New Year!

Hola,

Well, you're right, I am having some difficulties coming up with things to say this week.  I was very glad to have a chance to talk with you on Thursday.  It really does help me to know that everything is going OK for you guys there.  I look forward to Mother's day, but I know that one is a while away.  Still, the time passes really fast here in the mission.  I still can't really believe that it's almost 2015.  I've been checking my to-do list, and I think I'm doing pretty well for this year.  I've learned, more or less, a new language.  I've visited a foreign country.  I've met new people, and tried to help them whenever possible.  I think the only thing I'm missing is to finish reading the Book of Mormon in Spanish.  I'm almost done with Mormon, but I know I still have a ways to go.  We don't work on the first of January, so I'm hoping to have some time to finish it then.  I'm trying to come up with some new goals for the coming year though, and I would like some help with it.  So if you have any suggestions, let me know.

As far as new things go, the list is fairly short.  My cut is healing up fine, and I do have some antibiotic cream, so don't worry.  And if I run out, it's not too hard to find a pharmacy here.  And just as long as I don't need Percaset, I should be fine.  (Kind of weird that one.  Sister Crickmore told us once that that is the only drug she hasn't been able to find here in Mexico.  And considering the fact that she's had two knee replacements, and one hip replacement, I trust her knowledge of drugs.)  Other than that, things continue more or less the same here.  The husband of the less active who hadn't gone to church in 37 years got out of the hospital, so she was able to go yesterday.  From what I have seen she really has the desire to change, so I have good hopes for her and her family.  Other than that things are going kind of slow here.  We haven't seen too much progress from the other people we have been teaching.  Still, we're not going to give up.  I do hope that things will get a bit better when we get out of the holiday season though.

I think that's about it for me this week.  We got to go up to the volcanoes and introduce some latinos to snow today, so that was fun.  Some of the sisters made a fairly poor excuse for a snowman, but that's OK, the snow was pretty bad for that kind of a thing.  It was a nice break though.  OK, I love you, and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

December 1

Hola,

Well first off, I don't know if you have seen this or not, but the church released a new video for Christmas, He Is the Gift.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzjFEMmM0Xs  Give it a watch when you have a couple minutes.  Speaking of Christmas, that seems to be what is on everybody's mind here in Mexico.  A lot of the houses we have gone into have had Christmas music playing, and I've already seen several cars with Christmas trees tied on top.  I've heard that the Christmas season is a good time for missionary work, because a lot of people are thinking of Christ.  So I'm hoping that we'll have lots of success in the coming month.

As far as the people we are teaching here, we have a couple of great families that we're working with.  I think I mentioned a woman we are teaching who is a member but hadn't gone to church for 37 years, if not, I have now.  Anyways, she has a bunch of grandchildren who live in the same house as her, and we've been working with one in particular, who is 11 and wants to get baptized.  The only problem is that we need to get the permission from his mom for him to get baptized, and we haven't had a chance to talk with her.  She told her mom that she doesn't have a problem with him getting baptized, but she wants him to wait until he is 18, so we really want to talk with her and explain some things.  We also have another family we are teaching, and the mom and the kids are very interested.  The problem here is the father.  When it's possible we don't baptize a person without the permission of the spouse, so we are hoping to be able to change his mind.  It's been hard to find him at home though.  Still, we have faith that things will work out.

I'm glad to hear that everything is going well for you.  It sounds like you had a good group over for Thanksgiving. As far as Thanksgiving here goes, I remembered on Saturday when my companion asked me something about black friday that this week had been the week of Thanksgiving.  That's ok though, I'm glad I didn't have any problems that day. I still can't believe how fast the time has passed here.

That's about all I've got for you this week.  I love you and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

P.S.  I think I mentioned in one of my emails to somebody that I would be calling the 24th.  If so, it turns out that is incorrect.  I will be calling the 25th, just to let you know.

December 8

Hola,

 

This week has been pretty good.  As far as the living arangements go, we rent the house of a member who is living in Canada for some time.  We only use the bottom floor because all the rooms in the top are filled with the things of the hermana.  Still, it's one of the bigger houses I've lived in here in the mission, and we live fairly close to a lot of members if we need anything, so all in all it's not a bad situation.  And yes, I have given a talk in church, but only one time.  As far as the weather goes, everyone here says it's cold, but I usually think they're crazy.  One time I saw a family pass by dressed up like they were going to be walking through a blizzard, and I had to fight hard not to laugh.  Still, it is the coldest area I've had in the mission.

I did in fact get a chance to see the Christmas devotional, but in Spanish.  The music was still in English though.  I really enjoyed President Eyring's talk as well.  I really liked how they decorated the conference center too.  I didn't realize that they could move the pulpit.  ¿Or did they bring in a different one?  (Hey, when you've got a ¿ key, you have to use it.)  All in all I was really impressed, though I was surprised they didn't play He is the Gift.  It seemed like a good time to introduce it to me.

As far as cathedrals go, there are quite a lot of them.  One p-day we visited one when I was with Elder Tadeo.  They were selling pamphlets in the back, and I was tempted to buy one that talked about the church, but I decided it wasn't worth it.  They can be very beautiful buildings, but usually we keep our distance.

I love you, and I'm sorry the letter is kind of short today.  I promise I'll try to write a longer one next week.  We didn't have too much time today because we had a zone conference today, and those always last a long time.  It doesn't help when we have to travel half an hour to get there, and half an hour to return.  I'll talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

No Snow - but we do have tacos (a letter to Sarah)

Hola,

Well, first things first.  I fear I haven't written you in awhile, and I want to appologize.  I try to write to everyone, but often I run out of time.  Know that I always read you letters, and I love to see what you write, so don't think that I don't love you.

