Ingrown toenails aren't fun!

Hey guys!

Well, as you can tell from the subject, I found out first-hand this week that ingrown toenails are definitely not fun things to deal with..... Ouch! haha I sent a picture for you all too! It´s fun stuff! Luckily, the clinic I went to to have them cut it out is run by a member and she did it free! Yay! What happened was that it was hurting pretty bad Wednesday and Thursday and I decided to go on Thursday to get it looked at by this member and she saw it right away, and said it was infected so she had to operate. I was pretty scared. She then proceeded to take out an inch long needle to give me a shot to deaden everything. I can´t tell you the pain that was centered in my tender, infected, ingrown toe... Ouch. The best part was that she stopped and started in the middle of the shot a few times and that made it hurt even worse. After that, she took out her X-acto knife and started cutting the nail out. That part was actually cool because I felt absolutely nothing, but I could see the fact that she was cutting me. It was really strange. One thing lead to another and because of the pain I later felt, we went to the house and didn´t leave again all night. It was great fun. Also, there was another Elder with the same problem so Friday, I went with him to the Red Cross Hospital where they did the same thing to him, but worse because they just took out the entire nail. I watched. It was GROSS! haha We ended up staying in, talking and studying Friday too. It was cool. He´s a cool Elder from Salt Lake. It was a neat experience although I absolutely hated being cooped up all day. That was horrible! haha

Anyway, I gotta say the other two crazy things that happened yesterday.... First and foremost: It was actually worse than seeing the toenail get wrenched out. Yesterday morning on te way to church, we saw a guy get hit by a van while crossing the street. It was horrible. We heard screeching tires, a thud, and we looked over to see a guy flying in the air and landing on the street. The worst part was that the guy in the van just ran away. It was pretty bad though. We rushed over to see what we could do, but there were a ton of people doing the same. He looked pretty bad with a gash in his head and a compound fracture in his right leg. It was nasty stuff. After that experience, we headed to church where we had another crazy experience. We were welcoming everyone to church and this teenage kid asked me if I spoke english and if there was a drinking fountain. Come to find out that the kid goes to Ogden High! How nuts is that! His cousin´s in our ward and going on the mission next week so they´re visiting. It was nuts! What and incredibly small world, eh? Some kid from Ogden sees me and he lives on 31st street. Nuts, right? I thought it was cool. The bad news is.... There isn´t a drinking fountain in the building. LAME! haha Anyway, onto the spiritually cool experiences now, right? I had one of the coolest things happen to me that has ever happened in my life. It was awesome! Do you all remember Maria who got baptized in January with her grandkids? Well in these 3 months that we´ve been working with her and the kids, her husband has never wanted to come down out of his room to listen to us. He´s kind of a shy guy. Anyway, I went with another elder Tuesday to their house to visit them because all sorts of stuff´s been going on with one granddaughter running away and she´s been sick and all this stuff. Anyway, we were there and invited her husband to hear us again and he actually said yes! We started teaching all of them and it was going really well and then I asked him to be baptized. He said yes again! Then I asked him to be baptized on Easter and he said yes yet again! It was sooooooo cool! The family is going to start to receive even more blessings now! Maria said tat she´s been praying ton that her husband could get baptized and this Easter, it´s going to happen! I was so happy! He came to church with his family yesterday and we taught them again last night about how he felt and he said ¨If Iwouldn´t have liked it, I wouldn´t have stayed for three hours!¨ I thought it was pretty awesome. haha It´s also fun to see him interact with his grandson because he reminds me of a certain grandpa I know. haha It´s pretty cool. Well, all is well with me. The toe´s feeling better and I´m happy! I do have some bad news though. That CD of pictures you sent me got busted. I don´t know what happened, but when I took it out of my backpack to print the pictures off, it was busted right down the middle. I don´t know if it would be possible for you guys to send another my way. I would greatly appreciate it. I´m trying to fill a photo album with pictures of family and friends! haha Um.... I think that´s about it. This week, I´m going to be reading the talk by Juan A Uceda and the talk by Patrick Kearon. I´m reading two because they´re short! I hope that´s alright and I hope you are all doing great today! I´m pretty happy! Love you all! Elder Alexander

Conference Day Baptisms

Elder Alexander and Okey

My tie was made by a member in Torreon.

Conference!

Hey guys! So I have to start out telling the coolest story of the week! It happened about an hour ago! We were chilling in this mall because my comp baught some new shoes and we went to the bathroom (that isn´t the cool part). I was waiting for him and this song was playing that sounded really familiar. I was thinking it was one of those songs that is just really popular here and I had heard it before, but it wasn´t! It is a song very close to my heart that goes something like this: ¨Time passages!¨ Can you believe it? They even have that lame song here in Mexico! It made me really happy though and I just started laughing right there thinking of the first time I heard it with Dad on the way to the cabin. Good times! It was way funny. It´s going in my journal for time and all eternity! Anyway, I guess I had better share with you all the amazing week we had this week! First off, my new comp´s name is Elder Pedraza and he´s from Mexico City. We´ve gotten along really well this week and it´s fun! We were also able to baptize an awesome guy yesterday! We had 4 baptisms yesterday in the zone and so we baptized in one big service in-between sessions of conference. Dad, you should definitely work your resources so that the picture can be in the Ensign and Liahona magazines! How awesome would that be! haha I´m sure Robert Casey has some pull there, no? anywho, this guy who we baptized really let me see the value and the reality of the Atonement and of repentance. He was one of the craziest druggies and drunks I think I have ever met with the stories he´s told us, but through a ton of different experiences, he developed the faith to quit all that stuff and get baptized! It was so cool to see his face yesterday afterward! One of the really cool things is that I got to watch most of conference in english because it´s easier for him to understand and all in english so I really got the most I could out of those 10 hours of conference. I think i have to tell Nate some stuff in a different letter about following the Prophet. ;) Just kiddin! haha. It was a way cool week though. That training we went to was way good too! I really enjoyed it! Oh and i think I saw Jordan Gibby singing in that Institute Choir! It was cool! haha It sure sounds like you guys are rocking it back home with some George Strait.... WOOOOH! haha That was for you, Mom. I can´t believe that Skylee got married and Jenisy has a kid and I´m going to be 20 next month! I am sooooooo OLD! ahhhhh! haha! That´s way cool. Mom, I actually met Elder Jensen. He´s cool and knows Preston really well. He got here last Monday and I saw him today. He looks like a deer in headlights, but happy. Tell Kaylene I love her tons too! Well, that´s about it. Oh, that picture me and that Elder is of Elder Okey and I in the transfer meeting with a home made tie that a member gave to me. How about them apples! haha Love you! Send that Ensign as soon as you can! Oh, and this week, I´m gonna study the talk by Elder Perry! Love ya tons!!!!!! Elder Alexander

