Week #40 ... Pictures and an Update

Wow. A lot happening these last two weeks.. I didn't get the chance to write a general email the last week, so I'll talk a little bit about last week too.

I think the best experience we've had in a while was the opportunity to have one of the assistants of the mission accompany us for the day. It was pretty awesome! We asked us what we had planned for the day, and told him ... not much. He honestly got really excited! He said "Sweet! That means that we're going searching for new investigators the whole day!" So what we did that was successful was sing hymns to random people. We would sing a quick verse of a hymn, and then asked them if they would then give us 10 minutes of their time, so that we could quickly teach them of the Restoration. It was awesome. We practically walked the whole day, but it was worth it.

Another awesome moment that we had last week was goal that we set as a district. The (past) past week, I had interchanges with one of the zone leaders, and one of the things he told me that I could improve was my district meeting. He has attended a few of my meetings before, but the one we had that day, could've been better. He said, "I remember your first meeting. And it was amazing. Felt a strong Spirit, we practiced, and made goals. But what I liked most, was when we made those goals, I felt very committed. It wasn't just 'okay, yeah, we will do it' I felt committed to the goal the whole week!" So that was what I missed in my latest meeting. After that, I felt determined to do better.

So, what I wanted to focus on for this next meeting was how we can get more investigators. We had very few that past week, and we could do a lot better. We practiced, and then made the goals. We had 9 new investigators the past week, and the new goal was for 17. After the meeting, everyone had their game faces on, and were committed to find those new investigators! Then comes Sunday, when I call everyone for their numbers.. And WE DID IT. 20 new investigators for the week! I was so proud of my district, they are pretty darn awesome!

Fast forward to this week, when we had our zone meeting. This was also awesome, because we set goals, but for baptisms, for the whole zone! Again, everyone had their game faces on, and ready to roll!

Well, I am running out of time. So I will end it there.
Thank you all so much for all the support. Hope everyone is well.

Les amo!

Pictures ... Zone Conference

... and a little p-day fun

*** From The Brothers ***

Dear Landon, this has been a lazy week for me. Really lazy.My friends, Lucas and Aidan cam over. We headed outside and played basketball for like an hour and a half. Also, Aidan and I played some Nuketown zombies. (We did play buried too, but once we got into the witches house, my ray gun ran out of ammo so yeah...) Then we played some "Sorry" and Aidan got the card sorry like 10 times! Guess what? Golden State is STILL undefeated!! They went against Toronto and L.A.C Chicago and won against all three of them of them! (14-0) We went to this restaurant called, "Windy Ridge Cafe" this weekend. We went there when we were in Park City on our mini-vacation in August. The Mac and Cheese and Sweet Potato Fries are just, Yuuuuum! I'm going to wrap it up right here. Anyway, nine months of the way there. Love you Landon,       Colt

Dear Landon, this week of school was not that fun. My teacher was only there for two days of the week, so the other three days, we had a substitute. The first day without her was fine, we didn't really have a sub, just one of the other teachers watching us. We also watched movies for about 1/4 of the day, so not anything bad. But the other two days, we had substitutes. I just like my regular teacher there more than a sub, so it makes the day longer and harder. The Jazz did a lot better this week than last week, with 2 wins and 1 loss. They won two close ones against Toronto and Atlanta, and lost by a little bit to Dallas. Golden State... still undefeated at 14-0. They went against the Clippers, and were losing by 23 in the first half. Somehow, they came back and won by six, and I was pretty upset. They also won against Chicago and Toronto this week. 15-0 is the best NBA start in history set by the Houston Rockets in 1993, so they can tie that record today against Denver. I've kind of gotten back into 2K14 and just played it today. And I have been watching some 2K16 videos, and it is so much better than our game, so I hope that I can get it for Christmas. I have been shooting BB-Guns this week because mom was cleaning out the pantry downstairs, and she found a lot of old soda cans, so I shot 'em all. This week was also dad's birthday, but he had a derby the same day, so we didn't really celebrate it. But over the weekend went all the way back to Park City to get Windy Ridge Cafe. Last time we went to Park City, we got that for dinner once, and the shrimp and sweet potato fries were the best! So we went back, and it tasted way better than I thought it was gonna be.    Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, we went to Windy Ridge Cafe all the way in Park City again and it was a lot better than I remembered (not that it wasn't great the first time). Their LEGENDARY pop-corn shrimp, LEGENDARY mac and cheese, and of course LEGENDARY sweet potato fries! I was so full. We went to cousin Mckenna's wedding reception yesterday. It was pretty fun and they had cheesecake. The West Hills team is kind of in a weird place right now because someone that made the team got bad grades and his parents won't let him play. All of his friends say that they're really strict. Because of that, our coach was subbing for a teacher on Thursday and he asked me and my friend, Tyler, to go find a guard that he recently cut and bring invite him to talk to Coach to play with us. We got to feel like coaches for a few hours because we were talking about who was the better guard. It was kind of fun. Also, the biggest guy on our team said that he might quit because he doesn't like to run. All of us made "that one face" and were like "for real??" And if you haven't pieced it together yet, I made the West Hills team. So yeah... Wuv, Keaton