Now, as far as the Book of Mormon goes, it appears I have taken the lead again for a while.  I'm in 3 Nephi 5, so I'm not too far ahead.  I am trying to keep up on my reading, so hopefully I'll finish before the end of the year.  Thank you for letting me catch up though.  XD  I don't know that I'll be winning, but we'll see what happens.

I must admit I am a bit jealous of the snow you guys have.  I think you would like it here.  I'm currently in a short sleave shirt with no problems from the cold.  From what I've heard they've never had snow in my area, so I really don't have hope for a white Christmas.  A green Christmas maybe.  We also have our Christmas tree as well.  The only thing is that it stands less than a foot tall.  Still, it was what we could afford.  We don't have any crocheted tacos though.  Just the real ones.  I like those better anyways.

As far as Bring a Torch, I was pretty sure that Janette and Isabella were two different people, but I didn't actually know.  I guess you learn new things everyday.  Speaking of learning new things, it looks like somebody has learned how to do math.  At least you can know that it is impossible to be worse at math than my current companion.  I'm not sure how he made it through High School, or Prepa as those in the know (AKA Mexicans) call it.  The scariest thing is that he has talked about studying to be an engineer.  (OK, weird side note here.  I will admit that as a missionary I have used google translate a lot to help me.  However, up to this point I have not had to use it to help me remember how to spell a word in English.  I say up to now because I just had to use it to remember how to spell engineer.  (Apparently it's not engeneer.  (Parenthseption  XD)))

OK, that's what I've got for you this week.  I love you, and I'll try to write you more often.  If I don't write you next week, I'll talk to you on Christmas.  Speaking of which, It would help if you passed me your Skype information so that I can call you guys.  From what I've heard, we have a mission activity until 3 (I think caroling) and then we will be calling home.  (3:00 here is 2:00 in Utah.)  So I will be calling sometime after that.  I'll try to have more information next week.  Ok, that's it I think.  I love you.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Companions, New Area and Holidays

Hola,

The thing I've noticed with my companions is that there's always something that we've disagreed on.  I guess that's true of every person, including your eternal companion.  But like you said, it can be difficult when you have to be together 24 hours a day.  From what I've heard though, I have gotten pretty lucky with my companions, because sometimes they can be pretty hard to get along with.  Still, I guess that's one of the good things about the mission, it helps you learn to live with another person.

As far as the area goes, I still like it a lot.  One of the problems is that, since it's not very big we have to travel for awhile to do things like shopping.  We go at least two times a week to Amecameca, the nearest city in our zone, for different things.  It's not a super big city, but it's bigger than San Juan.  Other than that, the area's pretty good.  As you said, it's pretty beautiful, although pretty small.  I basically know where everything is, and I've only been here two weeks.  Still, I feel like it will be a good area for me.

All in all, things are continuing about the same here in the mission field.  We're getting ready for the Christmas season now.  I guess the church is going to be doing some pretty cool things this year.  They've got a new video they've made, and for one day, December 7th, Youtube is giving them control of their front page for a day.  So all the advertisements and video suggestions will be for the church.  I'm not sure how that will all work, but it will be interesting to see.  I've heard, especially closer to Christmas that it can be difficult at times as a missionary, but I'm also looking forward to it.  As far as Thanksgiving goes, it doesn't exist down here, so you guys will have to eat extra for me.

I am glad to hear things are going well for you.  It sounds like everything is going more or less the same there, kids being crazy and all.  I still can't believe Nick is almost done with his mission.  I don't think we'll have a chance to meet up, but we did have the opportunity to talk.  When we went to the temple one time, we ran into the assistants for his mission.  I asked if they knew an Elder Long, and one of them said he did.  They called him and we talked for a couple minutes.  You never know though, we might run into each other at some point.  If not, we can talk when I get back.

That's all I've got for you this week.  This thanksgiving remember I thankful for all the love and support I have gotten and continue to receive.  I love you and I'll talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Transferred (AGAIN!) and A Lesson in Patience

Hola,

Well, here we are again.  New area, new companion, new... everything basically.  My companion is named Elder Palacios.  He's from the northern part of the state of Mexico, about 3 or 4 hours from where we are.  Basically it would be like if I had gotten called to serve in St. George for my mission.  So far we get along pretty well, so we'll see how things go.  As has also pretty much been the pattern, he's district leader.  One thing that is new is that this is the first time I've had sister missionaries in my district.  There are actually more sisters than elders in the zone here.  There are only three companionships of elders, the two district leaders and their companions, and the zone leaders, and there are four companionships of sister missionaries.  In our district, there are three sisters from Mexico and one, believe it or not, from Samoa.  The first time I saw her, I was pretty surprised.  I was not expecting to see polynesians here in Mexico.  Still, her Spanish is pretty good, and the Lord knows better than us where he needs us.  Still, I do have to wonder what her family thought when she opened up her call.  As far as my new area goes, so far it's pretty good.  I'm in a pueblo called San Juan Tehuixtitlan (te wis tit lan).  The areas here have some of the highest membership in the mission.  For example, usually there are at least two companionships in a ward in other parts of the mission.  Here, we have two wards in our area, and I've had bigger areas than this.  It's also the most beautiful area I've had.  In a lot of ways it reminds me of Oregon.  There are pine trees (Yes, apparently those exist down here.), Volcanic mountains, and it's the coldest area I've had, which is great going into winter.  All in all it's a great area.  The one problem is that's it's hard to find new people to teach, because pretty much everyone who isn't a member is Catholic.  Still, we have some people we're teaching, and I've got good hopes for them.

