5/7

Well, as the title says, week on in Xalostoc! Sorry I felt like being repetative. Anyways, so yeah, this week was good, very exhausting but good.

 

 

Baptizms give you one of the best feelings I have ever felt. You know that scripture that says something to the effect of how great shall be your joy for bringing souls unto Christ. Well, I am starting to understand what that means. Super cool!

 

 

Squassabia, now formaly known as Squashy, is cool, we get along real well and we work hard. We are having to modify our teaching methods because he teaches alot different then I did with Barben, but that just comes with time. He is also District Leader but he has 4 changes, or 6 months in this area so we are pretty sure he is leaving after this change. And that leaves a DL spot open.... Hmmm well, we are both thinking that might mean I am replacing him. Cool huh?

 

 

There is a scripture in Matthew I think it is that says something to the effect of: "I will never leave you, I will come to you. You are never alone." I have grown a strong testimony of this promise throughout the almost 8 months I have on the mission, I know no matter were I go, no matter what I do, no matter who or what I am with, He is always, and I mean ALWAYS there for you to comfort you and guide you as you take on lifes challenges. There is nothing he can not help you with. So if you need help, feel scared or alone, your first action should be to pray, pray for the help, the strength, the love to press on and walk through the difficult parts of this life so that you can enjoy the happy moments of this life. I know that this works I have seen it a million times, and probably will see it a million more times before my time is up here in Mexico. I love all of you, even though sometimes I am not good at showing it, I love all of you with every part of my being and will always, no matter what happens.

 

 

... It is really cool how sometimes the Spirit takes over and tells the people I am talking to what the Lord wants them to hear, so I hope that massive paragraph is awesome for you guys!

 

 

So as for cool stuff this week we went to am investigator that Squashy had in his last transfer and we taught her the commandments and commited her to baptizm but when the day came for her baptizm she had an apointment come up with her lwayer for something so we had to cancel, but this next week we should baptize her and probably a few others as well. But each time we went over you could tell that she feels the spirit and wants it, it is just a matter of fitting it into her schedule.

 

 

We also have a nother woman that we found, she has a hair salon, and we taught her and she is getting baptized this week as well. She has already been to church and is super excited.

 

 

Last thing, on Sunday we had a ward activity in which the Priesthood holders went on splits with the missionaries of the zone and went and visited inactives. We got a bunch of references and hopefully a bunch of people back at church.

 

 

Pictures!

The one of the baptizm is Maria from last week that I told you about. I got the picture from Barben. The others are of my house! It is considerably larger and alot nicer then my last house. Carpet in the bedroom and study room. Large living room. Never ending shower in the super roomy bathroom. Decked out kitchen and a super awesome landlady! All in all a good buy. Haha

 

 

I heard Romney and Obama are the two candidates for the elections, how do yall feel about that.

 

 

Les amo

Elder TSFWWWP Winslett

 

 

4/30

Hey Family, What is up!
 

Well, as the title suggests, this week has been super crazy and awesome. More about that in a little, first to address all these letters.
 

Ok. So as for this week, We have had 4 baptizms. 1. Was with Maria, the older lady that we have been trying to find. We answered her doubt and baptized her on Wednesday. I have misplaced the picture, I think it got stuck in with Barbens camera, but I will have him recopy it over to my camera so yeah, picture of her next week.
 

The second baptizm was with Jose Luis, Fernanda y Rosalina. They are a family that we found a while back, but they finally decided to get baptized. What convinced them was we went over one night, Tuesday I believe, and watched the Joseph Smith Restoration movie. They loved it and then we planched them with the spirit and then commited them all to date. The mom and the daughter told us that they have been ready, but they were just waiting for the father to say yes. WE answered his doubts and they all got bap'tized saturday. Super cool and very spiritual. They are a really cool family as well. Afterwards they fed us at there house and then we left. In the pictures attached, they are the family baptizm. Fernanda is the daughter. Rosalina the mom, and Jose Luis the dad.

 

 

So you know those pictures I sent of making a scarf, or bufanda in spanish. Well, I finished it. However I have no pictures of it done. NExt week though, along with the pictures of MAria.

 

 

So I am sure you are just woundering what I meant by a change. Well, simply put. I got changed. Me and Barben both left the area (In missionary terms they White Washed the area.) And we both got moved to the zone Xalostoc (I think is how its spelled. It is a wiiiierd spelling but it is pronounced "Hollowstock") However we are not companions. Just in the same zone, meaning I will see him each monday night. MY area is called Estrella (Stars) and I am with Elder Squassabia. He is American, has about 16 months on the mission, from Colorado and is pretty cool, though we havent really gotten to know each other yet. MY house OH MY HECK! So awesome! I will take pictures, but compared to my old house it is super awesome. The shower, I guess, lasts forever and there is no worry about water pressure. There is a stove and an oven and its just HUGE! Gosh... well I will send pictures.