Crazy Elders!!

Special.

Missionaries from "The Zone"

Elders Alexander and Weyland.

So sad to see Elder Chatu leave for home, but happy to be a part of the traditional suit burning!

9 Months!

March 28, 2011 WOW! Is it really 9 months? Where has the time gone? When I say that right now I am entirely serious! It was actually pretty sad. Elder Chatú had a little sad moment yesterday morning. I was helping him pack while getting ready for church and when he finished with his suitcase he just looked at me really sadly and opened his arms for a hug and he just grabbed me and started crying. It was way sad. As weird as it may sound, because of him, I feel like that day will never come and that I´m just gonna be here forever. I know it´s not true, but I kind of want it to be right now. It just feels too real. It was cool though. Saturday he had his last interview with President Clark and Elder Larsen was out tracting with other missionaries and after the interview, President told me in Spanish: Well Elder Alexander... All too soon, You´ll be in this last interview and receive your certificate of completion.... Wow. That was a little hard for me to handle. If all is well though, Elder Chatú is hanging out with his family right now in Tuxla, Gutierrez, Mexico and loving life. I hope he makes the transition alright.... Oh and mom, thanks for mentioning that I´m 3/8 of the way through. Haha I´m glad that you´re excited to see me. You´ll be the first one I hug in the airport! That´s for sure! So everybody clear the way when I´m heading down the escalator because mom comes first! haha (Sorry everyone, but that made me (Cami) really happy. Since I'm the one publishing the blog for Parker, I had to make sure this info is clear to everyone! Hehe.) Other than dying a little bit with Elder Chatú this week, all was pretty normal. It was actually pretty fun! We were way busy all week until Elder Chatú shut down a bit on Friday and we visited an awesome family from a ward he used to be in from this stake. It was way cool and here is the story of the week! They were talking about how their daughter is in a church school in Mexico City called Benemerito. It´s a way cool school and it´s basically BYU-Mexico for High School kids. It´s cool. Anyway, they said that the daughter wants to go to BYU when she graduates and, being prepared with a getintoweber.com pen, I put in a little plug for the Lord´s real university and guess what!!! They had already been looking into Weber because of the criminal science department! They had a college show or something in the school and mentioned that it´s one of the best! How amazinglyawesome is that!!!! WOOOOO HOOOOO!!!! GO CATS! (that was what was going on in my brain) I think they need to make me international recruiter for Mexico or something! It was so cool! I couldn´t even sleep Friday night I was so excited! Go cats! Anywho, another cool story is that we have an investigator right now who understands English more easily than Spanish and last night, because it was just Elder Larsen and I so he just started talking to us in English and asking all this stuff in English. It was way cool! He was living in Texas for like 29 years or something like that so he actually doesn´t speak Spanish very well. It was a really cool lesson. It felt incredibly different teaching doctrine in English without my scriptures in English, but since I don´t get another comp until tomorrow, we´re heading over tonight with him again and we´re giving him a Book of Mormon in English. I don´t know how easy it would be, but it would be awesome if you guys could send a triple combination to me so that he can have all that. I just think it would be cool. It doesn´t need to be a really nice one or anything, but the thought came to my mind last night in the lesson and I think he would love that. Maybe even a bible if that´s not gettin’ too expensive. He´s an amazing guy with an insane story, but I´ve learned to love him. He rocks. Oh, his name´s Fermin Hernandez by the way so you can have him in your prayers! Anywho, that´s about it! I´m gettin’ a new companion tomorrow and General conference is this week! Woo Hoo! I don´t think I´ll be able to study the talks with you until I get a Liahona down here which might be June or if you all send an ensign to me in may. That would be sweet so I can get studying sooner! We´re gonna see about going every session. We´re gonna have to work our tails off to have some people in the teaching pool and have results so we can go so pray for us that we can! I love you all soo much! Elder Alexander P.S. (birthday hint.... Sour patch kids) haha and maybe another missionary mall short sleeve shirt. I love those shirts! Just to get the creative juices flowing.)

Holy Cow!

Hey guys!

First of all, I just wanted to thank mom for slowly killing me.... I cannot believe I´m going to be 20 in 2 months from today! That´s crazy! haha I feel like an old fogey now... also, another thing I realized this week is that Guys and Dolls was 2 years ago! That is something hard for me to swallow. Next thing you know, I´ll be packing up my bags to come home.... Scary thought. haha

So this week was a little normal, but holy cow it passed by fast. It was pretty cool though. We worked our tails off. It´s a little difficult right now because Elder Chatu is heading out in 7 days and he´s thinking a ton about his house which makes me think about home a little bit too. Kind of lame, I know, right? It´s all good. I´m really enjoying myself. We did have some cool experiences this past week. We celebrated the aniversary of the Relief Society on Saturday as a big huge stake activity and it was pretty nuts. What happened was that each ward was assigned a country and the sisters of the relief society had to do a cultural dance from that country. It was pretty hilarious. The whole time I was thinking about how it would have been if Mom and Sandy were up there dancing in front of everyone. It was a pretty funny thought. That should definitely happen sometime soon! haha. We were there for a few hours watching it all. It was pretty sweet. Our ward was assigned Argentina and it was pretty sweet.