Other than that, things were more or less the same this week.  My companion and I did learn a valuable lesson in patience this week.  On Saturday, we could find almost nobody at home.  We eat at 2:00, and usually we've had three lessons by that point.  This day we had only managed to have one.  There was hardly anybody in the streets, basically, it was a hard morning.  We went to the food pretty discouraged, but we tried not to let it get to us too much.  Afterwords, we had an appointment set up with a less active to have a guided tour of the chaple.  Apparently it's been hard to go through with one of those with her, but this day we went to her house and she was ready to go.  We went to the chaple with her and one of her grandsons.  Turns out she hasn't gone to church for 37 years, but she's willing to start again, and her grandson, who's 11, wants to get baptised.  After we left my companion turned to me and said "God exists."  (Well he actually said "Dios existe.")  So I guess that's the lesson of the week, God exists.  (And yes, they both went to church yesterday.)

I've learned some new reasons why I don't like Jehovah's witnesses this week as well.  For example, there is a rule in the white handbook that we are not aloud to teach in front of churches of other religions.  This week I learned why.  Apparently the Jehovah's witnesses do not have the same rule, because they went knocking doors right in front of the chaple here.  It instantly made me lose respect for them.  I certainly don't want to make people feel the same way about me, so I plan on keep that rule, not that I've broken it.  One thing I have learned is that Catholics are a lot easier to teach than JWs.  Basically the lesson is that JWs are not well liked here in the mission.  I try not to judge them, but they make it difficult at times.

That's about it for me this week.  I love you and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Transfers (again), Mission Life and Zone Conference

Hola,

Well, another six weeks have come and gone (still don't really believe it) and you know what that means, cambios, or changes, or transfers or... well, you get the idea.  As has been the pattern for me, I'm leaving my area for a new one.  My new area is San Juan.  I've heard it's a great area, that the scenery is very beautiful, the people very nice, though mostly VERY catholic.  All in all I'm excited to see what experiences it brings me.  And as far as food goes, I've heard that it's hard to leave this area I'm going to without gaining some weight, because all the members give you huge portions, and expect you to eat at least seconds.  Oh, it's also rather close to an active volcano.  That's OK though, haven't seen any smoke recently from old Popo, so I should be fine.  There are some things I'll miss from this area though.  The members are wonderful people,  and I really am going to miss them.  It's also hard to leave the people we're teaching.  Oh, and some of the best hamburgers I've ever eaten Fridays and Saturdays.  They cost about $2.50, and they are packed.  They have the standard toppings, lettuce, tomato, onions, ketchup (speaking of ketchup, I love the Mexican word for it.  It's catsup, but you say it like cat soup.  Just thought you would like to know that, don't know why.) and mustard.  But on top of that, they put two kinds of cheese, american and oaxaca (You say it like Wahaka).  Queso oaxaca is kind of like mozarella cheese.  They top that with ham and let it melt onto the patty.  Then they put the other toppings, plus avocado.  If that doesn't make your mouth water I'm afraid you've got some issues.  (I can't believe I just took that much space describing a hamburger.  Still, that gives you an idea of how good they are.)

Other than that life goes on here in the mission.  We teach some people, eat some real mexican food, things like that.  And to answer your question, there are in fact chicken enchiladas here.  The main difference is that the people here fry EVERYTHING.  I seriously can't remember too many days when I haven't eaten something fried here.  Not that it tastes bad, it just sits a bit heavy at times, especially when you have to leave and go walk for a while.  The members are pretty good at keeping us fed though, so don't worry about that.

One thing we did have recently was another multi-zone conference with another seventy.  This time it was Elder Salinas.  He talked about the most effective way to teach the people, and to help them ultimately get baptized.  He explained that there are two different ways of bringing investigators to baptism, the stairs and the elevator.  The difference is that when you use the elevator, you focus on a few investigators at a time, and don't pay too much attention to the others until they've gotten baptized, and the elevator can return to pick them up.  If you use the stairs, you have investigators at different stages in their conversion, but they're all progressing, so you baptize more regularly.  To accomplish this, one of the most important things he told us is to work with the members.  He said this includes receiving references, teaching lessons with members, and if it's possible in the house of a member.  The day after this, he held a meeting with the church leaders in the mission, and the missionaries.  During this meeting he talked about self sufficiency.  He said that the official definition of self sufficiency in the church is the ability to provide for the temporal and spiritual needs of you and your family, and to be able to help those around you as well.  He had many great things to say about this.  He said the first thing we need to have to be self sufficient is a sufficiency of faith.  He gave the example of the rich young man who asked Christ what he needed to do to obtain eternal life.  Christ told him to keep the commandments.  When the man said he did that, Christ told him to sell what he had and give to the poor.  The young man found this hard, and left discouraged.  Elder Salinas explained that this man was not self sufficient, even though he had more than enough to provide for himself, because he did not have the faith to help others.  He then applied this to the church and said that for a ward to be self sufficient, it needs to take care of it's own members, and help others well.  He gave the example that if a ward has four missionaries serving in it's boundaries, there need to be five members of the ward serving as missionaries to be self sufficient.  I don't have enough time to describe all of what he said, but I truely enjoyed listening to him.  I hope to hear him in General Conference sometime because he's a really good speaker.

That's about all I've got for you this week.  As far as talks about me, I don't honestly know what to tell you to say.  You'll have to tell me what you end up saying.  (Don't tell too many embarasing stories.  XD)  I love you, and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

P.S.  I did actually get a letter from the primary awhile ago.  I've meant to write them back but I've yet to see any way of sending a letter.  If you would pass on a message I would appreciate it.  Let them know that I miss them, and I think of them often.  We had the primary program yesterday in this ward, and it made me miss singing with the primary kids.  Children really are the same no matter where you go.  Some of the younger ones wandered off in the middle of the program, most of them couldn't hold still while they were singing, and I saw at least two of them talking during one of the songs.  It really brought back some memories.  Let them know that I'm proud of the ones that got baptized recently.  Really just send them my love.