 

 

The sucky thing about changes though, is saying goodbye. WE knew about changes on saturday so we got all sunday to say good bye. LEmme tell you something about that. When I first got there I thought I would never get emotionally attached to any of these people. Well, let me prove myself wrong. I had the hardest time saying goodbye to converts, members, and other aquaintances. No bawling like I did in the airport, but it was hard. But the good thing though, is I can visit them if I am near there, and when I do come back to visit.

 

 

Anyways, got to run, but I sure hope everything is good. Mom GET BETTER! No scaring me anymore. Yall take care and cant wait for Mothers Day.

Les amo

Elder TSFWWWP Winslett

 

 

PS Well, forgot to put this but those pictures are all of Baptizms, my zone in Industrial, various converts and members and Naomi. She is Rosa and Jose´s kid. They are from that big family of 10 we found and baptized a while back.

4/23

Hey Family!

So as I said Barbens Birthday was last monday and we went to his converts to shove his face in a cake, pictures attached. They were super funy, and the cake was good!

We were eating with an Hermana in the ward this week and she gave us Ham with Chipotle sauce ontop. It. Was. Amazing! You guys should totally try it. I am sure you can find chapotle in the store or a recipe online, but it was SO GOOD!

Speaking of food, you know Nancy and her family, well, we made them brownies and they were super good. I attached a few pictures of that event, The little girl is Karen, 7, and the boy was Luis, whom we just baptized. They loved it!

This week was interviews with President! And I got to say he most definantly recieves revelation. We got into the interview and the first thing he starts talking about is what I have had a few problems with. Dont worry though it is solved now. IT was crazy though, how he knew exactly what was troubling me. He also hinted towards my changes next week. From the sounds of it I think I am going to be put with someone my same mission age as co-senior companions. Were not 100% sure though so not gauranteeing anything. The rest of the interview was just small chat, nothing big.

Speaking of changes, as I mentioned next week are changes. And I have no idea whats going to happen. Abit nervous but I know the Lord will provide.

Remember Maria, our baptizm that we were suppose to have this week, so this week we have been playing a wild goose chase with her. When we finally caught up to her we found out that she has had a doubt, and that doubt was she was baptized before by a different church and she thought she could only get baptized once. So we solved it, brought the spirit strong and set her on date for this Wednsday! She is so excited, especially now that weve solved her doubt.

Also I am officially adding a name to the list of nicknames!

So yeah Love yall so very much and look forward to next weeks letter

Les amo

Elder "Tall Son" "Frijoles" "Winzy" "Winni" "Winnie the Pooh" Winslett

4/16

Well, this week as the title suggests, has been a crazy awesome one!

I think Mexico has changed my point of view on material things alot more then the mission. Mainly because most people have little to nothing and are struggling all in all. That and the fact that I have nothing but clothes and books to study. So kindof everything changed my point of view on that, but still good.

Evangelists are pretty much Christians with a fiew different beleifs. Not sure what those differences are but yeah. They also love to involve politics in there religion and as we know that does not work. The man, well we had to drop him because everytime we would go over there he would just tell us how no one is right and God will save all the rightous people of all the churches... well you get the idea, he is so stuck in his way that the thought of change is just un heard of.

Well, ok onto my week, well last monday night we went to the Torre LatinoAmericano, meaning Latin American Tower, which is the tallest tower in latin american! Anyways, so we went to the very top viewing deck and took tons of pictures of the city at night. This city is SO huge! All directions you looked and there was lights until the smog engulfed the lights. It is so big! I attached pictures, sorry if there cruddy but my camera is not very good at night pictures.

I have been stomach sick all this week... Meaning the majority of the days have been spent in the bathroom. Kindof sucks actually.... But what can I do some food does not agree with me.

Apparently peridodically throughout the week there have been minor earthquakes were people have felt them. The thing is though that me nor my compaion have felt them at all... so wierd.

WE had three baptizms this week, Julia, Nancy, and Luis, pictures attached. All of which were super excited for there baptizms! WE had to marry Nancy to her husband but her husband did not want anything... yet. Anyways so this next week as kindof a celebratory treat to them we are making them brownies... which do not really exist down here. Super excited for those!

I got my shoes shined the other day, here they have people that will do it for you for like a dollar. Anyways so this guy used a torch to kindof seal shine on to make it last longer.I have never seen my shoes so shiny before. I would send a picture but you cant tell the difference in the picture... Its all good though.

So we were suppose to have one more baptizm, Maria, but the day of we could not find here, turns out she went to Port Nevaca ( Probably misspelled...) So we get to play the find her again this week game to try and baptize her this week, she wants to but we think she has a doubt that she is not telling us. We will see.

My companions birthday is today and so we are going to Chilis in centro to have some of that, so I will be pulling money out today for that...

I get to talk to you guys next month! So exciting! What day is mothers day? The tenth? Depending on my companion I will tell you how that is going to work. Hopefully by Skype again.

Pictures! 

Ok the ones that are of city lights is of Mexico City at night from the top of the Torre LatinoAmericano

The ones of baptizms are, well of our baptizms. The younger kid is named Luis, the middle aged woman is named Nancy and the older lady Julia. The middle aged guy is named Jose Angel from last week.

Ok, well I think that is all. I look forward to yalls letters next week!

