Well Hello there!
Here in the grand old Ixhuatan We have blue skies and a slight breeze and well it’s hot so the breeze off the ocean is nice, at times wait, all the time!!! Except when it gets in your eyes that's no good at all.
Well where to start..... Let’s start at the beginning of this week back when it was 2012 do you remember that? huh that was a week ago? feels like two days ago but oh well, it was a week ago and it sure went fast!!!! I am sort of glad it has sped up since the first weeks because those were pretty slow!!! I don't know if you can tell through this letter but i am actually in a very happy mood! i know it may be strange, a missionary happy, but its true!!! I am super happy and i have no clue why! that's the great thing about being a missionary you have no idea what’s going on outside of the place you are serving, except what your parents send, and you’re still so happy. It’s a good day.
So anyways the 31 of December New Years Eve. What a night that was!!! wow! if i could only have videoed the night, these elders didn't sleep a wink. I would have called it "the world ending" cause here it’s nice and hot (or cool for them) and well fireworks are a big thing here and that's all i need to say… no I’ll sort of describe the night. So after Emailing last monday we picked up our clothes from President Alveres's house and got our backpacks and set out on a night that I will remember for the rest of my life. not only was I away from home but for the first time on new years eve i was sweating, I thought new years eve was either working at a roller skating rink or going to a dance or going to bed before midnight or when I was young breaking a spoon on a pan after making noise at 10pm with the family to ring in the new year. or snow? ya that's one thing Mexico doesn't have. So anyways my trusty stead, Elder Picuasi, and I walked into the night to the house of President Vasquez's house for a little dinner and some good old fanta. it was good some chicken and spaghetti. then we walked out into what feels like the middle of nowhere here which is just the country type part of Ixhuatan and talked with a nice women and her kids for a bit then started home. On the way our good friend Juan (John) came up in his mototaxi and said, "Hey I'll take ya home" so we thought hey that's pretty nice, but then he said, "haha just kidding, my mom has food for you and well we are going to my house". We looked at each other and then at our full tummies and said ok Juan. Then we sort of forced more food into our already full stomach and thought, we made it! but then his kind sister brought out a full plate of goodies and cake. The picture included. And well ate a bunch of it but had to take the rest home to eat later but holy cow my stomach was pretty close to the part of blowing up. (so ya that was my boom story, haha) nope here's the best part. Juan took us home and we planned for the next day went to bed after I wrote in my journal. I laid in my bed for a bit just thinking and then finally fell asleep. Now i said Fireworks are a big thing here well here anything is legal and at exactly 12 midnight the place went crazy!!! the ground shock, the house shock, as the biggest booms of fireworks light up the world. now my brother in one of the letters said that the world ending was on Mormon standard time but well i felt like the world ending was right then!!!! I am serious. It was crazy!!! as the night sky lit up for 30 minutes and the sleepy elders just laid there looking up at the sky or out the window and thinking –what’s up? haha at the thirty minute mark the biggest boom rang the sky. i thought it was a house that just blew up but no they put everything they don't want to remember from the last year in a stuffed scare crow type thing tied him to a chair and then (well i don't know if everyone does this but at least the neighbors across the street did) they put some fireworks in the scarecrow and just blew the top off and wow it shock me for about the whole night , it was a night in which we didn't really sleep well, but to make things better we got a txt at 2 am saying Juan had just been in an accident and was quickly being ambulanced off to a place that could help him. Yesterday he came home and we visited him, he fractured his left leg from just above the knee down through his whole left leg and he cracked his skull above the left eye up to the top of his head. it didn't look good. But this Mexican is one tough man! he is going to make it for sure! as he has been to 3 hospitals for all his problems, each one a different part of his body. He is going to be alright.
Here in the grand old Ixhuatan We have blue skies and a slight breeze and well it’s hot so the breeze off the ocean is nice, at times wait, all the time!!! Except when it gets in your eyes that's no good at all.
Well where to start..... Let’s start at the beginning of this week back when it was 2012 do you remember that? huh that was a week ago? feels like two days ago but oh well, it was a week ago and it sure went fast!!!! I am sort of glad it has sped up since the first weeks because those were pretty slow!!! I don't know if you can tell through this letter but i am actually in a very happy mood! i know it may be strange, a missionary happy, but its true!!! I am super happy and i have no clue why! that's the great thing about being a missionary you have no idea what’s going on outside of the place you are serving, except what your parents send, and you’re still so happy. It’s a good day.