Baptisms

Hola,

Dia de muertos was an interesting experience.  The night was a lot like Halloween, with all the kids out in their costumes asking for candy, just a lot more skeleton costumes than usual.  You also figure out where the Catholics live, because they all put a cross in front of their door made of cempasuchil flowers, or Mexican Marigolds.  I guess there are some areas with some pretty impressive celebrations, but we don't live close enough to any of them to see those.  So really it wasn't too different from Halloween, just less Jack-O-Lanterns.

As far as primary programs go, I haven't heard one yet, but I'm pretty sure this ward is going to have theirs this Sunday, so maybe I will.  A lot of the songs are translations of the ones we have in English, so I at least recognize them, but I couldn't tell you what the words to most of them are.  I do hope to get the chance to hear one this year.  I do kind of miss singing with the primary.

Now for the good news, Baptisms.  Everything went more or less according to plan, and there are now two new members of the ward here.  There were a couple set backs, as there always seem to be.  First off, the baptism was at 10:00 a.m., so we came at about 7:00 to fill up the font.  We started it filling, then left for a bit to go get some other things prepared.  We came back at about 9:00, and the water had been turned off, and the font only had about six inches of water in it.  It turns out that one of the councilers in the Stake Presidency came by not too long after we left, and turned the water off, not realizing we were going to have a baptism.  Needless to say we were praying for some help filling it up in time.  But I guess God wanted us to have the baptism because we got it filled up by about 10:05 or so.  Other than that everything went more or less according to plan.  The couple that got baptized are named Felix and Sharon.  They have had a pretty rough relationship from what they've told me, but from what I've seen nothing short of a miracle has happened with them.  I just hope that they never lose the trust that they've discovered in God.  They are already looking forward to entering the temple to be sealed, so I have faith that they'll stay strong.

That's about it for news this week.  I love you and I'll write you next week. 

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Dia de Muertos

Hola,

Dia de muertos is everywhere here. It's actually kind of interesting, because a lot of the decorations are the same type as you would see for Halloween, so it feels a lot like October at home. I guess they have their form of trick or treating that night as well, so it really is a very similar afair. There are some differences though. For example, they have some traditional food that isn't just candy. I really like the pan de muerte. I'm interested to see what the actual day will be like.

We've been keeping busy in this new area. We have two baptisms this coming Saturday, a husband and wife named Felix and Sharon. It's been incredible to see the difference in them from when I first met them. They have both learned to truely trust in the Lord. They had some marriage difficulties a couple weeks ago, and things were getting a bit heated. But rather than seperating, they chose to pray and read the scriptures. When they did this they found the kind of peace that only comes from God, and they chose to work things out. Unless something terrible happens I'll be sending word of how their baptism went next week. We are also teaching a mother and daughter named Heydy and Grecia. They both want to be baptised, but the mom, Heydy, is almost eight months pregnant, and has some fears about what might happen with her pregnancy if she was to be baptised. Still, even if she chooses to wait it won't be for much longer than two months or so. There are also a lot of less actives in this ward, so we keep pretty busy with them. Those that are active are usually pretty helpful in the work though. We have four ward missionaries who actually like to work, and although the ward mission leader is a bit frito, his assitent is very helpful. All in all this is a nice area to work in.

As far as P-day goes we haven't had too many adventures recently. Unless you consider washing clothes and writing emails to be adventures. We did have one interesting experience a couple of weeks ago. We had zone conference in the morning, and decided to go get something to eat in the Chalco plaza, more or less a mall. It's nice to eat there because they have some American food, like KFC and Burger King. Anyways, we were sitting there and we noticed a lady sitting at a table near by. She was having a pretty lively conversation with nobody, and kept saying fairly nonsensicle things to those around her, including to us. It was an interesting experience to say the least. Still, she didn't try to attack anybody, so everything is OK. But yeah, other than that nothing new really.

I'm glad to hear that you guys might have had a chance to catch your breath a bit. You've been keeping pretty busy these past few months. Still, it's better than sitting around doing nothing. That's about all I have for you this week. I love you and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Six Months!!

Hola,

First things first, ¡SEIS MESES!  Ok, now that that's over, no, I really can't believe I've been out for six months.  The time has gone by so fast, and I can't believe I'm 1/4 of the way done.  Looking back, I really can't believe how much has happened during the last six months.  For example, Spanish.  I feel I have come a long way for somebody who knew absolutely no Spanish.  I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I feel like I have a pretty good grasp on it now.  I've also felt my testimony grow so much during my time here.  If this is how I feel after six months, I'm excited to see what other changes come in the coming months.

I have gotten pretty good at packing my suitcases actually.  I just wish I had a bit more room for everything.  I can fit it all, I just have to use my expertice in packology to do it.  Still, things wear out eventually, so I might end up with some more space eventually.  I do find it is easier to fit it all every time as well.  Still, I'm hoping I won't be moving around like this my entire mission.  It could be worse though.  I've heard of missionaries who stay in the same area almost a year.  For example, one of the elders told me he had the same first area as his trainer.  Still, whatever happens I know it is what the Lord has planned.

As far as the weather goes, the rain came back this week.  I had thought we were just about free from it, but it decided to make another pass.  Still, we have had less than during the summer, so hopefully we won't be getting too wet.  It has gotten a bit colder too, but it's not too bad.  I still haven't had the chance to see the stars very well, but I've heard there are places in the mission where you can see them better.  And with the way things have been going for me, I'll probably end up in one of those areas soon.