Les amo y se cuidan

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

 

 

 

4/9

Ok, so this week has, in some aspects, sucked, and in others, really awesome. I will get to those reasons after I address your comments.

Easter was not very eventful, they dont really celebrate it very much, they do something else called Semana Santa meaning Holy Week. I will explain that a little later though. But we did go to a converts house and had dinner and so it was decent.

We had one of the baptizms happen this week, Jose Angel. The others are still set and stone, probably for this next week. This Semana Santa is screwing everything up. Jose Angel, though. So he went in for his Baptizmal Interview and told the Elder that he had a dream the night before and in that dream he went to his baptizm and a demonic being came up to him and told him not to do it. Really freaky, but Satan is trying everything to stop us from prgoressing. So yeah the Elder answered him and told him it was Satans doing and that there is no need to worry. We baptized him Sunday morning and confirmed him in Sacrament Meeting (Our Sacrament is last) The look on his face when he came out of the water was so awesome! You could just tell that he felt soooo good. REally strengthened my testimony on how awesome this work is and what it can do for people. The attached picture is right before his baptizm... Well... I cant get the photo to upload...I will try and get it next week, sorry.

Well as for my doings this week, there is not much. This Semana Santa has just messed everything up. What it is, is kindof a Easter celebration but 2 weeks long (LAst week and the week before that.) They do various things in celebration though it only started effecting our work this last week. So yeah, like for example this last Friday everyone and I mean EVERYONE stayed inside and did not answer the door. Something about taking in Christs sacrifice and what not. really wierd how they do it but yeah. Oh and this isnt just a Catholic thing its a Mexican Culture thing so all the Christians, Jehovahs Witnesses, Evangelists, and what not were into this. Yeah so it sucked, you can go Google it for more info.

We were knocking doors this week and found someone, and at first we just spoke Spanish to him and what not like normal, but all of a sudden he switched over to English. Kindof freaked me out but yeah, so we talked in English! Then we taught, in English! So very difficult and wierd, we kept slipping in Spanish words here and there so it made it hard to really teach. But we did it. The guy however is super Evangelist and keeps telling us we are wrong. It is really wierd because he accepts everything but wont do anything about it. Were going to give him another try and see were that goes.

WEll, that really is it for this week... Nothing to exciting, but what can I do, hopefully this week will be much better.

Les amo y cuidanse

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

4/2

Well, as the title suggests this week was much less perfect as last week. We had 5, what seemed to be perfect golden, baptizms that all fell, either family, work or other "commitments" Got into the way and so they all fell. The good news though was that they all said they would still do it, they just had to push it off a week.

 

Yeah, I have started reading the Libro de Mormon in Spanish and underlining anything that I dont understand, and the translating it and finding out why it is said like that. Its helping alot and I am learning lots of words! I know it will come!

 

Yeah, our investigators are keeping us busy, but we want more! The thing is, if you stop looking for more, you will run into a dry spill of no investigators and no baptizms. So the work is always going!

 

Spiritual experience this week was pretty cool, and I cant remember if I told you everything, but we were teaching one of our baptizms and he sees visions. As we were teaching hime Joseph Smith he said the room glowed bright and he could feel a giant fire within himself. We explained to him this was the spirit and that it was testifying to him of the truthfulness of these things He then told us that he knew this is where he needed to go and said he will get baptized no matter what happens. Really cool guy, too. We also told him that the Holy Ghost will help him to interpret these visions he is having and so that just added to the good!

 

I reeeeeeaaaaallllly hope you got to go to Conference, it was awesome, yet again! Learned a ton on things I cna change to benefit the outcome of my mission and experiences. So if you didnt I highly recommend watching them online, or reading the talks. The only bad part, is I had to watch the Sunday morning session in Spoanish so I didnt learn alot there, still cool though. The other coll thing about Conference is it gave us 5 chances in one weekend to bring someone to church, so we got a bunch to church this weekend!

 

Wierd food I had this week! Tacos de Barbacoa (I think that is howyou say it.) IT is basically goat meat. It was alright though, not as bad as I thought it was going to be. As usual, tasted like chicken!

 

Funny story! So we were in a lesson and I was leading the lessson, and asked Elder Barben to say the prayer, so he started and instead of saying "Querido Padre Celestial" (Dear Heavenly Father) he said "Buenos Tardes" (Good afternoon) after he said it he could not stop laughing, and the investigator and I were holding back our laughs as well, super funny though! And we just kept laughing about it all the rest of the day!

 

Not so interesting, but still news is the mission had a mission-wide basketball tournament and our zone got second place. No I did not play, but Barben did. Placement was based on baptizms and numbers like that, so it was cool, motivated those who enjoy basketball alot to work harder.

 

Well, PICTRUES!

 

Not many, all of just centro and the main downtown MC area. PRetty coll, most of those buildings are supppppper old!

 

Love you all so much and keep up all the good work!

 

Les amo

 Elder TSFWWP Winslett

3/26

Hello Winslett fam!

Well, as the title of this letter suggest, this week has been very succesful. The Lord blessed us with a ton of news and most having baptizmal dates, so exciting!