Something else I found out this week was that our new Mission President is only about 45 years old or something like that! Nuts, huh? He´ll be living here with his kids and everything. I imagine they´re still fairly small, but who knows? Pretty sweet, eh?

We had a funny experience this week. We contacted a lady in the street this week and we had an appointment with them, but Elder Larsen and I didn´t go because Elder Chatu went on splits with a future missionary who´s heading out in a month. So they teach a lesson and we had a return appointment with them Friday which is a good sign. We get there and Elder Larsen starts teaching, to get the hang of starting it all up, and the dad of the family was acting really strange. He asked for a Book of Mormon and read a scripture from it and asked it what it meant to us each individually. He was going on really strange for about five minutes like that and just contending with us. I had seen something like that before so I had some suspicions, but Elder Larsen had no clue. Come to find out that this guy is a returned missionary and wanted to teach us and help us grow our testimonies. It was cool. It worked. I thought it was hilarious, but Elder Larsen kind of wigged out and got really nervous because he didn´t really get what was going on. It was a funny and fairly spiritual experience. Good times.

Today was pretty sweet too! I had the best meat I´ve had since the Timbermine! An elder in our zone has his own taco restaurant in his house (Cancun) and he made carne asada for us today....... AMAZING! He has his own marinade and salsa and all this stuff. So amazing.

Well, that´s about it for me! I love you all so much! Take care of yourselves!

Elder Alexander

Gotta love those VW's!

Happy Birthday, Dad and Other Stuff

Hey guys! First off, let me tell you that I love you all and you rock! Secondly, Happy birthday, Dad! 56 years old! Woooooooow! haha

This week was pretty sweet. Wanna know why? I got the package! Thanks so much for all that stuff! Simba is right at home in Mexico and I wear the Packers shirt in the house all the time! It´s pretty funny because I was going to ask for more Weber pens in the next one because I´m running out. You guys just are psychics or something! haha It was cool though to read those articles about the Jazz and about Weber. It seems like everything is going well with Weber, but te Jazz are lacking a bit. Oh well. It´s the end of an era with the retirement of Sloan. That´s crazy. I don´t ever remember Layden as coach so the Jazz are pretty much not the Jazz to me now. Weird, huh? Thanks for the package though and those baptismal programs. They were pretty sweet. I got extremely happy when I saw those pictures!

This week was way busy because we had a ton of meetings and a bunch of stuff so it was hard this week to get lessons in, but it was a fun one. We actually had Zone conference this week and I realized that as we were in front explaining everything that was going on, that it was my first Zone Conference as a zone leader. Crazy stuff, no. It was cool. We did end up learning a bunch because President Clark let us in on his insights. He´s a great man. That´s for sure. It was a cool cool day.

We ended up baptizing someone this week too! What happened was that some other Elders were teaching this couple forever, but they weren´t married so they had to wait, but then they moved to our area and the wife got baptized this Saturday. It was pretty sweet. Elder Larsen was able to do the honors so he was way happy to baptize someone for the first time in his life. It was kind of cool! I helped them out practicing right before he got in and he was way nervous, but he did a great job and she got baptized! It was a happy day.

That´s about it for me. Life is good in Mexico. It´s hot, but we´re enjoying it. Elder Chatu only has one p-day left in the mission after today which is nuts, but he´s happy. I forgot to mention one thing. A few weeks ago, I sent a letter home for Mishy Kirby and I don´t know when it´s gonna arrive, but when it gets there, could you take it to her?

It´s kind of weird that someone else is living at home, but it´s cool! He´s a cool guy so I´m not too worried about it. I just want a bed to sleep in when I get home. That´s all I ask! haha Oh and thanks for sending that quote book. It´s pretty much the coolest thing ever!

Love ya!

Elder Alexander

Lookin' cool.....

Mom wants to know where I got this tie~

Elder's Larsen and Alexander

Viva Mexico!

A big Hola to mi familia!

Hey! Guys!

So I don´t know if you all realized it, but the 3rd of March marked the one year mark from when I opened my call! How nuts is that! I spent the day Thursday thinking about how crazy that day was and how excited I was! So many emotions were going on that day and so many phone calls were made. It was a crazy day. It was cool to think about this past year and everything I have gone through since I received my call. So much has changed. It was kind of weird. This week I spent a lot of time just reflecting when I had an extra minute or writing in my journal about my life and you guys. I´m not homesick or anything. It was just a really reflective week and my testimony of the Lord´s plan for me has definitely grown. I was thinking about all the seemingly little things have brought me here with the friends I have and the knowledge I have gained. Maybe it hasn´t been the easiest journey and I know it hasn´t been the hardest journey, but I do know that the Lord has his plans and I will be forever grateful for all the things that He has brought to me in my life... good or bad, I´ve learned from each experience and I have grown into who I am now and I will continue to do so. Every choice we make really makes a difference. I was reading a talk and it basically says that who we are in this instant is the sum of everything we´ve seen, heard, done, thought, and said and that we will always be changing and evolving. I will be forever grateful for those things that have brought me to this point in my life. Even the small things or the dumb decisions have brought me to this point and I have explicit trust in the Lord that He will guide me and shape me into the man I need to be. With that being said, it´s been a pretty cool week. haha

Anyway, this Wednesday, we had another one of those leadership counsels that all the Zone Leaders go to which was way cool. We learned a bunch about the things we need to do to boost up our district leaders and help our zone succeed. It was pretty sweet and the best part above all was that we had a Thanksgiving dinner! Sister Clark made turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing and all that good stuff and we ate our little hearts out. It was pretty funny. There ended up being like 6 Americans at the table in the kitchen celebrating the Thanksgiving we never had in the mission. It was a good time!