I'm glad to hear you guys had fun on your trip.  As far as the smoking, there isn't too much more of it here, but you do run into it.  At times you see people smoking something a bit stronger as well.  Still, I haven't had too many problems with it, especially in public areas.  I am sorry to hear that Zack and Nathan aren't planning on serving missions as well.  Ultimately it is their decision, but the only thing I would tell them is that it is worth it.  I don't think I will regret it, but if they don't do it they probably will have some regrets down the road.  Ultimately it is something that I feel really will serve you in your life if you choose to put in the energy.

I think that's it for me this week.  As far as the Christmas box, American candies and sodas are a good idea.  You start to miss things like cream soda in a place like this.  Every once in a while we can get our hands on it though.  Speaking of which, it's pretty funny to watch a Mexican taste root beer for the first time.  I love you, and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Transfers/Changes & Cortez

Hola, 

Change aboundeth here in Chalco.  First things first, I have had changes, again.  It took me a whole week and two days this time.  I'm now in the area Culturas 1, which is right next to my old area.  My new new companion is Elder Vasquez.  He is from Guatemala and has 20 months in the mission.  The area I'm currently in was the first area of my trainer, Elder Tadeo, and so far it's been pretty good.  I arrived thursday, and we had a baptism Saturday, with several more to come in the coming weeks.  I've just about gotten use to changing areas now, so it didn't come as a huge shock when I got here.  It is interesting though, I've now been in four areas in four different zones here.  If that keeps up I'll have been in every zone by the time I complete a year.  As far as why we had changes, I'm not sure what the situation was exactly, but it affected at least five different companionships.  Still, change is part of the mission, and part of life, so here I am, for now at least.

That is basically what my week was like.  I once again have basically no idea where I am most of the time, and I give the opening prayer in almost every lesson.  The people here do love to ask the new person to give the opening prayer here.  At least I'm not the only one whose a bit lost.  The other companionship in the ward is opening an area, and Elder Vasquez has to help them find places often, especially where we are eating.  I just hope I learn the area fast, because changes are in four weeks, and who knows what is going to happen then.  (I think the term for changes in English is actually transfers, but the term in Spanish is cambios, or changes in English, so that's what we call them here.  So if you were confused about that, now you're not.)  Still, the area seems nice enough, so I wouldn't mind staying awhile.

I'm sorry to here about the craziness you had to deal with at school.  Society really is falling apart at the seams, isn't it.  I remember when fifth grade girls still had a nausiating case of the cooties, and now they are breaking up with boyfriends that shouldn't even exist.  I wish you luck with that, and that you have more days like Lori's than like that one.

As far as Columbus goes, I haven't heard one thing or another about him from the people here.  They don't seem to really hate Cortes either, he's just another historical figure to them.  That is something I find pretty interesting here.  The people that I've met at least don't seem to have the strong cultural butt-hurt that people like the Native Americans feel.  I'm not justifying the atrocities that occured with either group, but I'm just saying it's been well over a hundred years since it happened.  Ultimately, the events are pure history now, and nobody living experienced them.  That's probably just the white male view of things, but it is how I feel.  (I'm pretty sure if you look it up that the politically correct term is in fact cultural butt-hurt.)

That's about it for me this week.  I love you and I'll talk to you next week.

Love,

Elder Long

New Area and General Conference October 6th

Hola,

This week has been full of new experiences for me. First off, the new area. We are opening a new area called Cinco de Mayo 2. (It's like a party everyday. XD ) It has been a kind of hard experience though, especially since we don't have a cell phone, which sometimes happens with a new area. There were missionaries here a while ago, so what we have been doing this past week has been visiting some of the addresses in the area book. I've heard that this area can be pretty difficult, but so far the people have been pretty open to us, and we already have some lessons set up for this next week. I've heard the best thing you can do in this kind of situation is to ignore everything that other people say about how the people don't accept the missionaries or whatever, and trust that the Lord has prepared people for you. And so far we have found some people that I feel the Lord has been preparing. My companion is named Elder Olivos. He was born in Mexico, but has lived most of his life in Texas, so he speaks both languages fluently. He has about a year and a half in the mission, and has opened an area before, so he knows pretty much how we should do it. Surprisingly enough he is not the district leader. Recently they have been making the zones and districts smaller, so we only have one other companionship in our district, the district leader, Elder Jimenez, and Elder Connor. They are in Cinco de Mayo 1, so we have eaten with them pretty much everyday so far. (I don't know if I've mentioned it or not, but the areas are named for the ward that they are in, so, for example, we work in the ward Cinco de Mayo, which has two areas in it. I hope that makes things clearer, now and in the future.) 

This was also my first General Conference in the mission. I've heard that there is no Conference like one when you are a missionary, and the one this time did not disappoint. I really felt that they were focusing in on the fundamental truths of the gospel this time, like faith in Christ, and the importance of the prophets. It's really interesting, because these same kinds of fundamentals are what we teach to the investigators in the mission field. I guess it shows how important it is to review the teachings of the gospel so that we can have a firm testimony. I also got the feeling that we are going to be facing an increase of opposition in the nearing future. Still, I did really enjoy the messages that were shared, and I look forward to getting the Liahona for November to read them over again.

That's about it for me this week. If I missed any questions you have, let me know, and I'll talk to you next week. I love you. 

Love, 

Elder Samuel Long

Elder Martinez, Mountains, and Conference

Hola,

I'm glad that my letters got through last week.  I don't like leaving you in the dark like that, but what can you do when the internet breaks.  Still, hopefully things will work from now on.