So anyways the 31 of December New Years Eve. What a night that was!!! wow! if i could only have videoed the night, these elders didn't sleep a wink. I would have called it "the world ending" cause here it’s nice and hot (or cool for them) and well fireworks are a big thing here and that's all i need to say… no I’ll sort of describe the night. So after Emailing last monday we picked up our clothes from President Alveres's house and got our backpacks and set out on a night that I will remember for the rest of my life. not only was I away from home but for the first time on new years eve i was sweating, I thought new years eve was either working at a roller skating rink or going to a dance or going to bed before midnight or when I was young breaking a spoon on a pan after making noise at 10pm with the family to ring in the new year. or snow? ya that's one thing Mexico doesn't have. So anyways my trusty stead, Elder Picuasi, and I walked into the night to the house of President Vasquez's house for a little dinner and some good old fanta. it was good some chicken and spaghetti. then we walked out into what feels like the middle of nowhere here which is just the country type part of Ixhuatan and talked with a nice women and her kids for a bit then started home. On the way our good friend Juan (John) came up in his mototaxi and said, "Hey I'll take ya home" so we thought hey that's pretty nice, but then he said, "haha just kidding, my mom has food for you and well we are going to my house". We looked at each other and then at our full tummies and said ok Juan. Then we sort of forced more food into our already full stomach and thought, we made it! but then his kind sister brought out a full plate of goodies and cake. The picture included. And well ate a bunch of it but had to take the rest home to eat later but holy cow my stomach was pretty close to the part of blowing up. (so ya that was my boom story, haha) nope here's the best part. Juan took us home and we planned for the next day went to bed after I wrote in my journal. I laid in my bed for a bit just thinking and then finally fell asleep. Now i said Fireworks are a big thing here well here anything is legal and at exactly 12 midnight the place went crazy!!! the ground shock, the house shock, as the biggest booms of fireworks light up the world. now my brother in one of the letters said that the world ending was on Mormon standard time but well i felt like the world ending was right then!!!! I am serious. It was crazy!!! as the night sky lit up for 30 minutes and the sleepy elders just laid there looking up at the sky or out the window and thinking –what’s up? haha at the thirty minute mark the biggest boom rang the sky. i thought it was a house that just blew up but no they put everything they don't want to remember from the last year in a stuffed scare crow type thing tied him to a chair and then (well i don't know if everyone does this but at least the neighbors across the street did) they put some fireworks in the scarecrow and just blew the top off and wow it shock me for about the whole night , it was a night in which we didn't really sleep well, but to make things better we got a txt at 2 am saying Juan had just been in an accident and was quickly being ambulanced off to a place that could help him. Yesterday he came home and we visited him, he fractured his left leg from just above the knee down through his whole left leg and he cracked his skull above the left eye up to the top of his head. it didn't look good. But this Mexican is one tough man! he is going to make it for sure! as he has been to 3 hospitals for all his problems, each one a different part of his body. He is going to be alright.
Well the first day of 2013 went like this: the missionaries
woke up, got dressed, headed for the taxis and no one was up not a single
person but one taxi driver and 6 missionaries. Jan 1st is a day to sleep all
day long!!! But the faithful missionaries went to a meeting with their zone and
got their money for the month. We sure are the army of Helaman after no sleep
at all we were faithful! way to go Elders!!!!
That's about may whole week just studding praying for Juan .
Saturday I went on splits with another guy in the ward and we rode bikes all
day it was good and a much quicker way to get around when your appointments are
all over the world, or just the small
world of Ixhuatan Oaxaca Mexico. I taught some good lessons and one of the guys,
my first time asking a guy to do this, said he will be baptized! in two three weeks he will most likely be. YES!!!!
other than that my week has been walking and talking and walking and teaching
and walking and eating and well every night sleeping. A typical Missionary day here.
In the mornings i listen to a talk, this weeks highlight, which there are a lot,
is President Monson's Attitude of Gratitude from 2010 October. It really made
me think of how grateful i am to live in this world and to be so grateful to “give
up” people say that, but it’s more like voluntarily enrolled in the Army of
Helaman for two years to serve the master. The Armies of heleman are always
ready for as good old battle with satin to cast him out of peoples lives and to
change them forever. Elder Holland said this in his last talk, "the
crowning characteristic of love is always loyalty" how loyal are we to our
savior? are we loyal enough to give up our all to serve the master? just a
thought for you today. Anyways this happy little Helper of the Lord is always
ready to cast satin aside to help people open their eyes and that's what I'm
here for. I am here to help serve the Lord with my other brethren and Sisters
in the army of super missionary stripling warriors of Helaman.
Now this time of the year i don't really like, well i love every time, but the fact that the Christmas carols or songs change back to party rock instead of Rudolph or Payphone instead or we three kings is a bit sad it just means to me that the season of love hope and peace is gone! it changed to- the world is back! Kind of sad.
Hope you are Safe where ever you are. I sure do love you all!!!!
Elder "Super missionary" Jaymes Monson- not the apostle Monson and there is still no relation to the prophet. I keep getting that question!
Now this time of the year i don't really like, well i love every time, but the fact that the Christmas carols or songs change back to party rock instead of Rudolph or Payphone instead or we three kings is a bit sad it just means to me that the season of love hope and peace is gone! it changed to- the world is back! Kind of sad.
Hope you are Safe where ever you are. I sure do love you all!!!!
Elder "Super missionary" Jaymes Monson- not the apostle Monson and there is still no relation to the prophet. I keep getting that question!
Picture of New years Eve with the Orozco Family