Something else pretty cool is that Elder Larsen and I have gotten to know each other a lot better because we did exchanges where Elder Chatu went with a priest from the ward and I headed with Elder Larsen. He´s a really good kid and I´m glad he´s with us. I´ve learned from him a lot in this week we´ve been together and I hope he´s learned a bit from me. He was really wanting to speak english because we never do so for a few hours, we were talking back and forth in english and it was just a cool experience. That hasn´t happened since my first change with Elder Layland so it was fun.

Other than that, it was a pretty normal week. We didn´t have a ton of success. All the people we were teaching didn´t come to church so we´re gonna have to start over this week with a clean sheet of paper. This week is kind of the key because with how things work out, this week is the last chance Elder Chatu is going to have to find people to baptize because the investigators have to go to church 3 times before they get baptized so be praying for us that we can find someone this week who can get baptized the 27th of March. It would be really cool.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I know it´s a few days from now, but still, enjoy it! I love you all tons and I will talk to you in about 2 months!

Love you!
Elder Alexander

Another Son!

Hey all you!

I am doing awesome today! I might have gotten a little bit sunburned playing soccer this afternoon, but all is well! haha

So this week has been crazy.... Where do I even begin? Okay so I'll go with the coolest thing first! We got another kid so we're training again! His name's Elder Larsen and he's from Sandy, UT. He's way cool and just about the most excited I've ever seen a new Elder be! Dad, just because I know you'll ask, His parents names are Greg and Jenny and Greg is a dentist. Jenny has a facebook page, mom, so if you want to look her up you can find her! haha Don't I know you two so well! He's way fun though and he'll be with us for 4 weeks until Elder Chatu goes home and we have changes the 28th. It's gonna be pretty cool! He did bring me news from Utah though.. Deron Williams got traded to the Nets? What's up with that?

That's really the only way cool thing that happened this week. Thursday I got sick and Friday I didn't really even get out of bed much. It was lame. It was just bad body aches and a little bit pukey, but all is well and I'm healthy as a horse once again! haha!

That's really all. There's not that much. We weren't able to work as much this week because of that so we don't have good success stories this week, but we're gonna be working hard this week so I'm sure there's gonna be some success to come. I want Elder Chatu to be able to baptize his last week so that he can end with success and so Elder Larsen can start with some! How does that sound? Keep them in your prayers!

Anyway, so your letters this week were awesome! It is so cool that so many of my buddies are heading to the mission and that Colter and Ellie got baptized. That news actually hit me hard to tell you the truth. I remember when they were born. I cannot be that old! haha actually.... I can! I turn 20 in May! AHHHH! haha The talk this week was very good. I am able to look at the Confirmation in a different way now and this week, I'm going to go through Elder Ballard's talk. Cool? It's a good one I hope! Um... what Else? I dońt really know, but... Yeah. haha

Don't worry about the package. It'll come when it comes. I'm not too worried. haha the new garments will be even cooler when I get them! haha If someone could, I'd love some pics of me and you guys or good friends from before the mission. We were going through memories with Elder Chatu and I realized I don't have any photos of tours or dances or anything with friends or family pics so maybe an e mail with those attatched would be cool, cool?

Oh, there's another talk to read.. "Hope, the Anchor of the Soul" by President Faust. I'm gonna find it and read it. Umm.... that's it really. I love you all so much and take care this week! I LOVE YOU!!!!!!

Bye!

Elder Alexander

The leg is fine, haha.

Hey Fam!

So I want to get this out right there in the open. The leg is great! Haha There really are no problems with it. The butterfly Band-Aid stuff they put on it fell off like it´s supposed to and it looks great. Don´t even worry about a thing! Haha

This week was a pretty crazy one, but before I start with this week, I want to tell you all about some stuff I did last week that I forgot about. First, with the gross one.... Are you ready???? I don’t really think so, but I’m gonna tell you all anyway... I had cow brain tacos last Sunday to go along with the pizza we ate. I will NEVER eat brain again.... It has the weirdest texture I have ever felt in a food and that is the for sure truth about that! EWWWWW!!!!!

Ok so now the cool story. Ready? Ok so there´s a member of the ward here who’s like 30 or so who used to live in Ogden. That’s the first cool thing. The second is that he worked on campus (WSU) playing Spanish music on Sundays. The third cool, and kind of weird part is that he used to live where Tara now lives! What a small world we live in! Its nuts! I just had to tell you about that. Ready for more news? There’s an Elder Okey here from Hooper who’s now comps with Elder Beltran and his mom used to be an usher in the Dee. How about them apples? Crazy world. I can’t remember her name, but yeah. She knows exactly who I am. Crazy,eh?

Ok so a little bit more news. We found out today who the next mission President is gonna be. His name is President Flores and he’s from Vera Cruz, Mexico. How cool! He’ll get here in July sometime. Nuts, eh? Other news, Elder Robb, the Assistant, knows our cousin Corby (Felt) Roberts really well. They’re either wardies in Las Vegas or they live in the same stake. How about that! It’s a small, small world! Haha

That’s all the really really cool stuff that happened this week. It’s cool being with Elder Chatu only again. We’re having fun together. This week was a little tough and HOT!!!!! Haha but it was a good Sunday yesterday. We saw the fruits of our labors for sure!

Mom, that’s so cool that you have a movie list! I’m making one right now for Elder Chatu for when he leaves in 5 weeks! I’m looking forward to watchin’ those with you Mommy.

That´s really about it.
Love you all,

Elder Alexander

The Gifting of the Simba....

Parker baptized this little guy two weeks ago.