As far as my companion, yes that was him.  He is a veteran in the mission.  He litterally has been out longer than this mission has existed, and I feel like I've learned a ton from him these past few weeks.  He is a bit crazy, but we all are, so that's OK.  (The quote I feel best describes missionaries is from Alice in Wonderland, "We're all mad here.")  He likes K-pop, which is unfortunate, but he doesn't make me listen to it, so that's OK.  He's from Honduras, but everyone here thinks he is from somewhere in Mexico.  I think I've mentioned it, but his name is Elder Martinez.  He likes Piña Coladas and getting lost in the rain, etc.  Ultimately he is a great missionary, and I'm really glad to have had this opportunity to be his companion.

Mexican Independence Day was pretty crazy.  I was glad that we were going to be inside when I saw somebody setting up for a party with about 50 liter cup with beer brands on them.  There were a ton of fireworks lasting for most of the night.  We had a wild party, which involved eating popcorn and bread with nutella and bananas, which apparently is a foreign concept to Honduranians.  We watched a couple church movies, then tried to sleep while the streets were being bombarded.  Nothing celebrates independence like the reenaction of a war I guess.  Still, everyone seemed to have fun, and nobody I know died, so I guess things went pretty well.

The weather has been calming down a bit I feel.  We still get some pretty good rain storms, but they don't seem to last as long or come as frequently as before.  As far as hurricanes go, there's no need to worry.  Apparently this area is to high up to get hit with anything more than some good rain.  So no going out to watch a hurricane for me, not that I would ever have the desire to do that.  Still, if one does blow in we might get some flooding, but that's the only worry we have here.  

And as far as the mountains, I'm this close:  

The mountain on the left is named Iztaccihuatl, but it is usually refered to as the sleeping woman.  It has about as much resemblance to a woman as Mount Timpanogas.  On the right is Popocatepetl, and yes that is smoke.  I've been told that the way the crater points that any lava will flow towards Puebla though, so don't worry about that.  This was the first time I had been able to seem them both.  Usually the peak of at least on of them is covered by clouds.  They are different from the mountains at home, but they're mountains, so I'm not going to complain.

The conference went really well.  One of the members of our ward helped us practice, and it really helped our sound.  Unfortunately, the Hermanas got caught in some traffic and didn't make it in time to sing, so it was just the Elders.  Still, it went pretty well, and the Hermanas showed up eventually.  Elder Miron of the Seventies spoke.  He spoke on a couple different topics.  He started out talking about overcoming trials in the mission field.  He said one of the best things to do is to ask yourself, what is your reason for being a missionary.  I really liked this idea, because it focuses your mind on the possitive parts of a mission.  He also talked about the progression of the work of salvation, including the creation of many new missions, like this one.  He also talked about involving the members more in the work.  It was a pretty good talk, and it was the first time I've heard a talk from a general authority in Spanish.  After his talk we heard from some of the zone leaders and the assitants to the president.  They talked about improving the small acts of obedience throughout the day, how to recognize people who the Lord has prepared, and the importance of service.  The conference finished with President Crickmore, who talked about receiving revelation.  All in all it was a pretty good conference, and I feel like I learned some things that will be able to help me in the future.

That's about it for me.  I'm doing great, and feel really good health wise.  I'm glad to hear you guys are doing good.  I love you, and I'll write you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

2 Letters, A Picture, & Baptisms! Happy Mexican Independence Day!

September 8, 2014

Hola,

First off, I am sorry that I couldn't write to you last week, and I'm hoping to be able to deliver you your loooong letter this week.  I don't know if you remember, but two weeks ago I told you we might go to Teotihuacan.  Well, we did, and we didn't get back in time to write.  This time, one of the elders that went with us explained how things there fit in with the temple.  It's amaizing how much there is there that nobody really understands unless they are endowed.  Obviously I can't explain most of it, but just know that it was an incredibly uplifting experience to see these things.  He also explained several things with the Book of Mormon, and those I can talk about a bit more.  First off, there is a rather large open area with a small pyramid in the middle of it.  From the top of this pyramid, you can talk in more or less a normal speaking voice, and somebody in the corner of this area can understand what you are saying.  It hasn't been confirmed by the church, but the common belief is that this is the tower constructed by King Benjamin.  And I can personally confirm that it really does work.  When somebody talks in your direction, you can understand everything they are saying.  We also saw some examples of some skeletons that had been buried in that area.  The interesting thing is, pretty much every body intered there was buried in a sitting possition.  This was done so that in the resurection, the resurected beings would simply stand up and walk.  Basically, if you know what you are looking for, there is a lot to learn there.  I have decided I am good without making that trip again for awhile though.  I would like to go there again, but maybe in more than two weeks time.

Next bit of news, two Saturdays ago, we had three baptisms, a mother and son named Emma and Eduardo, and another woman named Feliciana.  President Crickmore came to the baptism, and I think the way he described them is the best way to put it.  He told me that when I am as old as he is, they will still be active church members.  In particular, Feliciana has one of the strongest testimonies I have ever heard.  She bore her testimony at the baptism, and after she was done I looked at President Crickmore.  He looked at me and mouthed ´´wow´´.  She shared an expierience that happened during the week before her baptism with us that is unlike anything I have heard of from an investigator.  She told us that she had been studying in the bible, in Corinthians where it talks about spiritual gifts.  She decided that she would pray to have one of these gifts after her baptism, and she told us she decided to pray for knowledge, because she was impressed with the knowledge we had.  So she said her prayer and went to sleep.  In the middle of the night, she woke up and heard a voice tell her to read Moroni 8.  She wrote this down and went back to sleep.  Now, when I met her, she went by the name she had been given when she was baptized in the Catholic church as a baby, Blanca.  However, after reading this chapter, which talks about the baptism of little children being a sin, she decided that she would no longer go by that name.  She's now working on going to the temple, and I have no doubt that she will continue to remain active.  Eduardo also has a pretty strong testimony, and his strength is what helped his mother decide to be baptized.  He is 17 years old, and has been a member for two weeks, and he already talks about going on a mission.  Emma is not completely thrilled about the idea yet, but I think she will come around.

