Hola familia,

things are going pretty awesome right now here in Mexico. I have pretty much gotten used to the missionary schedule, walking all day and such, but yeah, I love it, every night I go to bed exhausted, but this is how I know that I have been working my hardest and giving my best effort to the work of the Lord.
This week was pretty good, we found ten new investigators, some of them are really ready to accept the gospel and hopefully will accept the invitation to be baptized. But, I have a cool story that I want to share real quickly with you guys, we have this investigator, her name is Rosio, and we have been teaching her for a month, she was like the second person that I taught here, but yeah, me and my companion taught her about the power of the atonement, and the power of prayer in a lesson, probably on like Tuesday or something like that, I dont remember exactly when. But she told us her story in our next appointment with her, her story goes like this: She works in an estetica(basically a barbershop, but not exactly, I don´t know the exact translation in english) but she told us that while she was working, there were two customers who were talking abou the church, and making fun of the beliefs, and of mormons and all this stuff, and so Rosio told us that she decided to pray in her mind and heart, and her prayer was answered. She told us that after she prayed, two other missionaries in our zone, were walking by the estetica and she called them into talk to the two customers. They were there in just the right moment to give her the support that she needed, and the cool thing is, that one of the customers decided to start taking the missionary lessons, he lives in our area, so we got a reference out of this, and Rosio´s testimony was strengthened. We were going to have her baptism this past Saturday, but we had some complications, so we are hoping to have it after conference, on Sunday, so that the whole ward can be there to support her.
The ward that I am in is called Nativitas, and they are awesome people, so nice and stuff to us. Every day, we get to have comida(meals) with a member, and share a scripture and help them and excite them to share the gospel The ward is actually pretty good in number, about 60 active members give or take, but here in Mexico, the problem isn´t finding and baptizing, it´s retention and reactivation of members who go back to their old habits. If every member who was baptized was active, the ward I am in would have i don´t know, probably like 180 members or something like that, maybe a little high for a guess, but yeah, a lot more.
My spanish is improving each day, I´m amazed at how fast I have been able to learn, but I know that it has been through the don de lenguas(gift of tongues) that has helped me to learn so much, so fast. I´ve only been here one month, but it feels liek longer, I have been working hard to try to learn more and take more responsibility. I´ve gotten better at teaching too. Because I am a new missionary, me and my companion have two hours each morning to do companion study, I have learned so much from my companion, he has 20 months in the mission and he was the secretary of finances for 6 months in the offices of the mission, so he already knows a ton about missionary work, and I am trying to learn as much as I can, but my first intercambio(transfer) is almost done, it´s week 5, I can´t believe how fast time has gone by, but I love it here, it´s different, but I love it.
Some more information about the weather and stuff, right now, the weather is way nice, it´s basically like utah, but a little more cooler because we are at a higher altitude, but right now, it´s kind of like the rainy season, so it has rained a lot, almost every day. The air, is pretty nasty though, there is so much polution, and tons of people smoke, this is one thing that I don´t like, but my body has kind of adjusted, still, when I get home, one of the first things I want to do, is take a nice long hike in the mountains, with the fresh air and mountain view, I miss that a ton! Here is all city, city, city, and more city. Every hour of the night there are sirens, honks, and cars driving, but I´ve learned to sleep through it pretty good.
I´m starting to like the spicy food too, some is really spicy, but I´ve learned to like it.
How are things back home? How is work going for you mom and dad? How is school for Andrew, Angela, and Megan? thanks for keeping me in your thoughts and prayers, I´m working my hardest and trying to be a good missionary, I´ve had some rough days, been rejected, but overall, the one time that we get accepted, can make up for 1000 rejections. Tracting is fun too, for me, to try and be creative, one approach that is kind of funny, but was kind of effective went like this, I knocked the door, they said who is there, i said we are here to give you money, they said seriosly, i said yes, they came to the door and i said not real money, but spiritual money that you will need to use to buy your salvation or something like that, they weren´t interested, but the message we have, the gospel, really is like spiritual money, it was fun for me and my companion. This area though, has a reputation to be kind of tough, and it is, but me and my companion have endured to the end of each day, and we have a goal to baptize 4 children of God this week, hopefully we can reach this goal.
I´m so excited for conference this week though, the oppurtunity to hear a prophet of God speak, is priceless, this will be just what I need, more advice and assistance from the brethren. EAch time is special, but this time, I feel more excited, and ready to listen, to apply each and every word into my efforts as a missionary, I´m excited, let me know what your favorite parts of conference are.
Man, I can hardly remember what home looks like haha, but this is good, because I´m commited to serve for two years. To tell a little more about mexico, one thing that is pretty interesting, is they have these things called tangy´s, they are basically like little tents that sell things, kind of, they are little market shops, that set up every once in a while. They have tons of different things, it´s cool to look around, because they have everyrthing that you could think of to buy. Also, the metro, it´s interesting to see the people that I see on the subway(metro) each time, there are always people selling things, and people always ask me, what do you think about the president of america, and I say, I don´t know, i´ve dedicated two years of my life to help people find happiness in life and I start teaching them, often they don´t like this, but it´s true, and I love it.
There are millions of people here, well probably like 2 million in my area alone, something like that, but it´s cool because every day I get to talk to different people and learn about the culture more and more. One house had 4 generations living there, all in one lesson! It was awesome. I love you guys so much, thanks so much for praying for me, it means a lot.