He loves stuffed animals, so Parker parted with the Simba he took to Mexico. :'(

Sad and happy all at the same time.

In the words of Elder Alexander, "He's a cute little guy."

Elders Chatu and Alexander ...

...a little older and wiser than they were last week!

Happy Valentine's Day and a Hospital Visit

Hey you guys!

I hope all is good and well with you and I hope this Valentine’s Day is awesome for you all! I guess I don’t really have a Valentine, but that’s ok. I’m not too worried about that. This week was a pretty darn crazy one.... Where to begin? Let’s see..... Okay, well, today is the end of the change and we got the news last night that Elder McBride’s headed to a different place so this morning at 9, we had to be at the offices to drop him off because he’s headed south. We’re not quite sure where, but he’s heading out so this change is going to leave Elder Chatu and I still in San Luis (Torreoń). It’s the last change for Elder Chatu. He’ll be heading home to Chiapas on March 28th, so in 6 weeks it’s for sure that I’m going to get a different companion.

Okay, so to tell you all a little bit more about this week that I’ve had. I’ll start with the beginning because I forgot to tell you guys last week about something I did that was very hard for me. So, remember the Simba stuffed animal that I had? I don’t have it anymore. What happened was that the little boy we baptized two weeks ago absolutely loved stuffed animals and well, I understand that a perfectly. I ended up giving him Simba.... It was pretty tough to do, actually. He had a big smile on his face though so it was worth it. He’s a cute little guy. I’ll send a picture of that one so you can see it. It was a pretty cool moment. Also, his big sister got baptized yesterday which was way cool. She’s been a little rebellious her entire life, but she prayed to know the truth and she got her testimony. It was a way cool experience.

Okay and so the next thing is pretty cool. We had a meeting with President Clark and the Stake President of Torreon Reforma last Thursday about the work in the stake and what we can be doing to have more success. It was pretty cool, and after that, they started talking about some changes they’re going to be making with the stakes here in Torreon. They’re really wanting a temple down here so they’re figuring out ways to boost membership and to strengthen the wards and the stakes here so what they might be doing here pretty quick is combining wards to make them stronger and then dividing the stakes to have less wards in each stake, but with more support for the work. It should be a pretty sweet thing once they finish it all. I guess all is done. They just have to wait for approval from Salt Lake. It’ll be pretty sweet. I hope they announce the temple while I’m still in the mission! The members have to go 3 hours in bus to make it to the Monterrey Temple. Every ward does it like once every month or every other month. It’s cool.

Okay, so now for the part of the week that’s a little crazy... Thursday, before that meeting with President Clark, we were waiting for the bus so we could head out and make it on time and we were kicking rocks back and forth to entertain us and Elder McBride kicked one a bit hard and it took a weird bounce and whacked me in the shin and it was pretty intense pain as all shin hits are, but I just thought a goose egg was going to get there and a bruise, but I looked down, and there was a red spot on my leg a little below the knee so I rolled up the pant leg and there was a nice divot in my shin. Anyway, luckily we were outside of a vet office and one of the workers came and cleaned and bandaged it and we all though it was good. It hurt, but it was good. That night, we got to the house and I got a better look at the hole in my leg and it was fairly deep so, being the smart missionaries we are, we super glued the hole shut. How about that?

That isn’t all the story though. Friday night, I couldn’t sleep at all because my leg was throbbing in the bone so Saturday morning, I called Sister Clark to ask what I should and she said to go to the hospital here in Torreon, so we went. I get there and all is good. I unwrap my leg and the super glue was still good, but it was falling off and cracking off so I just removed it all and yeah... the doctor was really mad because we didn´t come Thursday because I needed stitches but more than 6 hours after you can’t stitch up a wound. Anyway, they hooked me up to some I.V.s and for about three hours, I was sitting there in the little hospital gown waiting for the two I.V. drips they gave me. One was for infection, if there was any, and the other was pain. They gave me a shot in the butt too... I think that was just to tell me to not play with rocks anymore. So I’m gonna come home with a nice hole in my shin and I’m on some medicine until Thursday to fight off infection and yeah. All is well. Haha I hope that was a good story for you all.

Anyway, that’s about all that happened this week. I’m happy and healthy. I actually really enjoyed the talk by Elder Cook. It was cool. He is a very intelligent man and all that stuff makes sense. We have to put the example for all the others and help our neighbors grow in faith as well. It was pretty cool. This week I want to read “Faith-The Choice is Yours,” By Bishop Edgely. It reminds me of the quote Mom gave me: “Faith is not a belief. Faith is a choice.” I just like it and want to read a bit about it.

Anyway, for that info on my wards for Mom, my first ward was in the stake La Laguna and the ward was Industrial. Next,in Durango, was the stake Durango Mexico and the ward Guadalupe. I think that’s all you needed, right? I hope so. Haha I’m still waiting for that package. You’re talking me up about it so I imagine it’s going to be sweet. Don’t worry about it though. I’m not in a rush. I’ll be in Mexico for another 16 1/2 months haha. I love you all a bunch and I hope this Valentine’s day is a special one!

Love,
Elder Alexander

San Luis Ward

Torreon Reforma Stake

Cold weather in Torreon!!!!

It was so cold in Torreon, Parker had to

wear three sweaters, sweats under his

dress pants, gloves, a hat and scarf.

The pipes in their appartment froze, too!

Elders Alexander and Chatu with the

Assistant to the President

Elder Taylor Robb

Go Packers!

This is a picture of the hat Robb and Cami bought for Parker after the Superbowl.

He'll have to wait and wear it when he gets home. ;)

GOOOOOOO PACKERS!!!!!!