Well, to start off we are all ok from those earthquakes last week. In case that was a concern. Just some shaking, but no harm done.

Working insanely hard and what not, but doing good. Sometimes the food messes me up for a day and so I am almost constantly in the bathroom for a day, but I am good. Language at times is still frustrating me, but I have improved dramatically. Understanding is difficult at times as well but it will come. I am enjoying what I am doing, its a ton of fun, and very uplifting when you see someone you baptize progress in the church. Yes it is hard, and yes at times it is difficult to stay motivated to work, but I am pushing through the hard times to get to the good, and they more then make up for the bad. So no worries, I am A-OK!

See burning it out side would make it difficult because then people get suspicious that were burning something else. So it is easier to do it inside. Dont worry though I did it in the bathroom, with water at hand.

Well, as I siad we have had a ton of success and have found a ton of people

One of those peoples name is Maria, and she let us right in when we knocked on her door. As we taught her and put a fetcha with her through the 6 steps her excitement grew. She canceled doctor apointments to be able to go to church yesterday and is preping for her baptizm this week. 

Another person, Jose Angel, lives down the street from us and he is so ready as well. He came to church and loved it! He is getting baptized this week as well!

Well, other then those people we have a ton of others but none could come to church. We will see how they go this comeing week and I will be sure to fill you in on that!

I will send a bunch of pictures next week but I got to go now!

LEs amo

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

3/19

Hey family!
 
Well, how are we!? I am doing great here at the start of TRansfer 4! Well,
I will start of with changes, I am staying for a 4th transfer with Elder
Barben. So after this transfer this will be a full 6 months with him in
this area. We were not expecting this, but I guess there is still something
here that I got to learn or someone I need to find and teach. I got to tell
you though, I am beggining to hate transfer weeks. The suspension and not
knowing if your staying or going makes it hard to stay focused and work.
Well, either way we still strived and worked!

6th month mark is here and gone. Really scary to think though. 1/4th of the
way done. And only 2 months til I get to talk to you again via Skype or
algo asi. I burned a tie, Pictures attached of that, it was fun, we did it
in our bathroom so no worries.

Ok, with Teresa she is trying to work it out, but it might take sometime.
With Mexico and marriage. People say they are "married" but the majority of
the time its them just living together, we think Teresas "ex" was just
living with her, but she is taking care of it, hopefully we can baptize her
this transfer. She doesnt want her family to know about it, but she is
going to end it with all of them and focus on her family after baptizm.
 
WE helped a Hermana in the ward paint her house. She is remodeling it and
so we helped paint her dining room. It looks really nice, sadly however I
didnt have my camera to take pictures of the event. Is was fun either way.
 
We were contacted by a guy and he said there family is interested in the
Chruch and so we have taught them and set dates for there baptizms. They
are excited for it but just want to make sure of this decision so it might
be a while before they actually get dunked.
 
An Elder in our Zone had a birthday on friday and so we threw him a party,
and apparently its tradition to shove the birthday boys face into the cake
and so yeah it got messy. I am half excited and scared for my birthday. I
dont want cake up my nose!
 
Well, nothing else is really new. Me and Barben are going to work insanely
hard this transfer so that we can get upwards of 10 baptizms. Then maybe I
will be a District LEader. that would be cool!
 
Did you guys get my cards yet?
 
Pictures!
1. My District in Zona Industrial, before changes, its different now.
2. Primary Missionary Activity.
3 and 4. Tie Burning!
5. Dont remember if I sent you this but this is our baptizm last transfer,
Naomi.
 
Well, I think that is it. Take care and dont do anything to crazy!
 
Les amo 
Elder TSFWWP

3/12

Hello family!

How are we! I am doing good, for the most part, we had some good thigns happen this week and some bad stuff. i will get to that later though, first to reply to your letter.

Ok to explain transfers, if I do get changed, nothing will change on your end. My address will be the same throughout the entire mission, that address is for the mission offices and they dispurse the letters to were the missionary is, so no my address will never change. I will, however just have a new companion and area. Changes are this next Sunday so I will let you know if and where I get changed next week!

The Primary kids didnt go to our investigaotrs, they went to members houses with us. But yeah it still gavfe them a good experience.

This grilled cheese iron sandwhich idea sounds like you have experience with it? hahahaha no we have a stove again so no worries.!

Yeah we had better luck with finding people this week, just still having a hard time keeping them and setting baptizmal dates. We had to drop one lady, Silvia because her husband didnt want her to and we cant cause family problems so we left our number, incase he changes his mind. She was so excited about it but the husband wont let her.

The backpack idea sounds really good, we have done a similar thing with books in seminary were they pile books on your arms and you have to hold it up, but then the teacher would come and help, representing the Savior with our burdens, so cool!

Cool thing happened this week. Remeber that big family of 12, and how the mom is the alst one we havent baptized. All of her children and family is baptized but she didnt want to for some unknown reason. We finally sat her down and gave her the "we will drop you if we cant continue" talk. She said she would tell us her doubt but at church because she doesnt want her family to known. Turns out she has several ex-boyfriends and spouses that she wants to tie off before she gets baptized that way she can start her new life without anything to bring her back to the past. So we are thinking we are going to baptize her either wednesday or saturday, we are so excited for this and she is too. I am so glad we finally got her doubt out!