• Dear Colton: A lazy week huh? but you still have school, right? Can't have too much of a lazy week with school.. Dang Golden State.. Doing pretty freaking awesome! But all flights come to an end at some point.. Ugh.. You are making me hungry.. No.. I AM HANGRY! ... Just kidding. We had an activity with the whole zone today, and ate a lot of hamburgers.. Cheap hamburgers, but hamburgers none the less. Never have had sweet potato fries here in Mexico... How depressing.. Oh well.
• Dear Cooper: I know how you feel. But with other teachers, it was like "YEAH!!!! SUB!!" then we regret it a second later, because they would give us a lot of homework.. Haha. Good work Jazz! So it is Golden State that can beat the record right? Haha I have never really been a fan of sport video games.. I just think, "should I play basketball on the Xbox, or actually go play basketball..? I'm going to go play some real basketball!" Ugh.. I miss basketball. Everyone just plays freaking fútbol here.. And I am not getting any better either. Haha oh well. Sounds like a fun time for Dad's birthday, wish I could be there!
• Dear Keaton: Man, I am going to have to try this restaurant when I get back.. Because I love all those things, and miss them more! Haha. Wow. McKenna getting married.. that makes the first grandchild to get married! Haha that makes everyone feel old.. Hmm... does sound like an interesting situation for the team.. but sounds pretty cool that you had the chance to basically draft someone onto the team! Haha well.. You know that big guys don't like to run.. Well good luck with the team. Have a good season!

Landon didn't get around to sending his step stats this week, but Cooper wanted it recorded that again, HE was in first place. Callahan had me beat too! They are some busy boys. Keaton and Colton were pretty close to the top too. Landon mentioned doing a lot of walking, I'm sure he would have stacked up in steps with us!

Week #39 - Just Between Brothers

Well, Monday came and went with no letter from our Landon. It's not the first time that has happened. I'm not an overly anxious missionary mom. I was disappointed, but not really worried. He did write today, although just a short note to me (and steps upon request) ... and then wrote his responses to his brothers. I really love that the boys at home have a habit (mom enforced of course) of writing Landon, and that Landon always takes the time for a personal response. I treasure the conversation between the brothers and am happy they can remain close, even when miles apart.

Here is bit from his note to me ...

Sorry that I didn't write yesterday. Apparently it was some holiday, and there was no school. And when the college is closed, pretty much everything is closed. So we really couldn't find any internet place! But that is the life. Hope you enjoyed your birthday mama mía! And tell Dad Feliz cumpleaños! In answer to your question (I had asked if they had heard about the Paris terrorist attacks), our little "hi-tech" cell phone that we got here gets news little messages from a news station of Mexico. And it is a mandatory thing, we can't block it at all. It keeps us in touch. That is how I found out about Paris.. Pretty sketchy stuff.