Anyway, that's about enough about that stuff... haha. I was so stoked this morning. We went to a ward activity this morning to play some football,basketball and soccer with ward members this morning and a kid who's waiting for his call told me that the Packers won. I was soooooooo stoked! haha It was pretty cool. It has been a good day today and a fun one too! We went and played at like 11 and then at about 2 we headed back on the bus to the house and ordered pizza and showered and all that stuff and just chilled for a bit and now we're here! This was pretty crazy week!

First of all, Dad mentioned in his letter the cold and wow..... It was ridiculous! We woke up Friday morning and all our pipes were frozen solid so we were sore out of luck on that one. The lucky part was that Thursday night, I took a shower to warm me up before I headed to bed. It was pretty crazy though. I had on 3 sweaters, my coat, a scarf and all that stuff and I was still freezing! And also, underneath my slacks (that word's for Kathy) I had my Weber State sweats on to keep warm. I'll be sure to send a picture. It was a crazy time had by all. Fun, but crazy! We were lucky though and none of our pipes burst.

Well, the rest of the week was pretty crazy as well. Tuesday, we had the famous "consejo" where all of the zone leaders meet in the mission home and that was good. I learned a ton again and it was a pretty good experience. We set goals together on how as leaders we can change the culture of this mission and get better at everything. It was cool. I also got to see Elder Beltran again so that was a happy reunion. He's got to be my best friend from the mission. I just hope that one day we can be companions again. That would be way cool! Anywho, that was Tuesday.

Wednesday was a pretty tough day, actually...you know, one of those days that nothing really goes right and it was incredibly tough. Elder McBride was sick so we weren't really able to do much and It was just tough. It was all for my good though because just through that, my testimony was fortified because last night, I was able to bear my testimony on the plan of salvation and how I know that I will be able to give Derek a big hug again one day and I'll be able to hang out with him and preach the gospel in the spirit world with him. I don't think i have another friend who has shaped my life quite like Derek Jasper. I'll be forever grateful for him.

Anyway, that was about it for this week. I think that this upcoming week, I'm going to be studying the talk by Quentin R. Cook from conference. It looks like it should be a good one. I'll have to send a picture of me in my wranglers another day. I didn't hardly wear them with the cold this week. I had my sweats on under other pants the whole week. I also have a question on an E‑mail i got a few weeks ago..... dad has a new car? haha what kind? Other than that, life is good. with that package, I could maybe get it next Monday with the change meetings if you send it off tomorrow. I'm not really in need of anything right now. All is well. Tell my grandparents I love them!

Love you all,

Elder Alexander

Baptisms

Family!

I hope you all are well! That's way sweet about the cats victory last week and that Brianna was able to head over to Weber to check it out. That's way cool and I hope you guys had a bunch of fun! Also, it was cool to hear about the trip down to Vegas! It's weird, but I have this weird desire to head back there after the mission. I can't believe it's the seven month mark either! Time is passing by more rapidly each month which makes me a little bit scared with all the stuff there is left to do! It really is so fun to be here and I really love Mexico and the prople. It was a little weird today though. We were in this bus and a family was talking in English. Elder McBride and I didn't know what to do! haha it was funny though.

This was a great week. We did end up baptizing Maria and her 2 grandkids though! It was about time! I was getting a little worried that I would never step in a font again. I baptized Maria, Elder Chatu Baptized the grandson, and Elder McBride baptized the little girl. It was way cool. the grandson almost didn't get baptized though because the first time he went under, he freaked out and didn't go through with it and then he started crying and didn't want to go through with it. It was funny, kind of. We finally talked him into it and all went well and all three were baptized. It was a waaaaaaay cool experience!

Other than that, the week really wasn't anything exciting. Just the normal stuff of contacting, teaching and eating some good food. Haha. We did go on exchanges this week and I went with another gringo. That was pretty interesting having the whole world looking at us ant trying to speak English to us. haha It ws a fun day. I'm not trying to be boring, but really this week was pretty normal. Something pretty cool though, Elder McBride really reminds me a lot of Derek(Jasper). Even his voice is way similar! haha It's cool.

Anyway, that's about it. I love you all soooo much and this week, I'm going to study "Of Things That Matter Most" by President Uchtdorf and last week I read the talk by Elder Holland. Sorry I didn't send that to you all!

Love ya!
Elder Alexander

January 24, 2011

Family of mine!

So I got some crazy news! Six American Missionaries came last Friday to Mexico and they didn’t want to send them with a few missionaries and have a bunch of problems with changes and everything and so they sent one with us! His name is Elder McBride and he’s from Gilbert, AZ. It’s weird living with an American, especially because I haven’t for almost 5 months. He’s a cool kid though and we’re getting him ready to baptize this Sunday! He hardly understands the language and he has an even worse time speaking it. He had been in Fresno, California for about 3 and a half months and so he hasn’t really had that much practice, but Elder Chatu is with me and we’re working to help him out the best we can. The best thing is that he wants to learn and as far as I know, He isn’t getting as stressed out as I was getting before. It’s gonna be way fun to be with him and we’re gonna get Working on baptisms!

Another waaaaaay cool thing happened just yesterday. There was a region-wide conference in all the stakes in the area and Elder Holland spoke to us as well as a number of authorities! It really was one of the coolest things ever. One thing I learned was that if just 50% of the youth of the Church would be going on missions like they’re supposed to, there would be 16,000 more missionaries n the field. It was way cool to hear! I’m really loving this place and with Elder McBride here, I realized that I understand about 99% of Spanish now that gets said on a regular basis. It was way cool! I still don’t understand all the words, but if I can hear the rest, I get it pretty easily. How cool is that! And I’m not taking any glory because I know that the only reason I speak and understand as much as I do is that I have really been blessed with the gift of tongues. It really is so cool this whole gift of the spirit thing. God is really all-powerful and I love him for what he’s done for me.