We also got a free baptizm this week. Turns out a members record was lost and so we got to baptize her again, it was cool and it kindof reminded us of what our goal is, giving us more desire to work.

Another wierd thing is this week we have had so many people stop us in the streets saying "we want your help" Its been so cool how many times we got stopped instead of us having to do it.

I hit my 6 month mark this wednesday the 14th, so crazy to think I am already 1/4th of the way done with my mission, and I heard the time continues to pick up, especially after you figure everything out and get the lanugage down. So exciting!

Well, I think that is it for this week! 

 

LEs amo

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

3/5

Familia Winslett!

How are we? By the sounds of your letters, good! Me? Well, this week we worked super hard, but sadly with little results. Its probably the Lord testing us so I will still push forward.

The ball of cartalidge and what not is not restricting my fingers movement, and after it heals the ,muscles and what not will wear the ball down back to normal size. So Everything is alright, I am stretching it and using it like nomral so all should be well, if not I will just have to get my finger cut off and you guys can call me 4 fingers! haha no nothing will go wrong.

Yeah Babren tells me woman will kiss me like that all the time, so I better get used to it, hahahahaha.

Yeah I know I will get better luck and the Lord will bless us with more baptizms, its just when you work super hard all week and then have no baptizms or bring noone to church it kindof makes you feel like you did nothing all week. Well, atleast the ones we were going to take had legitamate excuses and werent just lieing to us becasue they didnt want to go. Better luck next week!

Well, onto this weeks happenings! We went and visited an inactive and had a super spiritual experience with him. WE brought the spirit really strong and asked him why he stopped coming to church. After he told us we helped him resolve his concerns and he says he is going to pray and ask if he should come back. So we will know this Saturday what his answer and decision is. He used to be a Temple worker so we are pretty confadent he will.

Funny story, we were walking and we ran across a hobo, he was super funny and we made a secret handshake with him, so now everytime we walk by his spot we got a handshake to give him. So funny and awesome!

Ummm you might like this, well a Hermana from the ward called us and told us that she was locked out of her house, with the only keys to her door on her kitchen table. So we helped break into her house pretty much. We went to her downstairs neighbor went out into her back patio room thingy, climbed up and on to the roof, then cut the Hermanas bug net around her outside washroom. Then Elder Barben jumped into the room and unlocked the other door from the inside. Super fun and funny, and the Hermana kept trying to give us stuff in return but we told her no and that we were there to help. There are pictures attached of were we jumped up and were we cut her bug net.

This Saturday we had a Primary activity were the younglings went with us to go visit members and share there testimonys and pray with them. We had three and we visited 2 familys. They all shared there testimonys, all super good, and they help one lady decide to come back to church, so the kids got experience in missionary work and we got help with reactivating someone, so awesome!

Pictures!

1. Elder Barben cooking on the Iron. didnt work, but our stove wasnt working. We got a new one though so we are good now.

2 and 3. The way we got into the house that we broke into.

4. The 3 kids we took on the Primary Activity.

Well, I think that is all, I hope everything goes well this week for you guys and for me.

Les amo y que tengan una buena semana

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

2/27

Oye! Como estan?


Well this week has been slightly less exciting then last week. But still all good.

My finger is fine, we went to the checkup appointment and he says its healing fine, I didnt get a picture of the Xrays but my bone is healing, it is kindof forming a ball around the break, kindof wierd. Anyways the doctor said it will be fine, he did however suggest I do theropy, but after talking with my President and others who have had similar problems, I decided against theropy. I asked the doctor what I could do to help it and he gave me a few excercises to do and stretches and what not, so it should be good. No surgery will not be needed and the only problem I forsee is if the finger decides to have artheritis. Which with some drugs can be overcome.

Baptizms are coming slow, like I said last week the family of 4 we found that whent to chruch, well turns out they loved it! They said they are going to try and come every week and with that attitude I am sure baptizm for them is just around the corner. Just a matter of answering there doubts. WEre hoping also that the last of that huge family of 12 will get baptized this week, she just has some hidden doubts that are being a pain to sacar.

WE get paid this week so I will be buying more vitamins, I actually just ran out last week. So yeah, they do make a difference, especially when you are under alot of stress and your immune system is shot.

Well, my usual day is pretty simple, wake up at 630 (Some days I have a hard time getting up and so I sometimes will snooze button it til 7) then we go do excercises or algo asi. (Elder Barben wanted to go to a gym so we have been going this last week, paid for a month so the next 3 weeks or so will be in a gym, who knows I might come home super buff.... hahaha.) Then it is shower time/eat, then studies, personal and companionship. On Thrusdays usually we do weekly planning so we get done with everything like that around 11 or 12. Then we go out and work until 2 or 3 then we eat for an hour, then the rest of the day is spent working and what not. We come home at 930 or 10, do daily planning for the next day and then journals, prep for bed, and in bed at 1030. PRetty simple sounding but it is actually insanely crazy!

