4 or 5 hours. Pretty nuts! It sure feels good to be in the rain. Sheesh. Hotter than Africa. I bought jerseys by the way. And I've been buying and collecting old bills of money. Pretty freaking cool. I'm hoping to have a good collection.
 
I have no clue what else happened. Laid bricks, cut trees with machetes and filled holes in church clothes and ties. Just another day in paradise!
 
Much love for you all. Gotta bounce.

[Regarding the Mexico vs. USA soccer match, World Cup qualifier]:
VIVA AMERICA!! MEXICO CONTRA AMERICA!!!! WOOO!!!! VIVA LA COPA MUNDIAL! AMERICA VA POR CABEZA DE AREA!!!! VA PA´ ABAJO COSTA RICA Y MEXICO. (I've got a few little bets here and there on this game. I've been waiting for it forever.) 
 
Adios :)
 

Elder Mortensen

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

September 2, 2013 (Week 55)


September 2, 2013

 
 I'll never stop catching snakes.
Just like when I was 5... awww. So cute.

Well this week, we got some interesting news... We now have to bring people to church 5 times before baptism... That's gonna be fun. Oh well. Guess it makes for more converts. Still hard when the stake president won't move the hours from 8 to 10. It's still 8-11 and 12-3. its gonna be hard getting people, up to 20 if you count all the people we need to bring by semana [week] 5 to church. At 7 in the morning. Sheesh. We will see how this goes. 
 
And.... we left la canicula! I have no clue how to say that in English, but it's 40 days of the earth being the closest to the sun. So... it was hell. for 40 days. And here I am teaching people about "paradise" after this life... hahaha felt like the children of Israel wandering in a desert for 40 years. but I'm in Mexico. different, but same thing. hahah but it should start to rain more. It rains close to every night, and sometimes during the day. Nobody will have any problems with me calling them asking if I can go to the house until it stops raining. I'm the first one throwing my books in a plastic bag and ending the lesson and running out into the rain haha. loco gringo esta bien mojado! porque tiene sonrisa??? [crazy white man is very wet, why is he smiling???]
 
I've got a few scriptures... first.
 
Brad, Garrett, Riley, Blake, and whoever else is male, -or close to it- Open your bibles and imagine in my lovely voice Job 38:3. In essence, it says put on your pants like a man!!!
 
Gird up now thy loins like a man.
 
That's my spiritual message for you all today :)
Not really. I want you all to read 2 Nephi 4:16-35 and study it out. Everyone is always like "oh so chill what Nephi says". but if you study it with the Lord's prayer in Matthew... Man its pretty dang close to equal. Study those out and write in the margin different notes. l wrote stuff like "here he humbles himself, trusts in the lord, and finds the problem and presents it"... stuff like that. Should give you guys some insight to pray like Jesus did. but Nephi just gives us the perfect laid out example. That's what I love about him. Christ's baptism... Christ's prayer... all is explained with more detail in the Book of Mormon. Even charity. That's my homework for you all this week.
 
We are working with a few people. All of them are gold, it's just we have to be more direct with them and take out the whole tree or the problem instead of chopping branches. We will see how this goes! Wish us luck. We need to baptize. there's a bit of pressure. Oh well. Thanks for the Email dad. helps me understand that maybe I'm just meant to plant seeds my mission. If that's the case, so be it. 

Elder Mortensen

August 26, 2013 (Week 54)

August 26, 2013

Well... What happened... Not much. My mind is pretty dead.

Carcamo and me rode a train for about 3 miles, I jumped and ran, he jumped and crashed. Got pretty scratched up haha.
 
But other than that, it's been a pretty hard week, hard weeks for that matter. No matter how many people we find and baptismal dates we get, everyone seems to die after we put in allllll our work. We are still hoping that things start to pick up. It's pretty hard sometimes and I think this will be the first month I don't baptize. We have a sure one this Sunday, but that's in september. I feel pretty much like a failure if we go 3 weeks without a baptism, let alone 4. It's just the missions here... different culture. You should have a baptism every week, if you work. We must be missing a piece. We had a chance to work with an assistant, and he helped us realize and how to focus on the needs. Good day with him, even though he FREAKING put his FREAKING shoes allll over my hammock. It took EVERYTHING I had to not planch the assistant there... jaja. Nobody touches her like that. Carcamo saw my face and immediately started laughing but then looked away. Pure anger hahaha.
 
 
Hopefully things start to pick up. We found a gold nugget, but she can't come to church for a bit.
 
The family of 10 is slowly "dying", and I'm afraid we might have to "kill" them this week. I was so stoked. We are going to try to revive them, but can't waste too much time. But Gustavo, the 26 year old that we contacted is still pretty strong. We pray he goes under this week, and because he wanted to do it in a river... :) I'd like to get in the water again. That fresh white shirt is still in the package...
 
Maria de los Angeles is scared her mom won't let her, but we are gonna keep reading and stuff to see if she will progress. If not, Facebook friend and I'll pick that one up when i get home hahahahahahahaha
 
Maribel,,,, is still pressured by her church and isn't really doing her homework. SHE KNOWS ITS TRUE!!! agggghhh... So frustrating... I wish I could planch some people.
 
"I have family over... yeah. we are the family, we came from Veracruz, and we already have plans..."
 
Uhh... what about God? Where does HE fit in those plans?? sheesh.
 
Man. I hope I don't scare you all. I'm still me haha. phew. yeah. power planch over. :)
 
haha I love you all. Take care, and enjoy the snow when it comes . Lucky dogs. Although there is a hurricane and we have been getting substantial rain. I love it, Carcamo doesn't like being wet. haha. Crazy Gringos...
 
Adios! 
 

Anciano Mortensen.

August 19, 2013 (Week 53)

August 19, 2013



So, to start off, this week was pretty hard... not the year mark I was hoping for. It was pretty interesting...

Started off with pancakes with a member, I made my 1 out of pancake dough and that was cool. It all went pretty downhill from there...

I'm not one to be negative. I'll save it for later.

All in all, I bought a Spiderman piñata, and we set it on fire with a tie and my 1 year mark shirt. Pretty freaking cool. Good times with Jose Luis y Laura.

So this famiilia de 10 is actually doing pretty well. We are working really hard with them to get the goal of 1 septiembre. They quit drinking coffee and smoking, and 6 went to church! The grandma needs to get married and overcome her doubts of the Virgen Maria y Juqila y los Santos. We are gonna work hard. She makes good tamales. I'm pretty stoked for the 1st. Can't wait actually.

Well.. Really nothing much happened. Jorge died. that was super sad. Freaking Evangelicos. Negative buggers. Sad funeral.
Jose Luis is facing criminal charges for something he didn't do or know about and the are selling all their things..
Olimpia didn't get baptized, says she has no clue what the Book of Mormon is, which is a lie, she likes what it says and has read more than 5 chapters.

I don't know. It's been a very long week. I'm glad to get started again. Every week is an año [year] en la mision. Just need to keep going and the times will get better.