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