Ok, so not much else has happened this week. This morning actually I lost my clip on name badge, for the suit coats. MEaning I will have to order another and who knows how long that will take. Dont worry I have the one that goes on my shirt pocket so I am not nameless. Just means suit coats are going to be different until I get a new one from SLC

Funny story we were at food and I wanted a cup and so I said "Puedo tener un..." Which means "can I have...." and the word for cup is "Vaso" but the "v" in spanish sounds like a "b" and so I said on accident "Beso" meaning "kiss" so I asked the Sister who was feeding us for a kiss and not a cup..... hahahahaha we laughed so hard... then I corrected myself. So funny. MY companion still teases me about that...

Remember Guadalupe? Well last week he got the Priesthood and so this week he got to bless the Sacrament. I cant describe the feelings I got when I saw him up there blessing the Sacrament with the power from God that he has. So awesome! The other cool thing was Sergio from that big family of 12 got the Aaronic Priesthood and so this last week he was passing the Sacrament. So sweet!

I take more pictures one of these days and send it your way, but picture oppurtunities are hard to find in a place were theres lots of people. Dont want to risk getting robbed!

Well, got to run!

Les amo y que tengan una buena semana!

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

2/20

Jeni here. I am so sorry I fail so bad at this thing. I am working on it. I'll get it up to date ASAP! 

Buenos tardes, de Elder Winslett

 

 

Everything is doing great here we have had more success this last week, so were hoping more baptizms come this way!

 

 

Yeah that house with the wierd Voodoo guy was tripping me out. He not only obviously worshipped Satan, but Idols and talked to the dead... so wierd.

 

 

Yep, we are going to the doctor again tomorrow and he is going to Xray it and  what not. I think it should be fine. The only thing I can think of is it might cause some artheritis when I get old and wrinkly. Ill let you know what he says next week!

 

 

The weather here is pretty much the same year round. 70-80s druring the day mostly sunny and dry. My companion said starting next month it is going to start raining pretty much nonstop for 3 or 4ish months. But yeah there is no snow and it gets around the 40s and 50s at night, but no snow.

 

 

Now for stories on my heppnings. One family we did find last week are really interested. The father has faith problems, the mother is an inactive member having trouble with the Word of Wisdom, one daughter is atheist, and the other is confused about her beliefs. The good thing though is they all want to find a resolve to all this. They came to church and really loved it and we are planning on 6 stepping them this next week. 

 

 

There was a ward dance thi last week and I gotta say dances here are way different. 1. They only listen to salsa music and 2. no one really dances, it is more of a social event. Still, our converts came and they loved it!

 

 

That same night we had a ward meeting, which normally neve happens, and we got some good ideas in helping inactives come back and actives to stay active.

 

 

Wednesday, I believe, we had a Zone Conference with President Tervort, and we learned more on how to contact and teach and what not. Really cool and me and my companion are impemeting the ideas as we work.

 

 

Another thing, kindof sad is I have been sick all week, it started Tuesday and I still have it. After the Zone Conference I ended up staying at home all day because I felt terrible. We think its a fever, but I am almost better now. Just made the week hard to work.

Les amo y que tengan una buena semana!

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

2/6

 To be honest this week has been super slow, mainly because of transfers and the suspense thereof but also because its been hard to find people as of yet.

 

Well, i guess i will start off with the good news. I am staying in my area with Elder Barben for another 6 weeks. So we are both excited for that.

 

Also we baptized this Saturday. Do you remember Jorge? My first baptizm? The one that went into rehab? Well, we baptized his mom and she was so excited. In a way I think Jorge being sent to rehab helped prepare her. The Lord works in mysterious ways. She couldnt be confered because she had a family emergancy, but next week we will.

 

We found this super cool family of like 3 and one of them has been living in California but is visiting for a little. Anyways she speaks perfect English. You want to know how wierd it is to talk to someone who speaks English after hearing Spanish for the last 3 months. WIERD! Hahaha but i can still hold a conversation.

 

Also learned that near the end of this transfer I will hit my sixth month mark. Can you believe that? Crazy!

 

Well, i will get you pictures next week, this lounge doesnt have an adapter for my SD Card.

 

To be honest that really is all that happened this week. Everything else is just the same. Searching, finding, dropping, planning, studying, and sleeping.

 

Well, Have a good week

Les amo

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

1/30

Well, real quick news on the pinky. They are not rebreaking it and the specialist I went to said it should heal fine and I wont have future problems with it. He said rebraking it would only cause me more pain then needed and its healed enough to were it probably wouldnt rebreak in the same place. He said it might feel funny for a while but as I move it and what not the muscle will wear down the bumps from the break and the only difference will be the bone will be alittle bent in the Xray and my finger will be shaped slightly different. This guy is a Bone specialist and the Church trusts him so we can too. He told me just to excercise it with a stress ball and I should be good. It doesnt hurt at all and I can move it pretty much like I used to with the exception of extending it. I cant open it all the way because it is still swollen but the doctor gave me anti inflamatory pills and that should be that. So no worries I am great!

The fight over the 2 pesos was more of just us playing with one another, it was a real fight. Hahahaha, but yeah nothing serious.

 

Ok, not much time but remember Jorge, my first baptizm. Well, he got back into drugs this last week or so and his parents caught him and put him into rehab. He is not seeable until mid february and so I am hoping I can be there to help him with getting reactive in the church and getting him better friends.

 

Funny story. so you know how they have cases here on the streets where they put Virgin Marry statues to basically worship and they put other saints as well. Well in our area there is one with a Santa Clause in it. So Santa Clause is a Saint... hahahaha I will get a picture this week sometime and send it.

 

I got to confirm someone this last week. Remember Mario from that group of 4 we baptized last Saturday. Well, I did his confirmation and let me tell you how amazing that was. As soon as I put my hands on his head I exploded with fire and my nerves were calmed and I knew exactly what to say in his blessing, super amazing! We had a similar experience with a lady I gave a blessing to this week. She was really sick and she asked for one so I did. So awesome!

 

Another funny story, we were walking home and we passed by this kid and next thing we know is he is peeing on the tree next to him. I didnt see anything luckily, but I saw him do it. People here have little to know shame and so we see things like that quite often actually, I just thought that was hilarious!

 

Changes are this next Sunday and so I might might not be in the same area with Elder Barben. I want to, but I dont have any say, so we will see. I will let you know next Monday what happens.

 

Well. I think that is all. Update on Spanish though. I can understand most people when they are talking gospel related, other topics a bit more difficult. Speaking is becoming more fluent as well and I am making more sense, but I know I still have a long way to go.

 

Well, I got to run, but I hope you all have a great week and tell everyone to write me please!

 

Les amo

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

1/23

¡Hola a todos! ¿Como estan?

 

Bleh this week has been crazy. I have been mildly sick all week and we are still working so I am dead tired by the end of the day.

 

News on the finger. Got Xrays taken earlier today and it is most definantly broken... Actually alot worse then I thought it would be. I took pictures of the Xray and I will attach them. What they said is I will have to get it rebroken, it probably isnt an option to say no. I had to pay for the Xray but the church is going to pay me back. $260 pesos isnt much anyways, like $15-20 Dollars. The church is going to pay for the rest I think as well. If not I have my card.

 

All the people have to do is sign a few papers, show them birth certificates, and thats all. Its crazy, but yeah.

 

Yep investigators are going crazy this week, we have a bunch of news, and some are pretty promising. We have this one younger lady, Neilly, and she is really interested, the only hard thing is finding her... hahaha, she is never home. Then we have Joel as well, his wife actually died a week or two ago and so he is pretty much a shiny golden investigator, haha. Is it bad that people who have had recent losts are usually the most receptive?

 

Pork chops here are like super delicious. I dont know if its the lack of me having it for a while, or they cook better but they were delicious. We had something similar yesterday after church. They actually love Spaghetti here. It is different but it is similar. Sadly no Sloppy Joes.... MAybe one day... haha.

 

Yeah baptizms on the giving end are alot cooler! You feel that warmth like a pillar of fire annnnd you feel the love for the investigator. Really cool though. Although, now with my finger I dont know if I will be able to baptize for a while until it is healed.

 

Ok real quick with the pictures=

1 and 2 are pictures of the Xray of my finger...Obviously it is broken. Makes me cringe just thinking about it.

3 and 4 are some sketches I have done while I have spare time at night before bed.

5 and 6 are more of the buildings in downtown. They are AMAZING! The only bad thing is they are Catholic and so there are Virgin de Guadalupe figures all over.

7 is Guadalupe at his baptizm. He wanted Barben to do the ordinance.

8 is my baptizm this last Saturday nigh from left to right=Oscar Mario Rosa and Jose. Rosa and Jose are the ones we married.

 

Ok. Now time for news of my happenings. Barben had to go to the immigration office this last tuesday and so I got to go on splits with the Zone Leaders.

 

Remember picture 8, yeah so we baptized them this last Saturday, it was amazing and they were all so happy, this is pretty much the rest of the big family of 12 we had. The only one we lack is Teresa, the Mom. She is being pretty stubborn because she doesnt want to change. We will get her eventually though. Funny story about the baptizm. None of them could fit into the overalls we had and so we had to give them our clothes/squeeze them into some of the backup clothes. so that is why there shirts are reaaaallly tight on them.

 

This Sunday was Stake Conference and so the meetings were all weekend. Sadly though I barely understood anything. President spoke and so that was really cool, he is so good at giving talks and I can understand the most of what he says.

 

Me and my companion got into a fight... not really just a joke.... over 2 pesos, which is like 25 cents. It was so funny.

 

Hmmmmm.... cant think of anything else that has heppened. Pretty much the same as usual.

 

Well, I hope everything goes well this week and what not. Dont worry about my finger President knows were the best doctors are and so I will be taken care of.

 

Oh, before I forget, news on Spanish I am getting alot better at creating sentences and what not. Understanding is still hard but yeah, I am all good, I know I will get it.

 

Ok, well I got to run, talk to you all next week

 

Les amo y que tengan una buena semana. Cuidense.

 Elder "Tall Son" "Frijoles" "Winzy" "Winnie the Pooh" Winslett

 

 

1/16

Yo fam! So I am going to have to do this quickly I am real low on time, we had somethings to do today and so it cut into my email time.

 

Guadalupes Baptizm was amazing and super spiritual. He bore his testimony afterwards and it was super strong. Elder Barben baptized him and I got to be a witness. His whole family came to watch from all over town because they all have been waiting for this for a long time. In one years time I will be able to see them all get sealed in the temple, just got to maintain contact for that.

Finger is fine, pretty sure it is broken because I can feel the bones not set right under the skin, tonight I am going to talk to the ZLs and see if I can go get it rebroken and set right, hopefully they will get permission from president. If not then my pinky will be a centimeter or two shorter. I dont think it will cause to much problems if I dont so I am not to worried. We will see...

Visitors Center is closed for remodeling. I guess they are redueing it all. And I think the temple might be closed next month for the same thing, just not as long.

It has picked up now that the Holidays are over, we have a bunch of more people who are eager to take that step.

I will send more pictures, including one of Guadalupe next week when I hopefully have a bit more time to write.

Dont worry you can keep telling me your proud all the time, it does not bother me.

This last Saturday we got to marry 2 people from the big family of 12. They arent nearly as big and as festive as they are in the US. We sat down at there dinner table and they signed some sheets, Then that was it. No pastor, no ceremony, not even a kiss. Just signing and they are now married! Next week we are baptizing hopefully the rest of them in that family, so next week is going to be good.

One of the lunches we had this week was with a Hermana and she gave us real life tbone porkchops. They were super delicious and aparently that is really high end food, so we got a real good treat.

I got an awesome recipe for a dip they make here that is really easy and good.

3 Cans of tuna (The small kind you usually get.)
4 Tomatos
1 Bundle of cilantro
1 Avacado
10 of the little green Jalapeno peppers (You dont have to put these in if you dont want it to be spicy.
1/2 Jar of Mayanase (Same size you usually get.)
1 Large Onion

Cut all those up into really tiny pieces, combine mix and serve with Saltine crackers or just some Tostitos. It is DELICIOUS!

Les amo y que tengan una buena semana.

Elder TSFWWP Winslett

1/9

¡Oye familia!

First week into the year. Slow. But that mainly is because of the day of the kings, which is very similar to Christmas, they send ballons up into the air with a list of things they want and the 3 kings are suppose to come by that night and give them the stuff. Kindof wierd but its kindof like Santa Clause. One of our investigators, actually the big family asked us what we wanted and we, being 20 year olds, say Ferraris. The better part is the next day they give us Hot Wheels that are Ferraris. So funny. hahaha.

 

Yeah I feel now that my Spanish is getting better. At first I think it was more me being overwhelmed by that amount of people talking to me and me not understanding. When we arre talking Gospel I understand almost everyone, other talk, not so muhc. It is coming though, I can see it and so can my companion.

 

The temple was amazing! hahaha but sadly the visitors center is closed until December and so I probably wont get to see it again until then.

 

Dairy Queen here is exactly the same there in the USA. So yes I can get all the types of Blizzards and Cones, it is awesome. The only bad thing is I can only go on Mondays on Preperation Days.

 

Well, not much else happened this week, we had a 2 day mission meeting about the 6 steps, so that was cool.

 

We went back to that older man, Gaudalupe, that isn´t a member and he was there. He said he talked with his grandson about getting baptized and he said he would rather have us do it now, so that way in about a year he can get sealed to his wife and his grandson can be there for that. We are both really glad about that and we are baptizing him this Saturday.

 

We had someone slam a door in our face for the first time since I have been here. Not as bad as I thought it was, kindof made me laugh actually.

 

Remember when I told you I jammed my finger pretty bad? Well, it is still swollen, and to make a long stopry short we were going to go to the doctors but President and the zone leaders said if it was broken all the way through I wouldnt be able to move it as much as I kind right now, so they boith said to wrap it real good and just tough it out. I think its broken, but only hairline, so either way all the doctor would do is wrap it like I have it. If it doesnt better at all in like 3 weeks I will ask again to go to the doctor, I am pretty sure its good now though. only swollen, doesnt hurt, and I can move it pretty well. It only hurts when I hit it to something.

 

I think thats it, sorry for it being so short, but yeah. Next week is going to be busy, I can tell.

 

Pictures!

1. This is at the visitors center with that family of 12, this isnt all of them but most of them

2. Xmas lights at the temple!

3. The Mexico City Temple

4. My first baptizm, Jorge, that is his mom or grandma, I dont remember, haha But we are teaching her and should be baptized soon.

5. 2nd and 3rd baptisms Ana and Sergio

6. My Tongan friend from the new generation his name is Elder Ika

7. My Dodge Charger, hahaha

 

Well, I believe that is all, I hope your week is awesome! Let me know if you got any questions at all.

 

Les amo

Elder TSFWWP Winslett