This last Saturday, we got permission to organize a trip to the visitors center at the Mexico City temple.  With all the missionaries in the ward, three companionships, we got together a group of about 35 investigators, recent converts, and less active members to go there.  It was amazing having the opportunity to see these people learn about the blessings available in the temple.  It made me very glad to have had the knowledge of these things for my whole life.  It was incredible to talk with some of them, and explain some of the blessings available there.  That they could be sealed together as famalies for all eternity, and that they could help their family members who have passed on to receive these same blessings.  I do think they need to check the air filter there though, because every once in a while my eyes would start watering, and it was hard to stop it.  They also had an area with videos of the testimonies of the first presidency and the quorum of the twelve.  It was pretty incredible to hear some of the experiences they shared, and I would love to have a chance to hear them all.  All in all, it was a powerful spiritual experience, and I hope to be able to go back there again sometime.

As far as my ´´new´´ area goes, it is surprisingly different from my last area.  It's amazing how much difference there can be between the different areas.  Still, the people are still very giving, even though most of the people here live in what would be a level of poverty in the United States.  It really is humbling to see the difference there is down here.  It really hit me when we where talking with some members a couple weeks ago, and started talking about temples.  We pulled up Google Maps, and were looking up different temples in the world.  When we looked up the Jordin River Temple, and went into street view, the first thing my companion and the members commented on was how clean the streets are.  It's things like that that I feel I have taken advantage of my entire life, and now that I've seen the difference, I hope to never forget to be thankful for all that I have in my life.  Needless to say, I've never thought of as many things to honestly thank Heavenly Father for before now.

As for the actual area, we work in two areas for the most part, Los Alamos, where we live, and Cuatzingo.  Los Alamos is kind of a gated community, and it's one of the nicer looking areas I have seen here.  But it still has some of the problems of other areas, like drugs.  Still, I don't worry too much for my safety here.  Cuatzingo is pretty much nothing but dirt roads, and the houses are unusually spread out for Mexico.  Still, there are some wonderful people in that area, including a family we are teaching who are progressing pretty well.  All in all, it's a pretty nice area, and from what I've seen there is plently of work to do here.  I also like that it is close to the mountains.  I'm kind of surprised how much I've missed mountains during my time here, so it's nice to see them again.

I hope that counts as a long letter.  If not, I'll try harder next time.  Now, next week I might not be able to write again.  I guess the 15th is a pretty big holiday here, and things sometimes get out of hand, especially at night.  So we have be told to be home by 5:00, and we may not have time to write.  We should be fine, so don't worry, just know you might not hear from me.

I love you, and I'll write to you as soon as I can.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

September 15, 2014

Hola,

First thing first.  ¡Feliz Cumpleaños! (Mom's birthday 9/9)  I hope you had fun, and I really am sorry you didn't get last weeks letter.  I don't know why it didn't go through, but hopefully this one will.

This week was pretty good for me.  Today is Mexico's independence day, and everyone has been pretty excited all week.  I haven't seen this many Mexican flags displayed during my entire time here.  But things sometimes get a bit crazy during the night, so we have to be home by 5:00.  There are also plenty of party favors around, and they are pretty different from the ones in America.  I'll include a picture to show what I mean.  But there has been an energy of excitement in there air here, and from what I've heard it will be kind of difficult to sleep tonight because of the fireworks.  Most of the people we talked to this week invited us to come to their party tonight.  That is the thing about the people here.  Most of them have far less than they need, but they all want to give.  I really have learned a lesson in generosity from them.

Other than that not much new has happened.  We are going to have a multizone conference this Thursday with one of the Seventy, and our zone has been asked to sing A Childs Prayer for the musical number.  It's kind of odd, but we will be singing it in English.  Still, it does make it easier for me, so I won't complain.  The hardest thing is that there are only two sisters in our entire zone, and even with some of the Elders singing the high part it's still hard to hear them.  Still, hopefully we won't do too terrible.  I'll also let you know what he talked about next week, assuming the letter will go through.  I really am sorry, and I'm sure you've been very anxious not having heard from me, so I'm just letting you know I'm fine.  I love you so much, and I'll write to you next week.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Spanish and the Second Coming

Hola,

First off, you might want to pick up the pace this week, because I have officially finished the Isaiah chapters.  I'm currently in 2 Nephi 29, so  you still have a chance.  But let me just say, be grateful for the fact that you are reading Isaiah in English.  I swear whoever translated the Book of Mormon into Spanish started making up words in the Isaiah chapters.  Keep it up though, you want to get as far as you can before school starts.

This week was pretty good for me.  We keep pretty busy here, and I feel I'm getting the hang of this Spanish thing.  My only concern is that at times my English starts to get replaced with the Spanish, which is fine for now, but eventually I will come home, and will probably be teased mercilessly by a certain beloved family of mine.  You would never do that though, would you?

As far as the second coming goes, I do feel you are right, we don't seem to talk about it as much as we should.  It is interesting that you brought it up though, because I've actually been thinking about it for the last little while.  This is because yesterday night, we watched The Testaments with some members and one of our recent converts.  At the end of the film, some words come up on the screen that say "The Messiah has come, and he will come again."  I've found with that movie, which I have seen three times now during my mission, two of which were in Spanish, that different things stand out to me each time.  Speaking of that movie, if you haven't seen it recently, I highly recommend it.

That's all I've got for you this week.  I love you, and I'll write you later.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

New Area!