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, so basketball season is here and the team is made! Yes, I am on it. First game is December 1st and I am so excited. We haven't got our gear yet which I'm super excited for as well. With basketball I only have 25ish hours at KFC now because I have practice everyday after school.  I have to retake all my tests before or during school now because I don't have time after school which sucks, but I'll try and make it work. Not much else has happened this week, same old same old, school, basketball and work. Hope everything is going well for you in your new district. Love you bro - Callahan

Dear Landon, so tryouts for CH were pretty fun. I got cut on the third day. That's as far as I was thinking because there were two sophomore point guards and another point guard at sunset that are better than me. The bad thing is is that someone from West Hills made it. You don't know him because he just moved here, but he's tall and athletic and I didn't even think he would make it. He's mad that he made it too! He's just playing because his dad is making him. I feel bad for him though because he's not going to start or even get nearly as much playing time as he would have for West Hills. Only two freshmen made the sophomore team. Leo, (the guy I've been talking about) and Trevon. He's the sophomore coaches son, so no surprise there.  Tryouts for West Hills are this week on Monday-Thursday. The coach said during our open gym that he will probably be done with the cuts by Tuesday so we can have Wednesday and Thursday for practice. Our coach was the assistant coach from last year. He's also subbing for a teacher at West Hills tomorrow and Tuesday. None of us have that class though (french). Everything else is the same. So yeah... Wuv, Keaton

Dear Landon, the Jazz didn't do so good this week, and now they are 4-5 with 3 losses this week and no wins. (Well, update, they won that day after the letters were emailed off).  They lost to the Heat, Magic, and the Cavs, and all were pretty close losses. And we have had NBATV since the Summer League in June, so we can still watch a lot more games than we were used to. And another good feature to it is that if there are close games on that aren't on any channels, it will show the game, and that happened with two games yesterday! It was after the Phoenix vs Denver game, in which the Suns went on for a win, and immediately after that it went to the Milwaukee vs Cleveland game that was in 2OT. The Bucks ended up winning them by a little bit, ending the Cavs 8 game win streak. And then a little bit after that, it was the Golden State vs Nets game, where Andre Iguoladola got a 3 pointer to tie it and go in to overtime. The Warriors are still undefeated at 11-0 now. Parent-Teacher Conferences were fine, I got all 4's except for two 3's, and everything was alright. After that we went to the book fair and got me a couple of books, and I have already read 16 books just if you wanted to know. Colton and I got the day off of school Friday, and we played a basketball game, and a new football game that we have made. Now The Voice are in the Live Playoffs and my favorite person is probably going to win. My first and second favorite artist were saved by America, but my third, fourth, fifth, and sixth were eliminated, so it is going alright on The Voice right now.    Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, I had a crazy basketball game this week! We only won by one! It was our last game, my team was cheering and celebrating because we went undefeated throughout the whole league! It was in the last quarter, also, it was bonus for both teams, one minute left, and the ball kept getting stolen by this kid on the other team that was like eight years old but was almost as good as Keaton! He was not so good with ball handling though. Other than that he was great! One of the kids on my team was with the ball, then all three of my coaches started yelling, "PASS IT TO COLTON, PASS IT TO COLTON!!" They wanted the ball to be in my hands because my ball handling. Later on I crossed over number three. Score was 24-25 us winning, our ball, with four seconds left! They passed the ball to me and I held the ball until the buzzer sounded. So that was it, we won the league. The Jazz has four wins and five losses, Golden State is STILL undefeated! (11-0) Keaton and I played Nuketown zombies again, this time I got the Ray Gun Mark two in like 7 tries. We got to round 20. My guns were, the Lsat pack-a-punched and the Ray Gun Mark two pack-a-punched. I pack-a-punched the Lsat twice because I didn't like the sight. Me and Cooper made up a game that we don't have a name for yet but it's really fun. So we have a football tea that we place the ball to kick it, if the other catches it, he gets a point. If it touches the ground before he catches he has to run the the end of the yard for a "touchdown." If the kicker gets the ball before the catcher gets the ball, the kicker gets to kick again. (Even though you wouldn't really want to kick again because the only way to get points is to be the catcher.) Anyway, that is the end of it for this letter today. Oh, and kitties are sleeping together right on one of the new chairs, they're so cute. Anyway, bye, Love ya. Love your youngest brother Colt

• Dear Callahan, Haha your favorite time of the year! Sounds like you've got a few weeks to condition yourself! Haha honestly, don't know how you do it! How many hours of practice will it be everyday? You're a beast! Now will be a testing time for you.. But I know that you can handle it. Just stay smart and work your best!  
• Dear Keaton: Well good that you had some fun at the high school tryouts. Always a good experience to try. Point guards are often the favored spots, so makes sense that there would be a few of them! I guess it makes sense that a super tall guy would easily make the team, too bad you won't get him on the middle school team! Good luck with the tryouts, and have fun!
• Dear Cooper: Yikes.. What has happened to the Jazz?! They were doing so good! Sounds like you are getting the whole bit through NBATv! Pretty cool! Uh oh... what happened with those two 3's on your report card?! Are you flunking off? Haha just kidding... As long as you are doing your best! Playoffs for the Voice! Here in Mexico, it's "La Voz!" just if you were wondering. Haha
• Dear Colton: Sounds like a pretty intense final game! Good job! Dang Golden State.. 11-0? That is pretty awesome! Haha are you guys thinking about buying the new Black Ops 3? To see what the new zombies are like? Haha maybe you will have to explain it to me and we can play it when I come home in 15 months! Kinda seems long now, but it will pass by quickly!

*** Step Stats ***

Monday, November 9 - 18456

Tuesday, November 10- 18837

Wednesday, November 11- 18181

Thursday, November 12- 16818

Friday, November 13- 13567

Saturday, November 14- 14567

Sunday, November 15- 11500

Monday, November 16- 14136

Not a huge change from last week ... I'm number one, as is usually the case ;)  Colton is actually above Cooper. Alas Keaton and Grayson didn't quite make the top10 (they were 11th and 12th place respectively).  Grandpa Westra is in it again, along with Uncles Shane and Chris, and Aunt Wendy. Our neighbor Terrilynne always makes a good showing as well (even though I haven't seen her at Zumba for a few weeks!) 

The weather here is colder, but I'm an indoor exerciser, so it doesn't really impact me!

Week #38 - Tiny Tidbits

The new district.

​Haha.. me attempting to be a preaching Tarzan... or something like that.

No general email this week, and not a lot in the family letter.

Here's some tidbits ...

(I had mentioned getting haircuts for some of the boys in our letter out) Haha, speaking of haircuts.. I think it was about 4 weeks ago now... I let a member cut my hair, and he is about the same age as me. And said that he simply taught himself..... Afterwards, I honestly didn't like it.. It wasn't an obviously bad haircut, he just missed a lot, and that drove me crazy. (Gray taught himself how to cut his own hair on his mission, and has done it ever since.)

(Both Gray and I mentioned in our letters about how Facebook had blown up this past weekend regarding the policy changes in the church). That is interesting, how there (Utah) is was super duper crazy, but here... Haven't heard a thing about it. 

(I wrote that his cousin Corin had received his mission call to El Salvador). Sweet! Haha I am always excited when I learn of someone else that I can talk in Spanish with now! Well... Obviously not RIGHT NOW, but after his mission! And the Guatemala MTC. My compañero is guatemalteco.

*** Step Stats ***

Monday, November 2 - 17229

Tuesday, November 3 - 12245

Wednesday, November 4 - 23277

Thursday, November 5 - 19319

Friday, November 6 - 20461

Saturday, November 7 - 12798

Sunday, November 8 - 7017

I have re-assumed my rightful place in the #1 spot on Landon's Fitbit friends list. After achieving first place last week, Cooper did scale back and relax a bit this week, but still a great showing in the #4 spot. All the brothers are there. Nice to see Grandpa Westra making the list again, and I think maybe this is Uncle Derek's first time in Landon's top 10?

How many steps did YOU take last week?

How do you stack up in steps with Mr. Missionary?

***Between Brothers***

Dear Landon, I'm sorry I haven' been able to write very much, I just don't have the time on Sunday's. But it's not like very much is going on in my life besides school and work really. Basketball tryouts are on Monday so that's exciting. I'm nervous again. I miss you a lot though. But what can we say man, we are just natural born leaders. I did get another raise. But I think she did give everyone a raise that is staying because we need all the help we can get. My hours are down to 25 with basketball season here, so that will make it easier, work wise. Probably not sleep wise. With basketball here I will probably be more tired because I will just become physically drained. But since I love basketball it is slightly different. I have around $2800 and the price of Orlando dropped to around $1300 so I will have plenty of money left over to save for a mission and college and things like that. If I stay at KFC for another year and a half, I will also get a minimum of $8000 in scholarship money. So I have been planning some things out money wise for school in the future. Keep working hard and doing the things that make you happy. I love you brother. - Callahan

Dear Landon, we saw Star Wards at Desert Star on Friday, and it was really funny. They sang "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" as "Yoda wants me for a Jedi". They went off-script a lot of times too. That's the better part of watching a play than watching a movie. I forgot to tell you last week, but I got a Triple Crown for the first quarter of school. That means I got a 4.0, perfect attendance, and all Honors for my citizenship grade. Tryouts for the high school are this week until Friday. I'm not planning on making the team, so I'm not really nervous or anything. Tryouts for West Hills are next week. There are two people from West Hills that I think have a chance at making the sophomore team. It would kind of suck to make the sophomore team, though because that team is going to get pounded this year and all they're going to do during practice is run. I want to play for West Hills because I think I'll get better practice and more playing time. Both of the coaches really like me too. My friend and I played with them last year, so they already know who we are and how good we are at certain skills. So yeah... Wuv, Keaton 

Dear Landon, the NBA season still is awesome, still watching every game that comes on. The Jazz are still up to a good start, 4-2. Last night, they had a blowout win against Memphis, and they also had a good win against Denver, but lost to Portland. There is only one undefeated team right now, and that is Golden State at 7-0. And I have finally signed up for a Jr Jazz team with all of my friends at school, and they have actually started playing basketball with me again at recess, so that'll be fun. I wasn't really at my most active week this week, because last week was the one I beat mom. This week of school will be parent-teacher conferences, and I think I have done good at most of the stuff that I did, and then Friday we'll have no school. And I don't know if I have told you this yet, but Keaton and I have been watching Season 9 of The Voice, and the Playoffs start tomorrow, so that will be cool to watch as well. Oh yeah, and my canker sore is finally gone (even though it has only been a week, I'm still relieved!)    Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, the Jazz have 4 wins and 2 losses, last night they went against Memphis and won. Trey Burke last night made six three pointers! Golden State is still undefeated. I'm going to be on a super league team with my old coach and few of my old teammates. Oh, and my game this week, I won easily. I don't know exactly what the score was because they shut off the score board, but I do know I got 8 points. Also, one of the baskets was a fade away! I got around six or seven steals! Plus, I played against two of my friends, Logan and Tannic. Keaton and I played some zombies on Black ops two, we played on Nuketown and Burried. On Nuketown we got to level 22, but it took us over 100 trys on the box to get the Ray Gun Mark, two no kidding! On MW3, I almost have the PP90M1 gold. We also have four other guns that are level 30, G36C, MK14, UMP45, and TYPE95. Well, that is about it for this week. Love ya. Love your youngest brother, Colt

• Dear Callahan: Don't you worry bro. I understand that you are a working man now, and that is awesome. Haha why would you be nervous for the tryouts? Aren't you already guarenteed a spot? Another raise?! Wow! Does make sense of why they would do that.. Sounds like KFC is having a tough time right now.. Try to take it easy, with so much on your shoulders.. Because it sounds like a lot for right now. But you're Callahan, so I don't worry much. Haha. Whoa! $8000 for scholarship money?! I will admit, can't get that with Nate.. Haha. Keep working hard. Super proud of you buddy.
• Dear Keaton: Star Wards.. I am sure that was pretty awesome.. Haha the whole Star Wars rave isn't as big here in Mexico.. Definitely more of an American specialty. Dang. That is pretty awesome! Triple Crown-ing it! Hmm interesting.. Well enjoy playing for West Hills. Sure it will be another fun basketball season! Haha by the way.. Totally had a laugh out load moment when you said "certain skills" but it made me think of Napoleon Dynamite.. Ha!
• Dear Cooper: No surprise, always watching whatever NBA game there is! Now you just need to move the treadmill or the bike upstairs, so that you can do one of the two while you're watching, not sitting on your bum! Awesome finally back on a team! That's is great to hear! I promise you it is always better to play with other people than by yourself all the time. Ugh.. I always hated those parent-teacher conferences.. They're the worst.. What?! Already Season 9? Dang.. I thought there was only 7.. Haha weird.
• Dear Colton: The Jazz aren't doing too bad for now huh? That is pretty good. And Trey with 6 3's?! Dang.. Hot hand. Hahaha no surprised.. I thought it was about time that you joined a higher league for basketball! You'll do awesome! Oh man... I really miss Zombies.. Here in Mexico, they dont really care about CoD. But they love their Gears of War! Haha no joke! But I remember having some fun times on Gears of War too. Haha. Keep it up!

Week #37 - Changes But No Changes

Cambios, pero sin cambios (Changes, but without changes)

Hi everyone! My mom had to remind me how long it has been since I have sent a letter to everyone.. Don't worry. I am alive and well here in Puebla.

So the main news is that another change came and went this past week. But last Saturday, we had received the call that we would not have changes. So I am still here in Maravillas with Elder Chacón. 

Apart from the actual change, there have been quite a few changes this past week. On Friday, we had a meeting as the district leaders of the mission, and received some training from Pres. Nelson and the assistants (a big change was that there were 2 assistants, but now there are 3!) One of the big things that they talked about were the calls that we make on a regular basis to the companionships in our districts. Normally, we would call everyone maybe 3 times a week, but that changed. The invitation was for us to call everyone in our district EVERYDAY. ...That was a bit concerning, considering my district grew from 3 companionships to 5 this change.. But they told us not to worry. They taught us that we can make this daily calls very short and simple, but still effective. So it is possible.. But we hope to see better numbers in the coming weeks! I will let you all know how it goes!

As for Halloween in Mexico, it is "Day of the Dead". But it isn't just the 31st. It started on the 27th, and ends today (FINALLY). It is kinda funny.. Many members asked us if it would be bad if they participated in one of the Day of the Dead traditions, which is called "la mesa de las ofrendas" (the table of offerings). What they do is put a table in a room of their house, basically with a lot of food. And it is a offering to their dead ancestors... That is all I know.. I don't know what they do with the food afterwards, but "supposedly" in the morning, the food no longer has any flavor.. Weird. hahaha #onlyinmexico I do miss REESE'S! It was one of the most joyous moments in my missionary life to see that orange wrapper in a package from my parents. Here, you can rarely find them, and when you can, they are super expensive. I have found a (I don't want to say it, but..) replacement to my beloved Golden Oreos, that are fairly cheap. The only problem is that I eat them too often... Hehe. 

Thanks for all the support!

As district leader, I had to check a few things with Elder Lopez and Elder West, because they were going to close the area. So, while cleaning out everything, Elder Lopez found this stickers, I asked him "Can I have those? I will surely use them!" ..... I just ended up using them on his back... Hehehehe.

*** Step Stats ***

Monday, October 26 - 21505

Tuesday, October 27 - 12024

Wednesday, October 28 - 15980

Thursday, October 29 - 18090

Friday, October 30 - 14296

Saturday, October 31 - 17015

Sunday, November 1 - 11038

Cooper has finally achieved his goal of being #1 for Landon's Top 10 list. He has been #1 a few times before, but it just hasn't happened to overlap over a Monday when Landon had sent his steps and I'd entered them in. But this past week ... Cooper was a bit crazy active! He had a 30k day, and then on Saturday, he set a new high of 40k! Landon is pretty impressive there in 4th place. All the brothers are there in the Top10 ... but alas Daddy got bumped by my siblings.

*** Between Brothers ***

Dear Landon, got a lot of candy this week. When we were done trick or treating Cooper gave me all his candy so I got like a million pieces. At school, we had a Halloween party. I went as our big basketball cereal box. A LOT of kids liked my costume, inculding the two teachers whose class I've been in. When we got back to our classroom, we finally did our Halloween party, there were 5 stations, bowling, build a graveyard, (with, pudding, oreos, gummy worms and a marshmellow) bing bag toss, bingo and build a pumpkin out of paper. Mom was in charge of the bingo games. My favorite was the 3Musketeer candy bar. Instead of MW3, I've been playing a bit of Black Ops 2. My favorite weapon is the Peacekeaper. I mostly play for my two favorite killstreaks in any call of duty game I played, Hellstorm missle and lightning strike. The real NBA season is on now. Cooper and I have been watching some of the games. Jazz has 2 win and 1 loss. So I am hoping that they will make it to the playoffs this year. Anyway, that is about it for this week. Love ya. Love your youngest brother, Colt

Dear Landon, so this week was fun because of Halloween. This week of school we just read and did math and science. The main things we were doing were Halloween things, like preparing for the "Thriller" dance. But I got checked out before the dance on Wednesday for a dentist appointment. I got a numb lip, and that causes me to bite the skin off my lip, so it turns into a big canker sore. And the day after that was the Halloween parade, so I got into the same LEGO costume like last year to wear to school. The party was pretty fun, we got to decorate pumpkins, go on a scavenger hunt, relay racing, and a lot more stuff happened. Two days after that was Halloween, and I went trick or treating with Colton around the neighborhood. I didn't really want to go trick or treating, but I went with him and gave him all the candy so he had double the candy. And that night gave me my new step high as well, 40,000 steps! And lastly, the real NBA season has finally started! Today there will be one game on, and the Utah Jazz are doing well right now at 2 wins and 1 loss, so hopefully they can keep up their awesome defense and get to the playoffs this year.   Love, Cooper

Dear Landon, Halloween yesterday was pretty fun. I went up to Copperton, where all my friends live, and we went Trick-or-Treating to all of the good houses with king-sized candy bars, watched Rat Race, played football and soccer, and ate Chili and cookies. I got home at 11:00 pm yesterday. Today is also the day that daylight savings ends, so we had an hour off this morning. Do they have daylight savings in Mexico? For spanish at school, we had our country presentations on Thursday. There are five tables in our class and each table is a team. There's Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. My country is Mexico and I made our country poster of stuff about the country (it was a lot better than all the other posters). My teacher liked it a lot. We didn't have school on Friday because of the end of the quarter. Mom also made orange Kookie-press cookies in the shape of pumpkins. So yeah... Wuv, Keaton

• Dear Colton: I heard that you got a lot of candy.. It is just a shame that you can't partake of the best candy ever.. REESE'S! You can just send me all your Reese's.. Don't worry.. Haha because here, Reese's are super expensive.. Especially on a misisonary budget. I think those Halloween parties in school are my favorites. They are always awesome! Haha Black Ops is cool, but I really only would play it for Zombies. Which is the BOMB. Haha let me know with the Jazz, if they are any good this year!
• Dear Cooper: Halloween sure is fun! Here in Mexico, it is a bit different, the main holiday is "Día de la Muerte" ... in English "Day of the Dead"  it is pretty cool. Ouch.. You got the "pinches"? That really sucks..  I can't remember what the LEGO costume looks like..WHAT?! You gave all your candy to Colton?! Cooper... I know that you are being healthy and all, but.. GIVING AWAY YOUR CANDY?! That's like giving away a part of your soul!And 40,000 steps while Trick-or-Treating? Did you guys walk to Maga's house, or what? Haha I remember seeing a little commercial for the start of the NBA at an investigator's house.. I said "I bet my brother Cooper will be telling me about that!" ... I was right. :)
• Dear Keaton: Dang.. Getting all those King-Size candybars.. That really is the life. Haha. We actually do have daylight savings here.. But it was a week ago. So, that past week, you guys in Utah, and us in Puebla had the same time. ....Or maybe it is the other way around.. Jajaja Quien sabe.. Ahora podemos hablar en español?! Que genial! Realmente, me encanta hablar en español. Haha okay.. I will quit it with the Spanish. Are you guys also doing some food tasting from the different countries? That is always my favorite part of those culture classes.