I really earned a bunch about that reading President Holland’s talk. It really is such a good topic.... All virtues stem from gratitude. If we have the humility to give thanks and recognize God’s hand in everything, we really will be able to make it through the toughest times in our
lives easily.

So that lady who was sooooooo awesome is named Maria Del Rosario and she just rocks. There is not a person more ready for baptism than she is. She is such a neat lady and she’s gonna get baptized this Sunday with her two little grandkids. She’s way excited! It’ll be an awesome day. My first baptism since October! Crazy, eh?

So this week of being Zone Leader has been a little difficult. There have been some ...challenges. I enjoy it though. We really get to know President Clark and the assistants better and they are really here to help us. It’s way cool. I’m happy, healthy, and learning how to play soccer. All is well with me. There is one thing I would ask: remember that my pants are busted up? Well Elder McBride came with some really durable Wrangler dress pants that are way sweet.... Mom, you always have said I have a Wrangler butt. Anyway, there’s a Wrangler store here so maybe I could buy two pair next week. I think I’m gonna go ahead and do it if you want to send some money or something. I think there’s plenty, but yeah.

I love you guys sooooooo much and I’ll talk to ya later!

Elder Alexander

January 17, 2010

Hey guys!

Well, I’m back after another fairly crazy week, but before I start out, I want you all to know that God is for sure there and he works miracles today! On that note, let’s start out with my crazy week, but I’m gonna go backwards this time to liven things up a bit. Today was a great day....well it has been so far I suppose. We started out with the normal thing Zone Leaders do. We have this big conference call we do at 10 in the morning, and then after that, we went to go play some ball at one of the churches, but no one had a soccer ball or basketball so I ended up buying a ball and then when we got there, an elder brought his volleyball and so we played soccer with that... there aren’t a lot of Mexicans who like basketball and so yeah.. I’ve gotta say though, I did not do too bad at all. I actually scored a goal! haha I think that because I know Spanish now, I can play soccer better. Who knows? After that, my comp, who is hilarious, and I went to this store called aladinos because I was told by Elder Robb, the assistant, that they had IBC Root Beer.... They did. Also, I wrangled up some chocolate chips and rice krispies so it looks like... We’re gonna make some Scotcheroos! And now I’m writing you all to tell you about it! haha. Good day.

Yesterday.... This is kind of the climax of the week. We were gonna have this baptism, right? Well, we split up in the morning to go for investigators (I went with another missionary to pick up a really cool lady. (More on that later) and when Elder Chatu got to the church, the lady we were going to baptize wasn’t with him and he had a letter in his hand. Selene is her name. She wrote the letter to the two of us to say that she
wasn’t worthy to be baptized and she didn’t come. It was kind of lame, but that lady I went for came with her two grandkids. She'll definitely be baptized quickly. So we had been working with this investigator who has her boyfriend and is kind of eternal, but her boyfriend left her last week so she was gonna get baptized yesterday, but her boyfriend moved back on Thursday so that blew it. She really knows it’s true and the only thing that's been keeping her back is her marriage situations so..... after the services yesterday, she comes up to us glowing and says more or less... I'm going to be able to get baptized! I’m getting married Tuesday! She was soooooo happy! She was crying! It was cool! The Lord works in mysterious ways! But he works!

So Saturday... Awesome experience! It'll be hard to explain everything here in this letter, but we were contacting, knocking doors, when this lady answered and invited us in. Without even really talking to her to start things off, she just started pouring out her heart to us about all the problems she has and about how she has so much faith that God will help her, but she’s just in a bad place. She's an awesome lady. In the 10 minutes or so she was talking, something amazing happened... I began to really love this 60 year old lady I didn’t even know. I shared D&C 121 with her to comfort her and then we went into the plan of salvation and the purpose of everything in this life. It was so cool. We invited her to be baptized, she said yes. We told her the date of the 30th, she said yes. I really know that the most important part of teaching is really teaching with love. She says she's met with all sorts of people from different religions, but she feels differently with us. She said my face radiated with love.... I really can’t believe it. That’s the power of the spirit. I was just testifying as I was feeling this love for this lady and the love of my Savior for her. It’s something I've never experienced before, but this I know: If we feel the Spirit testifying to us or through us, we will feel of the love of the Savior for us, and then we will in turn love whoever we are talking to. It was just amazing. She’s like my little aunt or something now. She’s great!

Ok so the other cool thing that happened were the interviews. What happened was that the assistants came to give a mini conference and so we helped them by presenting this presentation to the zone and then the zone leaders are always the last ones to get interviewed so we just hung out talking to Sister Clark (who told me about mom’s hugs) and then at last he interviewed me for about two minutes. haha he just asked how I was and if I needed anything and I said I was happy and yeah... that was about it. He’s a great guy and has a great spirit about him. I’m glad he’s my mission President!

Well, that’s about it... This week, I want to study the Divine Gift of Gratitude by President Monson. I think it’s just what I need right now. haha I’m very grateful to you all for the support and prayers you have given me. I’m not just talking to my family on this one. Whoever is reading this, I want you to know I am grateful for you and I love you. The Lord truly has blessed me with a great family and amazing friends!

Moving on.... the wishlist I suppose. Umm... maybe in the next package, you could sent a quote book or something. I’m always looking for inspirational or just cool quotes. I think there’s one in Deseret book called The Missionary’s Little Quote Book or sumthin like that. and yeah... That’s it! Haha.


Love you all! Thanks!

Elder Alexander

6 Month Tie Burning

It is tradition that Elders burn a tie at the end of every

six month anniversary in the mission.

Reunion with Elder Beltran!

Elders Carillo, Beltran, Mills

and Alexander

It was great seeing my

first comp again!

Back in Torreon

Me

at a local

soccer stadium.

Feeling right at home with Coca Cola

January 10th - 2011

Hey Guys!