Hola,

First off, ¡Feliz cumpleaños!  I'm sorry I didn't get to write you before your birthday.  But, thanks to technology I am only one day late, instead of one month.  And I am very jealous of your Chicken and Dumplings.  I have missed dad's cooking a lot these past few months.  The food isn't bad, most of it is actually pretty good.  But it's not dad's.  So enjoy some chicken and dumplings for me.

I'm still not too far ahead of you in the BOM, so you still have a chance.  I'm in 2 Nephi 17, and I have decided that whoever translated the Book of Mormon into Spanish started making up words when they got to the Isaiah chapters.  Still, they can't last forever, right?  So you better catch up soon.  :P

My new area is very different from my old area.  There are a lot more dirt roads, and we pad lock the door for extra security.  Still, the people are still good people, and I enjoy getting to know them.  It's amazing hearing some of their experiences, and seeing how the gosple has started to bless their lives.  We have a couple we are teaching who had a child die.  We recently taught them about the plan of salvation, and seeing their reactions when we talked about temple work for the dead and eternal families was incredible.  It really makes me grateful to have had that knowledge for all my life, and to be here bringing it to others.

That's all I've got for you this week.  I love you, and once again happy birthday.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Teoithuacan

Hola,

I don't have a ton of time to write today if you couldn't tell by what time this is sent.  The reason for this is that we got permission during the week to head out to Teotihuacan.  It was a very long, but very cool trip, and I'll tell you all about it next week... from Chalco.  That's right, I also found out I'm going to have changes tomorrow.  I'll tell you all about it as well next week.  I'm just letting you know I'm doing OK.

Love,

Elder Samuel Long

Transfers and Atotolco

Hola, 

Well, if you couldn't tell, I didn't get to go to Teotihuacan today. Still, like you said, there will be other opportunities, but I am a little bit disappointed. Still, I do get to write this week, so there is still an upside, but I don't have any cool ruin pictures to send home.

This week was pretty good. Elder Tadeo was looking at the map of our area and decided to go check out an area we had never been to before. It's called Atotolco, and it's a good deals away from the area we are usually in. It also has no paved roads, something we don't run into to often in our area. Still, we found somebody to teach there, so we'll probably be down in that area more often from now on. Although chances are one of us won't be here too much longer. Transfers are a week from Tuesday, and since I finish my training then, chances are very good that one of us leaves. Elder Tadeo has been in the area longer, but he is also district leader, and they tend to stay in their areas longer, so we really don't know who will be going and who will be staying. That's part of the mission life though I guess. 

I'm glad to hear you got your room set up though. I think this is the first year in a while I haven't come to help you with that. So I'm happy that everything went OK. And I'm sorry to hear about the week of meetings. I know that can be really hard, and I hope you find a good game to keep you occupied. I like one called Galaxy on Fire 2. I don't believe the first one actually exists, so I don't know why it's number 2, but it's good to keep you distracted for a while. Hopefully that helps. 

 I think that's about it for me. I haven't gotten your postcard yet. That's Mexico I guess. I'll write you next week and let you know what's going on with transfers. I love you, and I get what you were saying because I feel the same way about you. 

 Love,
Elder Samuel Long

Crazy Kids

​¡Feliz Aniversario!

If I'm right, this one is known as the silver anniversary, or aniversario de plata in Spanish. I hope you and dad have a fun, kidney stone free vacation. And I am happy to be one of the crazy kids in this family. From what I've seen, no one really ever stops being a kid, they just get better at hiding it. For example, the missionaries always seemed so grown up to me when I was a kid. But now that I am one, I have seen just how young we really are. We still get bored in long meetings, make fun of each other, and do some stupid things. Still, I'm so glad to be able to get to know all of the wonderful people here, missionaries, members, and nonmembers alike, and see how life works down here. One of the people here said I was in the wrong area to see Mexico, because all of the touristy things are in the north. Yet that's not the real Mexico. The real Mexico is where the people live, what they see from day to day. It's riding the bumpy, shakey, and somewhat scarey public transportation. It's eating tortas and tacos from the street vendors, not always the smartest choice in all honesty. What I'm trying to say is that I feel I am in the perfect place to get to know Mexico. And I feel I got a bit off topic from the subject of your anniversary.

As far as things are going here, things are about the same. I finish my training in two weeks, which I can't really believe. I feel like I have progressed a lot with the language, but I still have a lot to learn. I read a couple of the Isaiah chapters of the Book of Mormon in Spanish this week, and they kind of kicked my butt. I litterally had to go verse by verse reading the Spanish, then the English to understand what he was saying. The other chapters I do a lot better with, but Second Nephi is going to be a challenge. Still, I know I can make it through. Other than that, I feel I learn something new everyday as far as the language goes.

As far as the people here, they are all pretty kind that I've talked to. A lot of the people here own their own little businesses here. And a little business in Mexico can be as little as going bus to bus selling candy. It kind of surprises me how often that one happens. You'll be on the bus and suddenly there's someone shoving some kind of mango chile lolipop in your face saying uno por dos pesos, o tres por solo cinco pesos. But they must make money, because they keep doing it. Many people also work in factories making all sorts of things. And there are a lot of moto taxi drivers as well. Moto taxis are either carts pulled by a motorcycle, or occasionally a bicycle, or a golf cart. They are more expensive than the buses, but are fairly cheep still, so we use them occasionally. So basically, people do a lot of different things here, just like in the states.

That's about all I've got for you this week. I hope you get feeling better, and once again happy anniversary. I love you.

Love,
Elder Samuel Long

P.S. There is a chance, it's not for sure as far as I know now, that I won't be able to write next week. We may be going to some Mayan ruins to the north of Mexico City called Teotihuacan. Like I said, I'm not completely sure, but If I don't write you next week, that's why.

P.P.S Speaking of stupid things missionaries do, this may have happened: