¿Como estais? Thats neat to hear that there will be another Elder Call in the mission field. I never said anything about it but when I was in Union Hidalgo, we went to get our hair cut in Juchitan, and its a convert that cuts all the missionaries hair for free. She also has a wooden picture that she has all of the elders whose hair she cuts write their name on it. There was already an Elder Call on it. I cant remember the dates there, but it was pretty recent. So I'm not the first Elder Call to have come to Oaxaca. But that is great to hear about Evan going! Its also great to hear about Josh, I still cant wait to see him in the mission offices here in Oaxaca. Maybe Ill be his comp. haha. No, I predict France, but can't wait to hear where. But as normal, on to the questions.
(We saw that there is a Tropical Storm over the Oaxaca area. How has the weather been?)
1. Actually, the last 3 days have been the first 3 days in two months that we haven´t had rain. Although it is starting to look like there is some rain coming in for tonight, and there is some wind that feels really good, though the people here seem to think its cold. But so far it hasn't been bad weather at all. Guess we´ll have to see what happens tonight and tomorrow.
(Can you send us a picture of the house you helped build? Can anyone just build whatever they want or are there regulations at all?)
2. We haven't gone to Armando´s house for quite a while now. And in reality, its not finished, we only helped dig out the foundations, and put in the foundations. I wouldn't say that building a house in Mexico is easy, but its a lot more simple than a house in the states. All you need is cement, and some more cement. A shovel usually helps too. But if I get the chance to go I will try to take some photos of what we did. And about any building permits, we´re in Mexico, you just do what you want so long as you own the land. I'm amazed all the houses that are on the mountainside haven't long since slid down the hill, there is alot that look like they{re ready to go in an earthquake, kinda scary. But last week, it was raining in the afternoon like usual, and all through the night. The bishop lives up on the mountainside, and part of his hill broke off in the rain and mud and dirt slid down on their property, so we went to help shovel all of the dirt, it was a pretty sizable amount. But ya, there aren't laws or anyone who really regulates anything that I know of.
(Larry said that you did splits with an Elder Bybee that was in his ward in Alaska. Did you know that's where he was from?)
3. Ya, at the end of the day we were talking with a member, and of course he asked where Elder Bybee is from, and he said Alaska. (When we first met I told him about how I had been to Alaska once with my uncle, but he didn't say anything about it really) But we were talking a little bit when he asked me if I had a relative named Evan, and so we put two and two together... and it does turn out that he knows all of the Alaskan branch Call´s. So it really is a small world, especially with Elder Manwaring´s uncle teaching me in Seminary, kinda cool.
(Can I order you the Guatemalan scripture covers? I've been trying to track them down. Do you have any info you could give me about them?)
4. I don't really have any info or anything about them. Presidente De La Cruz organized missionwide orders from the missionaries before, and this was the last order that he was going to do. So I gave the ZLs the money necessary, and ordered the covers that I wanted and the pictures I wanted on each one (the pictures were coded by number, I should be able to find which ones I wanted because I wrote them down, but don't have them right now). And then all we had to do was wait for them to come. But then Presidente Leyva cancelled the order and ya. So I really have no idea how to order then at all. If there is anyway for you to do it that would be cool, because all of the older missionaries have them and they really are neat. But all I can give is the info that I gave to the ZLs, which is the pictures and things I wanted really. So I don't know how or if you can do anything. Next Monday I will try to bring the little info I have, so if there is anyway that you or I could order them, I will have it. Talk to me again about them if there is something we can do.
(Is there anything you would like to request for your next package?)
5. There is one thing that I would like. Ive used up the majority of the pencils that you gave me to use to mark my scriptures, so I need some more. I have been looking in Aurrera and in all of the papelerias that we pass, but none have any good ones for scripture marking. But Elder Pimentel uses Crayola twistables that his family sent him, and they work really good and have a lot of colors. So if you can maybe send those or some other like them that would be nice. Otherwise, nothing I can think of that I really need.
(How is the teaching going this week?)
6. It's been going really well, the stake conference was great! We only had 3 investigators come, but it was really awesome. In the middle of Presidente Leyva´s talk all of the missionaries came up to the stand and we sung a really beautiful version of "Yo Se Que Vive Mi Señor" (I know that my Redeemer lives), accompanied by Hna. Leyva on the piano (she plays really well) and two elders, one on the flute and one on the violin. It was really powerful and the spirit was there. I have a recording on my camera of the first of our only two practices before conference. Its not the best one we sung, but I will try to send it to you. We should have a baptism this Saturday. A niña that is the daughter of an hermana that was inactive for a time but has started coming back to church with her daughter, so we have been teaching Maryanna for some time and we are planning her baptism for this Saturday. And we should have another baptism for Maria Agustina in two weeks, she still doesn't feel ready, but we know she is, and hopefully she can see that too. I don't have much time, so more detail will come next week on her probably.
But ya, I guess that is my letter for this week, I still have to send some pictures and that song to you, and write the President, so I better get a move on. But I will talk to you next week. I love you all so much! Thank you so much for everything.
Love,
Jordan
Guess what Elder Call ate? Yes, those are grasshoppers, or as the people of Oaxaca say, Chapolines. Yum, yum. Timon and Pumba might say something like slimy yet satisfying, but these were more like crunchy and bearable. haha. Friday we had more divisions, I went with Elder McEwin, but stayed in our area. Of course, as we were eating the member turned the topic to food, our favorites from Oaxaca and the food we didn't like. Of course, Chapolines came up because this Hermana has her own recipe for her favorite Chapolines, and of course we had to try them. But they weren't too bad, but I don't think I will choose them as my favorite thing to snack on. But she cooks them in salt, chile, mushrooms, and I think there was something else, but all that I could taste was the salt and chile. It was pretty crunchy though. It really wasn't too bad, but there is still the fact that I was putting a grasshopper in my mouth. But when you eat them, you have to grab them by the two big hind legs, and bite it off of them, not eating the hind legs, because they have spikes that can cut your mouth. But, I knew I had to eat them sometime. Now I just need the Chicitanas (BIG ants), Iguana, and Armadillo!
Okay, Jordan is my hero for eating the grasshopper.
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