Well, this was a crazy fun week! I love my new companion! He really wants to work. He’s just a goof and that makes it way easy to enjoy the work. I have learned a bunch this week about myself, about the Lord, and about the mission in general. So here’s just a look at what went down this week!

So, Monday was cool. I got my comp, wrote you guys, and afterward, we went out to work. They had a number of people they were teaching and it looks like this week, we’re gonna be baptizing two. The only thing we have to do with one is make sure her boyfriend doesn’t come back. She lives with her whole family and her mom is one of the most devoted converts I have ever met. She was living with her boyfriend for a long time so she couldn’t get baptized, but she knows it’s true. It’s pretty sweet.

Let’s see.... well, Wednesday kind of really started with the Zone Leader stuff. We went to the mission home to have leadership council which was sweet. All the ZLs (Zone Leaders) and the assistants and President Clark talked about how we can be better and what we have to do to help our missionaries in the zone. It was cool. I really learned so much from that experience and guess what! I got to see Elder Beltran again so that was a great reunion! Oh, something cool too. There are 4 of us from the Ogden area who are zone leaders. Me, Elder Welch, Elder Okey who is from Hooper and knows the Nish’s really well and Elder Lyon who is from Brigham City (I know it’s not really the Ogden area, but still, it’s pretty cool. Pretty soon Elder Lambert will be here and we’ll have someone from Logan too! Pretty cool stuff!

So this ward I’m in is one of the biggest wards in the mission, I’m pretty sure. We had 218 people in sacrament meeting! It was nuts to see a young men’s program passing the sacrament. I haven’t seen that since Utah! The members here are really cool. There’s a family who was living in Logan for a long time about 8 years ago and we hit it right off the bat talking about Utah. It was cool. Something king of lame though with another family whose sister and nephews were living in Clearfield; she died in a bad car wreck in Riverdale in November and left the three kids by themselves. There’s a fund if you want to donate though. It’s the Silvia Ramirez memorial fund at America First. She was born and raised in Torreon and served the mission in Oaxaca, Mexico. If you could help, that would be cool. It happened November 28th.

Oh, something else incredibly important happened! A pair of pants from missionary mall is looking bad! I forgot to take photos, but the pocket is dicintagrating and a belt loop is getting destroyed. Haha I don’t know if you could send another pair of those grey ones. That would be cool. Also, I heard a CD of instrumental hymns the other day that was all jazzy and stuff! I don’t know what it would be, but I would die to have that CD! Haha There’s a sax and everything. I just thought it was cool.

Anyway, that’s it for this week. In this upcoming week, we have interviews with the Pres., so that should be pretty cool!

Love you all!

Elder Alexander

New Year and New Responsibilities!!!

January 3, 2011

Happy New Year a few days late! I hear from the letters that all went well and everything. That sounds great that it was a little bit more laid back. For us, it was really normal. We just worked and had some fun, but didn't really have much success because everyone was shooting off fireworks and having stuff like that. I guess that's the biggest thing to do here: shoot off fireworks or your guns! haha We have been hearing a few gunshots at night and it's pretty fun. They aren't dangerous. They're just celebrating. I guess that's just what everyone does in Elder Lopez's house. His whole family goes out and shoots off their weaponry like their automatic weapons and all that kind of stuff. I guess his house is pretty crazy with narcs and stuff like that, but he says it's fun!

Ok, so I had some more really good food this week that I thought I was going to hate. We wend to a member's house on the first and he had some dead fish just laying out. Everything was there.... head, scales, bones and all. It was fun. He just cooked em right up for us! They tasted a‑maze‑ing! Umm... what else.... oh yeah! So we were eating at a family's house and one of their daughters served a mission in Dallas with a girl from Ogden!!!! How cool! I guess she was living in Ogden for a few months with this family of her comp about five years ago. Her name is Sister Seade and the family is McEntire - I don't remember how to spell it, but yeah....Her comp's name is Laura and I guess she was or is going to Weber state to study English, which is cool. I don't know if you all know them, but it made me pretty happy to talk about home with someone who has been there! I guess they live in North Ogden, but yeah. Cool, eh?

So the reason I was going to learn a lot is because I went to Santiago Papasquiero again, but this time with Elder Watson and yeah.... I learned a TON about what I need to be doing as a missionary and good ways to improve on the things I lack, which is cool. We left Wednesday in the evening and we came back on Friday in the morning way early. I learned a bunch again from Elder Watson and just seeing how the other Elders work and how I need to step up my game to help them the best I can.

Ok, so are you ready for the new responsibilities part! Today, I don't know if you remember me telling about it, but we had changes and we were almost certain that Elder Lopez was going to have changes and everything, so he bore his testimony yesterday and said goodbye to a bunch of families and everything and we got a phone call last night from the Zone leaders: "Elder Alexander, you have changes tomorrow. You have to be in Torreon at 1:30 to be in the change meeting.̈ YIKES!!!!! So I had another 3 hour bus ride to Torreon this morning and in the change meeting, guess what happended! So first of all, President Clark started talking about Enoch and how he was young and unexperienced and God still called him and he was abundantly blessed. Well, yeah.... I only have 6 months in the mission and I was just bumped up to Zone Leader today. How nuts is that! Ahhhh! I thought I felt underqualified before, but yeah, now is a whole nother animal! haha I am definitely going to need some prayers and support in the next few weeks because I have a feeling that I am about to go through a whirlwind of stuff!!! It's gonna be cool though. We're in the Torreon Reforma Stake and in the ward San Luis. My new comp is Elder Chatu and I know I'm gonna learn a ton from him. He has 21 months in the mission so he has plenty to teach. Cool, eh? I repeat, YIKES! haha It's gonna be a neat experience to learn a lot and I know the Lord's gonna help me out a lot here!

So that's this crazy week! I hope your week was a little more peaceful! haha

I Love you all so much and I feel like Enoch!

Elder Alexander